Donating Hair

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Aug 2010

I am looking for recommendations for hair salons with would cut my hair so that I may donate my hair to Locks of Love. Also, it would be great if it's a salon that even gives their clients a discounted cut for the donation Thanks! anon

Any salon can cut your hair for you to donate to Locks of Love. Just follow the directions on the locks of love website. When I did it, you put your hair in a ponytail and had them cut above the ponytail holder. Then you just put the whole ponytail into a ziploc and mail it to Locks of Love. The only part the salon does is chop off your ponytail, and make your hair look decent after that initial chop. Kudos to you for donating- it is a great organization. Laura

Eco-Chiquesalon says they do it on their website, http://www.ecochiquesalon.com/. I haven't tried it out myself but plan to ask about it when I go for a haircut, I have read you can't donate highlighted hair so I may have to wait until that grows out. Good luck! It seems like awesome thing to do and I'm hoping I can do it one day too! Jen

Sept 2009

I'm looking for a salon that collects hair for making into wigs for sick patients. I have very long hair that is in good shape and I'm planning to cut it into a bob so I'll have a good bit to donate. Does anyone know of a salon that does this? Thanks! long-haired mom

http://www.locksoflove.org/ Locks of love...for the kids. suzanne

Any salon - you do it yourself. Follow directions here: http://www.locksoflove.org/

You don't need to go to a special salon. Go to your favorite place and ask them to follow the instructions on these donation web-sites: http://www.locksoflove.org/donate.html, or http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/makethecut.jsp. The first requires that you cut off 10 inches of hair, the second only requires 8 inches. I have short hair now

wigsforkids.com is a group that collects hair specifically to make free wigs for child cancer patients.

http://hair.lovetoknow.com/Free_Wigs_for_Cancer_Patients has many further resources as well.

We found out that contrary to popular belief, Locks of Love is a group that gives less than 200 wigs out per year, primarily to children with medical alopecia, not for cancer patients as you asked for, and sells the vast majority of donations as ''unusable material'' to the wig industry which is then actually used in for-sale wigs. When my daughter wanted to donate hair last year Locks of Love was disqualified as a non-profit, due to the profits taken in vs. actual wigs given away, so we looked at the group wigs for kids. Chris

Please google ''locks of love scam'' before donating to them if you are donating adult hair, and if you are particularly looking to assist cancer patients.

for what they do, I'm sure Locks of Love is great, but it seems in general people are not informed enough. Kat

April 1999

lock of love is an organization that makes wigs for kids with cancer. they have specific requirements for how the donated hair is handled, so contact them before you cut (if possible) at: 888-896-1588 - G

20/20 did a piece about hair donation a couple weeks ago. The organization they featured was called Locks of Love. The transcript for that show is no longer available on line but I was able to find the link to their website from the ABC News site. Here it is: http://www.locksoflove.org/ R.