My Fourth Hair Donation to Cancer

In the past, I have donated hair to cancer when it got long enough that a ponytail measuring at least 8 inches could be cut. The first time was at the age of 13 years old, the second time at the age of 15 years old, and the third time at the age of 21 years old. Now, at the age of 23 years old, I have made my fourth hair donation. It takes a minimum of 8 ponytails to make a wig so I've made it a goal of mine to try to donate at least 8 ponytails within my lifetime and I'm very happy to already be half-way done!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I made the fourth cut on October 22nd, the day after I was discharged from the hospital after being there for two weeks (that's why I still look kind of sick in the photos). There were several reasons why that's when I decided to donate my hair to cancer again. I had been growing my hair long again and I was planning to enjoy long hair for a while before getting it cut short again and donating but while in the hospital, I got tired of my long hair. It would get tangled and the ends were dying. Also, I needed a nice change since being sick is no fun at all. I wanted to freshen up my hair so that it would be healthy again and I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital to get it cut. All throughout my hospital stay, I just wanted to get my hair cut. Ever since my first hair donation, I have donated hair whenever I have enough to donate at the time of a hair cut so I knew that I would definitely be donating this time since I had enough hair. I didn't even care if my hair would have to be cut shorter than I wanted.

Having enough hair to donate at the time of that cut isn't the only reason why I donated at that time. I also wanted to do something nice for someone else. While I was in the hospital, I felt kind of useless because I couldn't do much since I was sick. People had to do things for me and I am so grateful for everything that my family, doctors, and nurses did. People will reassure me that it's okay that I wasn't able to do much but I still felt kind of bad. That's just what happens when you're sick and especially when you're the kind of person who is very independent and used to having to do most things yourself. You feel like a burden on other people when you're not able to do everything that you usually do and have to get a lot of help. So, I wanted to do something that would help someone in a big way. Donating a ponytail of my hair to an organization that can use it to make a wig for a woman living with cancer was the nice thing that I wanted to do for someone and it was something easy enough that I could do right away after getting out of the hospital.

For my last donation as well as my current donation, I donated to the Canadian branch of Pantene Beautiful Lengths, an organization that makes wigs for women with cancer. If you're interested in donating your hair to cancer and you live in Canada, the Canadian branch of Pantene Beautiful Lengths is definitely an organization that I have had a very positive experience with and they have a page on their website with all of the information that you need to make the cut. If you live in the U.S.A., there is an American branch of Pantene Beautiful Lengths where you can send your hair donation.

Cheers,
Kaylie