Thursday, November 16, 2006

14 inches, flaccid

A few months ago, Sexy Boyfriend's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She's been doing great with her treatments, and so far so good, but it's only the second time I've ever known anyone with cancer. The first time was when I was in elementary school, and my neighbor who was a few years older than me had leukemia. I think I have been incredibly lucky, since it seems like this disease is everywhere, affecting everyone.

So, I've been thinking about things we can do - we've donated money to a friend doing a breast cancer walk, but that seems a bit...I don't know, like our little donation is going to make a big huge difference - it's just so obtuse or something. Then I thought about Locks of Love. And I'm thinking about doing it. I've been growing my hair for over a year, I guess, who knows really. I've lost hair direction since becoming a dog-walker - I never style it anymore, just put it in a ponytail - and since I have no ideas about what to do with it, I've just let it grow. And grow. And grow. Now it is quite long - my ponytail measures 14" and most places only require your donation to be 10" long. Hair is just hair, and it will grow back, but I've never cut my hair that short. That part of it is kinda scary, but it is winter and I will most likely be wearing a hat for the next few months.

Has anyone ever done this? What did you think about the whole experience?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jules,
I donated my hair about 2 months ago, chopped off 12 inches. It was a shock at first but when you put it into perspective, totally worth it. It felt good to do it and like you said, it grows back. Mine has already grown back lots. Might even do it again...but the shorter hair is kinda growin on me...That said, there are lots of beautiful synthetic wigs so be sure before you face the sheers. Let me know what you decide to do. Hope things continue to go well with SB's mom.

Anonymous said...

Hey, that lost comment was posted by me, Jill. :)

Jenn said...

I've never done it myself (there's so many chemicals in my hair, I doubt anyone would want it), but there was a little girl who did it the last time I cut my hair, and I know she had a great time. I think it's a great idea. :)

Coming from someone who has had short-ish hair most of her life, I would suggest getting something like an asymetrical bob, or something like that that will be easier to grow out, if you want to grow your hair out again.

Megan said...

I donated my hair a couple of years ago. I cut about 14 inches off total. My hair was so long that it barely made a difference, but I felt really good about it.
They send you this neat little card/certificate afterwards.
Even if, for some reason, they cannot use your hair to make a wig for cancer patients, they can sell it and use the money to produce other wigs.

Partly Cloudy Knitter said...

Just wanted to let you know that I have donated my hair twice. It's almost long enough to donate again, but they don't want grey hair. I don't know if they will take it again.
Check you my 'Hair Donation Page'.
http://snipurl.com/yzpt
Cathy in MN