Ten inches of love

Ok, so it's not what you think.


You see, I have a friend who's growing his hair out, and told me the reason he's doing this is for an organization called Locks of Love. I had really really long hair, so I thought I'd check out the website, just to see if it was something I'd be interested in.

An hour and a box of tissues later I was in. I mean, I was shave-me-bald in. For those of you who don't know, Locks of Love is a nonprofit organization that provides wigs and hairpieces to children who've lost their hair because of sickness. Check it out here... please. Have tissues handy when you do though.

Yes folks, I was bawling. I guess maybe I do have a little maternal instinct after all, because all I could think was "Oh God, what if this was my child."

Here is their mission statement:

"Our mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children. The children receive hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need."

It broke my heart for these brave kids. I wanted to help. Fortunately I had a ton of hair... so I booked an appointment with Tony at my favorite Charlotte Salon, Hair Klaudt (notice the shameless plug? in case you missed it, Hair Klaudt is the BEST in Charlotte).

Ok, So the last time I had short hair was high school, and it was not good. I went to my mom's friend, and bless her, she had no idea how to style anything um... current. So what I ended up sporting was a horrifying ginger mullet. It didn't grow out gracefully either. What a mess.

So you can see why I was nervous. I had my mind made up, but holy shit was I nervous about having short hair again....

....shoving my nerves aside, I put on my big girl boots and a smile and went to my appointment. It's so nice to have a stylist you can trust. It's even better when you trust your stylist AND they give you wine.

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So basically, here's what went down.

#1: Before. Check it out. I could almost pass for a Fry Kid or a ginger version of Cousin It. Also, note the sparkly big girl boots.


#2: Measure, measure. So the minimum for a donation is ten inches of hair..... had to bust out a measuring tape because no man on this planet has any concept of what ten inches actually looks like.


#3: Snip snip, baby. This is the part where we cut off 10" ponytails... eek! But hey, a little wine was making me more woohoo than oh no, so all was good.


I even got to cut the last one off myself... and I'm pretty sure that is NOT the correct way to hold scissors. At least I wasn't running.


4: OMG it's gone! And then this happened:



#5: The hard part. Ok, so then Tony had to work his magic, we even did a little color wash - nothing crazy, just a little semi-permanent something to enhance my natural gingerness.


#6: Operation "sleek little bob" A little more magic, and I was done. It's a little Agent Scully I think, which makes me happy.


I was actually surprised at how much hair I had left after cutting so much off. Now all I have to do is put it in an envelope and mail it to Locks of Love. For now though, it's in a baggie in my purse, which cracks me up.

That's right, I have more hair in my purse right now than on my head.

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Visit the Locks of Love website, I think you'll be really touched. I read that 80% of donations come from children wanting to help other children, which is so sweet. It shows that anyone can make a positive difference to someone who's hurting or in need, even with something like hair.

If you decide to take the short hair plunge though, go to a stylist who won't give you a mullet.