Everyone has been asked at some point to donate money to a charity but have you ever considered what else you can donate instead? Giving away a part of yourself is an enormous ask but it can also be one of the most meaningful things you can do.
Next month, I'm chopping off my hair for the Little Princess Trust where young people, who have unfortunately lost theirs due to cancer treatment, receive wigs. For me, this journey has been extremely insightful and a massive deal which I have decided to share.
The process in which someone decides to donate their hair can be a quite a long one. Charities usually ask for between 7 and 12 inches, so if you have particularly short hair to begin with, it can take a while.
As someone who is donating their hair for the third time, each occasion my motivation and reasoning for doing so changes. The first time, I was just 10 years old. I realised that what I was doing was a very good deed but as I now approach my third opportunity to cut my hair, five years later, my understanding of why this is such a special thing to do has really deepened.
Hair gives a person a sense of identity and without it, most of us would feel lost or naked even. I'm very attached to my own hair (no pun intended!) which is why, to me, this is such an important step to take. I can't begin to imagine how devastating it feels to these immensely courageous people to lose their hair and have no control over it. The awful feeling of exposure that sadly comes with that situation is one that deeply resonates with me. I want to help give them back their identity and for me, there is no better way to do it.
A lot of people are fortunate to be able to always grow their hair back, including myself. Everyone who has donated hair has never come out of it with any regrets. For those fighting their battles with cancer, many aren't so lucky as to regrow a full head of hair. For them, the trauma can be long-term. For others, a quick chop of a few inches is temporary.
Natasha Kay, a 16-year-old girl who has bravely donated her hair twice, told me why it was so important to her. "It made me feel really good knowing that I was helping put a smile on someone else’s face who was going through a hard time and to be able to do that with the simple action of cutting my hair, which is something that can grow back, made me feel even better!"
To do something that can benefit others, in the way that donating hair can, is immensely self-fulfilling. When you give, you also get back. Even if that returned reward isn't physical, just the knowledge that you're doing something so selfless can bring joy to both the receiver and the giver.
According to the charity, Wigs For Kids, it takes, approximately, 20-30 ponytails to make one wig. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, hair isn't uniform in texture or length so it requires more donors and secondly, when the wigs are being manufactured, they lose about 4 inches of hair from each donor due to maintenance to actually create the wig.
These charities that work endlessly to give people back their smile, collectively provide millions of wigs across the world to those in need and they need your help to do that. Even just sharing what you know about donating hair helps spread awareness to a much larger number of people, which can be just as important as being the one to cut the hair off.
The people who receive the wigs have experienced a great deal of emotional pain and trauma from the significant alteration in their appearance. Losing their hair can result in massive harm to self-esteem and their self-image. To return their confidence to them, with something as simple as hair, emphasises that they have people on their side and they don't have to fight their battle alone.
What's stopping a lot of people from taking the step of cutting off their hair? Very few seem to realise how fast your hair actually grows. The average person's hair grows 1/2 an inch each month. Going by those figures, by the end of the year, you would have already grown back at least 6 inches. That's already almost the amount you'd have to cut off to begin with!
Additionally, there are other benefits correlated with shorter hair. Less hair = less water needed to wash it. Therefore, it's actually eco-friendly and you're helping preserve the world one tiny step at a time.
According to the World Health Organisation, in 2020 there were 19,292,789 new cases of cancer diagnosed and that number is only expected to increase over the course of this year. The chances of knowing someone who has had cancer and had to lose their hair as a consequence of chemotherapy is very high. They might have been lucky to have received a wig from the generosity of others who donated their hair. Please keep this gift going in the cycle of good deeds.
