Hi all,

I've been thinking lately that I would like to cut my hair and donate it.  It is almost classic length, and lately I've realized that it was a lot easier to care for when it was shorter.  I will probably cut it and then turn right back around and start growing it out again, but it might be nice to have it shorter for a while.  Soooo. my question is:  If I don't donate it to Locks of Love, who the heck do I donate it to?  Also, where could I
find a list of participating salons in Florida, and/or directions on how to donate on my own?  Thanks for your help.

I dont' have any suggestions for where to donate.  You could check with your local salons to see if they have any recommendations.  You might consider checking with a hair styling school to see if they could use it for testing/practicing chemical processes or working with hair pieces.  

:o Before donating to LOL, you might want to check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locks_of_Love.  This could change your mind.  But there are alternatives and I wish I could mention them here.  

i don't know if this really helps nor do i know why you shouldn't donate to lol, (althugh i will be looking it up after this post), but my aunt recently was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time.  we knew her hair was going to go as soon as she started chemo and she was stressed about the price of wigs so i told her she could have my hair.  we checked into having a wig made for her out of my hair and it was ridiculously expensive   especially since she was going to have cut back on work and money was going to become an issue for her. i was told lol only helps minors or something like that, not that it's a bad thing at all, but it really didn't help in my situation.  you'd just think that there would be an orginization that was there to help us out.  

wow.
wish i wouldve looked that up before my aunt shelled out for a synthetic wig.  

Eowynsmane wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2007 at 6:44pm:

Hi all, I've been thinking lately that I would like to cut my hair and donate it.  It is almost classic length, and lately I've realized that it was a lot easier to care for when it was shorter.  I will probably cut it and then turn right back around and start growing it out again, but it might be nice to have it shorter for a while.  Soooo. my question is:  If I don't donate it to Locks of Love, who the heck do I donate it to?  Also, where could I find a list of participating salons in Florida, and/or directions on how to donate on my own?  Thanks for your help.

You might find these Alopecia sites of some help ?  :)

http://www.alopeciaareata.com/

http://www.scn.org/~dcv/alopecia.html

stacyp,  I just got finished reading the Wiki article on Locks Of Love, and they had a list of similar charities.
One, Pantene's Beautiful Lengths, Is specifically for women who've lost hair to cancer. http://www.pantene.com/en_US/beautifullengths/index.jsp Perhaps you and your aunt could check them out?

Best of luck and health to her and to you.

yeah i saw that too.  she already bought a wig.  i just wish we'd known about the pantene site beforehand.

All of the woman that I know that went thru chemo and lost their hair, chose synthetic hair wigs.  Their reasonings:
1.  Cheaper than real hair
2.  The hair style is usually "permanent" - additional styling is not necessary.
3.  They could was and style the wigs themselves.  Real hair wigs had to be taken to a salon for cleaning and styling.
4.  Synthetic wigs were not as hot or itchy.
5.  Because the cost was so much less, they could afford more than one for variety.  (One gal had some really "funky" wigs - neon pink for valentines day, green for St Patrick's day, etc).

My grandmother had a human hair wig - although it looked very natural, it needed to be styled almost weekly.  She ended up using it only for special occasions, and wore synthetic wigs for daily wear.

I would only donate my hair if I was done with it and had nothing else I would be interested in doing with it (like a hairpiece).  I don't like the "charities" that try to convince people that they need the hair for these poor unfortunate kids or adults.  Most of the hair they collect is unusable.  Caucasian hair is not the best hair for wigs.  Asian hair is better because it is stronger.  If the hair has had any chemical processing, it is most likely unusable.  This is why they like hair from kids.  They have not abused their hair.  But it all comes down to personal choice.  Everyone is entitled to making their own choices.