Our nine year old daughter has been growing her hair out for the last year with the hope of donating it to an organization that makes wigs for children with cancer. We have heard that "Locks of Love" may no longer be a reliable way to do this (folks have not heard back from them after sending hair) so I'm wondering if anyone has had a positive experience doing this. We also need a hair salon that will cut it for that purpose.
THANK YOU all SO much for your very helpful responses. This site is truly amazing - to get that kind of thoughtful, well researched, and knowledgable information in so few days is truly wonderful.
We ended up going to the Hair Cuttery in Dupont Circle to get my daughter's haircut and they were great (not quite set up as well as the one in Bethesda, but still able to work with us). We ended up only cutting 9 inches and have decided to send it to the "Beautiful Lengths" program set up by Pantene with Hilary Swanks endorsement. They are not as strict about the length (you can send as little as 8 inches!) and seem to be very well organized.
Again, thank you all SO much!
Hi
After doing lots of research, i would go with pantene over locks of love.http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/index_home.jsp
less that 15 percent of the hair received by LOL is used for wigs. The rest is sold or thrown away. For a very enlightening article- see http://www.trentstampstake.org/2007/09/whos-liar.html
Locks of love is not reputable...
Hi,
I donated my hair to locks of love. I went online and filled out the donation form -they ask you there if you want a certificate. I said yes- ifollowed the instructions for how to send in the hair. I took them with me to aveda in Bethesda - they followed all directions - I mailed the hair and a long time later I received a post card certificate not what iwas expecting but a note just the same
H.
Hi S., I have heard that Pantene's "Beautiful Lengths" program is very reputable and highly recommended. However, I still go through "Locks of Love." I just had my hair cut for them a month ago. I haven't received the postcard back from them, but they also do send acknowledgements through Email, and sometimes they have a backlog so it takes a while. IT also depends what salon sends it. I went with a salon once that saved them up and sent them in batches. So then it would take longer to hear back. I also had a hard time finding someone local to cut it. Generally LoL cuts are free haircuts and I'm cheap enough not to want to pay $50-60 for a haircut, esp. if I'm donating it. However, ULTA salons will cut for free and I got a great cut there. They package and send your donation to LoL for you. It worked well for me. Good luck!
I've heard the same. Someone did say there is another company out there that takes the hair for the same pirpose but can't remember the name. Don't give up , keep searching. I know the Locks of Love website used to have a list of places that would cut hair. We had a friend in OK that went to Walmart and they cut it and mailed it for them but not sure if any other Walmarts do that. Good Luck.
I just talked to a coworker about this, her sister did this and had a good experience. You should contact www.locksoflove.org/ the website also has a video of how hairdressers should cut off the hair. It might be helpful if you spoke with the organization directly about how important it is for your daughter to get feedback about donating her hair- this is a life learning experience for her. Good luck.
my friend & i just donated our hair to locks of love & they sent out a little certificate saying thanks. my friend gave 10inches & i gave 13. i know that locks of love has a minium of 10 inches for a donation. Most hair salons will cut the hair for that purpose. just tell them before they pull out the sissors. Make sure to bring a couple hair ties w/ you to the salon along with an envalope. Most hair salons have the address or you can look it up online
N.
S.,
I donated my hair to locks of love last year. I have talked with at least 5 other people who donated as well.
It took about a month or so to get a reply. I did get a reply from them; as did my friends.
Hope this helps.
L.
I donated my hair to locks of love a few years ago and did hear back from them. Any salon will do it and you can download the form from their website. I believe some salons gie a free haircut to people donating hair--a list is on the website as well.
S.,
My daughter donated her hair to LOL last summer, and although it took a LONG time, she definitely received acknowledgement. She is now growing her hair to do it again. I just cut the hair myself, because the Hair Cuttery near me that does this wanted to take 12 inches, but the web site for LOL says 10.
Good luck
There was a private Catholic school in Potomac or Bethesda that challenged the entire school to grow their hair for a year towards donating to locks of love. They had a huge "cutting day" that was covered by the Catholic Standard newspaper in the fall. I can't remember the name of the school but maybe you could look in the Catholic Standard's archives for the article and contact the school for some input.
I just donated through Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. I'm not sure they target kids but it's still a great cause.
You may want to contact Locks of Love directly to find out if they are still accepting donations. I donated to Locks of Love 20 months ago and I can't remember if I got a response. With Pantene you have to request a response.
Here's their contact info:
Mailing Address (All Donations):
LOCKS OF LOVE
2925 10th Avenue N
Suite 102
Lake Worth, FL 33461-3099
Phone ###-###-####
Fax ###-###-####
Toll Free Information Line (888) 896-1588
Good Luck! You have a wonderful daughter!!
N.
Call and ask your local Hair Cutterys or just go through the phone book and ask local higher end salons, most may do it for free. There are three near me in Northern VA that do it. And I'm surprised you say your friends haven't heard back. Did they go through the proper procedures and give out all the info? I have three friends that went to a salon in Springfield , VA The Kindest Cut across the street from Mike's American Grill. And they have said nothing but great things. (?). The salon cut their hair and mailed it off for free. Don't forget this is a large organization and maybe paperwork was lost somehow??? Also you're not supposed to know whom receives the hair etc. Good Luck!
My nine year old daughter did this last year and I took her to Hair Cuttery in Bethesda. They knew exactly what to do with the hair, how much hair needed, and mailed it right there for us. I don't remember her name but we used the woman on the left closest to the front(long curly black hair, Latino). I never heard back from Locks of Love but for some reason did not expect to. Good luck!
We have been donating to locks of love for years...they don't respond back to you for donating hair. Most of the chains will cut it and send it for you, or you can put into a ponytail and then have them cut it for you like that and send it yourself in a big enevelope. Make sure you realize that the required length is now 9inches, not the seven it used to be.
Hi,
I just cut my hair and was planning to send it to locks of love also. I haven't actually sent it yet so I can't help with how they respond. But acording to their website, any salon can cut the hair as long as it is gathered in a ponytail with a rubber band and is at least 9 inches long. Then you have to send it in to them.
Good luck!!!
Odd. I had no problems donating my hair a few years ago and I have a friend who does it regularly. I can ask her about more recent experiences.
I got my usual hairdresser to do it, although some places will do the cut for free. I didn't have the salon send it. I packed it up as directed on the Locks of Love website. We even sent in an old braid of my sister-in-law's and they sent her the response same as me. How recent has the no response been a problem?
I've donated to LOL numberous times without a problem - I've always gotten a postcard thank you
