The first time I donated my hair I was 18-years-old and it was my senior year of high school. I'd been growing my hair out for the very purpose of donating my hair and knew I needed at least 10 inches to donate to Locks of Love so about a month and a half before graduation I chopped off 10 inches of hair and sent it in to donate. Honestly it was a little nerve-racking and I definitely went back and forth like a sea-saw trying to decided if I really wanted to chop off that much hair at once but I just made my decision and said that was it.
After that first time I decided, "Why not grow my hair out to donate again?" So that's what I did. I figured my hair seems to grow a little more on the fast side so why not? And honestly part of it is a laziness thing. I'm not the type of girl that has to have a hair cut every 3 months or so no matter what. I figure since I like to keep it healthy, instead of getting a hair cut every certain amount of time to keep a certain hair style or length, why not just get my hair cut to keep it healthy but let it keep growing? So, the 2nd time it was 2 months before I was getting married and I contemplated. I knew I wanted to do a curly up-do for when I got married but with how much hair I had at the time I didn't particularly want all that piled on top of my head all day. Last time I did that was in high school and it required over 2 packages of bobby pins, a ton of hair spray, and a couple hours. Ugh! Wasn't gonna work for myself or my amazing mother that was running around like crazy trying to finalize everything the day of my wedding. So, my solution, chop off 13 inches of hair! Yep, 2 months before I got married I cut off over a foot of my hair!
I kind of went about donating my hair this time in stages. A few months after Brock passed away I got thinking that I really wanted a change. The first thing that came to mind, my hair. At the time my hair wasn't quite long enough to donate as much as I wanted so instead I got bangs. Which really was pretty brave of me since last time I had bangs was in the 6th grade and they did not turn out very well at all. Then, nearly another year later, 13 inches was chopped off and sealed in an envelope to donate for the 3rd time in the last 7 years...
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| Sorry the current picture on the right isn't the best but it was the only one I could actually get to upload |
The first time I decided I was going to grow my hair out to donate I was already thinking about all the girls and older women out there that have had to go through cancer or something else that made it so they lost their hair. Now, working in an oncology office, I have seen first hand all the many many girls and older women in southeast Idaho alone that have lost their hair due to an illness such as cancer. To many it may seem like a rather trivial thing. To have lost all your hair. But to many it's not just hair that was lost. It was part of what makes them a girl, what makes them feminine, what makes them feel beautiful. I've seen first hand several women really struggle with the fact that their illness was taking their hair away and it is only one of the many heartbreaking aspects of dealing with cancer. Seeing all I that have and having the great opportunity to know so many courageous, inspirational, beautiful women since working in an oncology center has solidified my decision in donating my hair. For as long as my hair will grow I plan on donating whenever I can. Some people have asked me, "What if next time you chop all your hair off it doesn't grow back afterwards?" It doesn't matter to me. I figure if someone else got something out of receiving my hair, even if it's just a smile, then it was worth it. Every little girl, every woman deserves to feel as beautiful on the outside as they do on the inside. That's what Heavenly Father wants. Maybe He meant for my hair to grow a little faster so I could give it away?
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