Donating Your Hair: 101

How and Where to Donate Your Hair | Donating Hair: 101

I’ve been donating my hair every few years since I was in middle school. It’s something I’m very passionate about since my hair seems to grow like Rapunzel’s. Hair grows back, and I have never regretted chopping mine off (sometimes it does take some time to get used to not using half of the shampoo bottle in a week and not having to brush an extra foot of hair 😅)

But  I’ve also made the mistake of donating to the WRONG organizations, and I don’t want others to do the same, so I’m sharing all of the info I know about the best organizations to donate to, requirements, and how to send it in.

Organizations I recommend:

1. Children With Hair Loss: They provide wigs for children with alopecia and who have lost their hair due to illness. It’s truly a nonprofit organization.
2. Pantene Beautiful Lengths–I haven’t donated to this one yet (because I donate to CWHL), but my brother’s Mother-in-law had leukemia and she said they were wonderful to work with. *Update–they are no longer accepting donations*

Organizations I DO NOT recommend:

1. Locks of Love

Personal story about L.O.L.– My family member with leukemia applied for a wig and they denied giving her one because she was not classified as “terminally ill” even though she had lost all of her hair and had more treatments throughout the year. Just let that sink in.

On top of that, they charge their clients for wigs! You also have to jump through hoops–provide all of your financial papers from the current year, get recommendations from teachers/coaches about why you need a wig and how it would benefit you, and more. There’s more on the interwebs about this shady company if you’d like to know more.

Requirements:

Children With Hair Loss:

1. hair needs to be at least 8″
2. Hair must be clean and dry, pony-tailed and/or braided (this keeps the hair in one direction).
3. Place rubberband or pony tail holder on each end.
4. Non-chemically treated hair is preferred (but any hair in good condition will be accepted) (I’m unsure if they take bleached hair–their website doesn’t mention it, so email them to make sure!).
5. Gray hair is accepted.

Instructions for collecting hair here: https://www.childrenwithhairloss.us/donate/donate-your-hair/

*update! Pantene is no longer accepting donations*

Pantene Beautiful Lengths:

1. hair needs to be at least 8″
2. no dyes, bleaches, or chemicals allowed
3. gray hair is not accepted if there’s more than 95% gray

Instructions for collecting here: https://pantene.com/en-us/brandexperience/make-the-cut

What you need to donate to Children With Hair Loss:

1. Complete the form found at this link
2. 8″ of dry hair in a ponytail (they will not take it if it’s loose)
3. ziplock bag
4. envelope to mail it

That’s it! Be sure to spread the word! When you donate to Children With Hair Loss share your photos on social media and tag #cutpasslove

Before and Afters:

Can you believe when I donated for the first time camera phones didn’t exist?!?! In fact, I didn’t even have a cell phone! Therefore, there is no physical evidence of that day. HAHA!

This was my second time donating. My best friend and I chopped our hair off our senior year of high school. Smartphones still didn’t exist (I know, I’m ancient 😜) so this was taken with my point-and-shoot canon camera. (Circa 2008) It took a long time for my hair to grow after I chopped it to my shoulders. Mostly because I kept trimming it. If you want your hair to grow longer don’t trim it as often!

2013 (after our wedding!)
2015(honestly I had no idea my hair was that long until I straightened it lol):The last time (2017) I was feeling brave and cut off an entire foot! 

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