Health & Fitness
Beautiful Lengths
Three young members of Grace Lutheran Church Palo Alto donate a total of over 30 inches of hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths for real hair wigs that will benefit cancer patients.
Written by Inger Smuts, age 12
Soon we will be donating our hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, instead of Locks of Love, because they give out their wigs for free, as it should be. I always felt sad seeing pictures of chemo patients, so this is my way to help them. It made me sad to see how some people had to give away part of themselves away to survive, and felt insecure without their hair, lowering their self esteem even more. I hope by donating my hair, I can share a ray of hope with whoever receives my wig.
This will be my second time donating my hair. I first started donating my hair in fifth grade when my Youth Director and friend from church decided to donate hers. My mom decided to donate with us, so altogether there were three of us. My mom keeps cutting her hair, but me and Elizabeth will be cutting our hair again. It takes us about two years for us to grow our hair long enough to cut. Now, at the home stretch, we are both sick of our long hair and are looking forward to finally donating our hair!
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This year we are really excited, as we have convinced a new friend to donate with us, Liz Forbes, age 15. There will be three of us all donating to a great cause!
Addition by Elizabeth Hood:
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SimplyBe Salon in downtown Palo Alto will be graciously donating all three haircuts! We are so grateful for their generosity. Thank you to Michael, Alan and Tracy, who all donated their time and talents.
We can give of ourselves, our time and our money to help those around us. One way that I have given of myself for years is my hair. It takes at least 2 years for my hair to grow out, and I usually cut over 10 inches off, dramatically changing how I look, but it doesn't matter because I know I am helping someone who has lost all of her hair due to cancer, and she doesn't have the choice to grow her hair out or not. This will be my sixth time donating my hair, but this year is very special to me since my mom was just diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year.
I am unbelievably proud of Inger and Liz for making the choice to cut their hair and donate it to help a woman they will never have the chance to meet. It is a incrediably brave thing to do and they both did it with smiles!
