Runs With Needles

Locks of Love

There's no knitting content in this post, instead I'll be preaching about one of my favorite charities. :)

Locks of Love provides wigs for children who have lost their hair to disease. These wigs are custom fitted and the children receive them at no charge. All the hair to make the wigs comes from people who send in their own hair, at least 10 inches of it.

I've been following Beth's blog as she approached the day she was going to cut her hair for Locks of Love. That day was yesterday and she looks fantastic!

I became aware of Locks of Love about 4 or 5 years ago. I decided to grow my hair out and donate it to them. I've had long hair (longer than shoulder length) my whole life. My hair, in a way, defined me. If I was with a group of people and there was another Kathy, I was always "Kathy With The Long Hair". I reached the required 10 inches of hair a couple of years ago, but just didn't have the guts to do it. I kept talking myself out of it with 'what if I regret it?', 'what if I look horrible with short hair?', etc. etc.

Basically, I was full of excuses.

Then, my life fell apart last year. I was spending too much time focusing on myself and my own problems, so I decided to chop my hair off and stop throwing a pity party for myself. I made my hair cut appointment during the time my mother was visiting (so that I couldn't back out of it) and apprehensively waited for the day to come. Here are the pictures from that day, October 22, 2004:

Before:



After:




I was able to send an eighteen inch ponytail to Locks of Love. That's a lot of hair!

Do I regret it? Heck, no. I love my new short hair and plan on keeping it this short. I do not regret it one bit and cutting off my hair was the springboard for me to move beyond all my problems and create a new life for myself.

The only problem with having short hair is that I can't donate it to Locks of Love. That's why I decided to promote them every chance I get.

So, check them out and check out Beth's transformation.

posted by Kathy at 5/15/2005 11:21:00 AM