TeenHelp - Locks of Love

Article featured in Avatar - Volume 3, Issue 10 (April 2010).

Locks of Love
By Katrina

We've all seen our friends have their curly, golden long hair chopped off at some point before. Sometimes, we hear them mention that they're donating it to "Locks of Love." Do you know what Locks of Love is really all about, though? While this organization isn't our typical monthly cause, we wanted to share just a snippet of the great things Locks of Love accomplishes each and every day.

Locks of Love started around 1997 with Madonna Coffman, a retired nurse living in the Palm Beach area. Ms. Coffman was inspired to start volunteering full time for Locks of Love when her daughter lost all of her hair due to medical reasons. As the family began to receive many hair donations in the mail in order to make a wig for her daughter, Ms. Coffman was able to acquire office space donated by a local hospital and partnered with a high quality manufacturer to truly kick off Locks of Love.

"Our mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children."

Locks of Love accepts donations of hair over ten inches to make into wigs (that usually sell for between $3,500 and $6,000!) for children under the age of twenty-one who are unable to afford this retail cost of these hair pieces and who have typically lost their own hair due to medical reasons. On top of just providing new hair pieces to these children, Locks of Love aims to provide the children with a confidence booster that many of them lost when they lost their hair.

An estimated eighty percent of hair comes from kids who want to help other kids! Are you eligible to donate your hair? Hair must be at least ten inches long. Hair can be curly or straight and can even be color-treated, but hair cannot be bleached (because it conflicts with the process of making the wigs). Hair can only be accepted if in a ponytail, so if you're considering donating your hair to Locks of Love, be sure to put it in a ponytail before your hair stylist starts the process of cutting your hair. For more information, please visit www.locksoflove.org.