Locks of Love

Well, I did it. I had all my hair cut off and donated it to Locks of Love. I've been wanting to do it for a while. My hair's been getting pretty long. At the start of summer, I wasn't sure it was long enough. You need to cut off at least 10 inches to donate to Locks of Love. Basically, your hair is used to make a hairpiece for a disadvantaged child suffering from medical hair loss. It's a good cause and an easy way to make a small difference.

My hair was so long it was hard to take care of. I'd spend like ten minutes brushing every morning. I even broke a brush once after trying to brush out all my tangles I got from going swimming. After a particularly snarly hair day, frustrated from spending so much time trying to comb my hair, I decided it was time to donate to Locks of Love.

I have already donated once before, and I survived. But it's still scary cutting off so much hair. It's a really big change. Every day, I'd have someone in my family measure my hair and see if I had enough to donate. We decided it was pretty close, but it looked like I had enough. I didn't want to go all the way to the hair dresser though, just to find out it wasn't long enough. So I kept putting it off.

Finally, yesterday, I decided that since I kept talking about it every day, why not just go ahead and cut my hair? I drove myself to Great Clips, giving myself a pep talk on the way. "You can do this, Sara. It's for a good cause. C'mon."

When I walked up to the counter at Great Clips, I said right away that I only wanted a haircut if my hair was long enough to donate to Locks of Love. Two ladies were working in there at the time. They measured and agreed that it was indeed long enough.

I said what I wanted my hair to look like when finished. Then I just sat and let the hairdresser work. She pulled my hair into a ponytail, asked one more time if I was sure I wanted to do this, then went ahead and began cutting. Snip snip snip. I heard the scissors cut fifteen times before the ponytail was completely cut off. Maybe it was my imagination, but my head felt lighter.

My haircut took quite a while; the other woman working cut two gentlemen's hair in the time it took to finish mine.

The entire time, my hairdresser was saying what pretty hair I had and how nice it was. Last time I donated, they did the same thing. I don't know if they feel they have to do that or if they just want a nice tip or what.

Here I am with my new haircut, holding my hair. Cute, isn't it? And it was free; at this particular place, they give you a free haircut if you donate to Locks of Love. Sweet!