Let Your Hair Grow Into Locks of Love

Are you getting ready to get your hair cut? Is it just too long, with enough to make 10-inch or longer braids or ponytails?

Stop!

Before you cut your hair, consider donating it to "It's Just Hair, a cut-a-thon at Taylor Brooks Salon to benefit Locks of Love, but primarily to spread awareness about Alopecia Areata. (Read the accompanying pdf file for details and requirements to donate hair.)

• What: 6th annual “It’s Just Hair” cut-a-thon to benefit Locks of Love
• When: Monday, May 14, between noon and 9 p.m.
• Where:  on Jones Bridge Road
• Contact: Email Diane Cooley or call her at 678-521-5639 to register or for more information.

Locks of Love creates and provides custom hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

Diane Cooley and her daughters, 11-year-old Jenna and 13-year-old Emily–both students at –are the organizers behind “It’s Just Hair.”

Jenna Cooley was diagnosed with Alopecia when she was 3, her mother said.

"She is my inspiration for this event and she will actually be donating 10 inches of her locks this year," Diane Cooley said.

Alopecia causes bald spots across the scalp and can develop into total hair loss including eyebrows, eyelashes and all body hair, Diane said. "Over the course of six months, Jenna continued to lose approximately 50 percent of her hair."

In the past seven years Jenna has mostly grown back all of her hair, but she does experience mild loss that has been manageable.

Later in the first year of Jenna's diagnosis, her mother and sister, Emily, decided to grow their hair to donate to Locks of Love. They donated their first ponytails in 2005. It was easy to do, so the mother and daughter decided to make it an annual event, and the "It's Just Hair" cut-a-thon was born.

"We started talking to people in our elementary school and church and it just snowballed from there," Diane Cooley said.

The first “It’s Just Hair” event was held in May 2007 and since that time they have donated more than 500 ponytails to Locks of Love with the help of those in the community.

"I feel honored and I also feel really good about myself when I do this," Jenna said. "'It’s Just Hair' is an opportunity for people with alopecia to get hair from people and feel good about themselves. My mother helped me when I had alopecia and now I want to help other people.

"Every single person’s hair counts to people with alopecia and people should be honored that they are contributing for such a great cause," Jenna said.

This will be Taylor Brooks’ fifth year helping with the event, offering their stylists and staff to provide haircuts and styles free of charge for all 10-inch donors on the day of our event.

"They are as passionate about this cause as I am and it has been a wonderful partnership," Diane Cooley said.

"It's Just Hair" isn't about money. As its name states it's just about hair donations, though some people choose to donate to Locks of Love.