On to the group at hand, Locks of Love. Many of you will know this organization as the "public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis."You can watch this short video for an overview and/or keep reading. The mission statement from their website 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 disadvantage children." The most common reason for hair loss among the clientele is alopecia, the second is treatments for cancer.
The focus is on children because growing up and making it through your teen years can be challenging enough without having to add being bald to the list. Also most wigs are manufactured for adults and don't fit smaller heads without a lot of tape and glue that can be very irritating to the scalp. The hair prostheses provided by Locks of Love are custom made for each child and form a vacuum seal on the head so their is no risk of them being pulled off by someone else or coming off during activities like swimming, showering and riding roller coasters. The creation process takes anywhere from 4 to 6 months and children can apply for a new hairpiece every 18 months.
Want to help? Cut off your hair and send it in a ponytail or braid to their Florida office. Minimum length is 10 inches and it takes 6 to 10 ponytails to make one hairpiece. Hair donations of shorter amounts are also accepted though you should know they will be sold to offset production costs rather than be incorporated into a hairpiece.
If you're still not convinced, the website has a page for both donor and recipient photos.
While I couldn't find a Facebook page for this group, you can definitely follow them on Twitter
@LocksLove
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