Have any of you known of a man donating hair to Locks of Love?

[SeaSpray]

I just read the thread about the mom(s) with DDs with alopecia, and the one mom is going to cut her hair short to make extensions for her DD. I also personally suffer from a hair loss disorder. AND I've been working for a company for over a year now where I help women (and sometimes men) with hair loss due to medical reasons (chemotherapy), or alopecia, or other reasons for hair loss, with hair replacement products such as hair pieces (human hair or synthetic); wigs, wiglets, etc. When someone first has hair loss they often don't know where to start when choosing hair replacement and comfort products. I help adults; I can't imagine a young person having to deal with this.

ANYWAY... my DS25 has truly beautiful hair. It's thick, soft, has a slight wave to it as it grows out; it actually starts to form "ringlets" if it gets long enough! LOL. It's a medium brown, with natural golden highlights. I honestly don't know anyone, male or female, with more naturally gorgeous hair.

Sometimes he likes to grow his hair out a little, then he'll shave his head into a crewcut, and then let it grow again. He has never used dyes or chemicals on his hair; I know that they need "virgin" hair to make wigs out of.

I'm considering asking him if he's ever considered growing his hair LONG and then donating it to someplace like Locks of Love.

Would they take a hair donation from a man? I don't know why they wouldn't, but I have never looked in to this before. Also, I know they have length minimums; we'd have to check on that too, to see how long he'd have to grow it. Every time he gets a haircut, I always think that it's a shame to just throw away such healthy, thick, pretty hair.

His hair grows VERY fast, and since it's almost winter I know he won't be looking to cut his hair too soon.

If I had decent hair (and if I hadn't been using chemical highlights on my hair for several years now), I'd grow my own hair out and donate it, but my hair is horrible.

I have a hunch that he would think this was a great idea, for a few different reasons. Mainly, he'd like the idea that I'd be encouraging him to grow his hair very long, and, he'd like the idea of helping someone out.

Have any of you ever known a man who has done this, or even thought to encourage any of your male family members to do this?? Am I nuts to think about this? LOL

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I did this when I cut off my hair. My hair used to go down to my shoulders. I chopped it all of about 14 years ago.

 

[Poohforyou]

I know a guy who donated a few years ago. Pantene has a program as well and the length requirement is a little less than locks of love. My dd donated to pantene when she was about 10.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yes, I know a young man who donated his hair.

http://www.locksoflove.org/donate.html

 

[Squirlz]

I knew a man with dark straight hair down to the small of his back who cut it and donated.

 

[EmJay2001]

Yup, me too. My brother had a friend who donated and it was LONG, straight and gorgeous. Went all the way down to his waist before he cut it.

 

[okeydokey]

Yes I know a guy who donated. Pantene has a shorter requirement and doesn't carry the same controversy as Locks for Love. My daughter is getting ready to donate again and she is doing Pantene this time. After lots of research, we think Pantene is the better charity/organization.

 

[DeaverTex]

Disclaimer: I'm not taking a position here, just presenting some information I've stumbled across. I don't claim it's accurate, or a reason not to donate hair to Locks of Love.

Locks of Love sells much of the hair donated to it. Forbes and the Huffington Post claim that up to $6 million worth of hair donations is unaccounted for.

LoL claims that hair is sold to fund their operation, making of custom wigs, and alopecia research.

I think it's great to donate hair for a good cause, and I've done it myself. However, now that I know that they sell grey hair as "unusable", I'm a little annoyed that I wasn't told that when I donated it.

 

[SpecialK]

My nephew donated his hair last year.

 

[Pakey]

My stepson grew his specifically to donate it.

 

[SeaSpray]

Thanks for all of the replies.

I just spoke to my DS and he thinks it's a great idea. We will research Locks of Love as well as Pantene and any other organization who make wigs for kids or adults in need.

His hair is currently about 4" long, so he has a way to go before it'll be long enough to cut off to donate. Maybe I'll document this and take a picture of his hair-growing progress each month, and then photograph when he finally gets it cut.

 

[Ruthiesmama]

My brother grows his hair out, then cuts it for the Pantene donation program and then shaves the rest and starts the cycle all over again. He's donated many times and his hair is chemical free, healthy and beautiful. I actually would think male hair would be better for wigs as guys don't tend to use as much heat, chemicals etc in their hair. He chose Pantene over locks of love after researching it but I'm not sure of exactly the reasons why.

 

[dyna]

I know several men who has donated their hair. 1 donated 40 inches of salt an pepper another who's hair grows fast has donated 3 or 4 times that I know of maybe more usually about 20 - 25 inches.

If you think about it mens hair is not as likely to be dyed or permed as womens so it's usually more user friendly, it's just getting the males to grow an donate.

 

[aprilgail2]

When my daughter did it we donated it to Wigs for Kids

http://www.wigsforkids.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34&Itemid=159

 

[worm761]

My husband donates his hair. He has super thick, gorgeous, curly hair.

 

[spacemountainmom]

I know two brothers who have gorgeous red hair that they used to grow long and donate. Now that they are both in high school, they both wear shorter hair and haven't donated recently. They are both in sports and I think they got tired of dealing with their long hair while competing.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

We had a football player at A&M grow his hair out for Locks of Love. We had some old Ags who didn't care for his look and were making comments about how he needed to cut his hair. Then, he explained that his grandmother had cancer and had told him that the hardest part of treatments was seeing the children who were also suffering. Right before she died, she asked him if he would grow his hair out for donation to Locks of Love. He agreed. No more comments from the old Ags.

 

[marcyinPA]

I had a preschooler a couple of years ago with beautiful long hair. He was often mistaken for a girl (he was a beautiful little 2 year old)- and what I didn't know was that his parents were growing his hair out to donate. By the spring of our school year, he had enough to donate, and came in one Monday morning with a short "little boy" haircut!

 

[Tinkerbell53]

My brother did this a few years back when he decided his 80s hair band locks had to go. His hair was long thick and brown almost to his waist. He looked strange at first but now we are finally used to him with short hair.

My DD and my brother's niece have also donated their hair (both blonde long and thick).

 

[elgerber]

I believe Shaun White donated his fabulous red curls to Locks for Love.