Guide to Donating Your Hair to Charity

This week Richard Daly, owner of Richard Salon on Main Street, talks about how to donate your hair to charity. Have a hair or beauty question for Rich? E-mail questions@richardsalon.com with your question.

Question: My daughter and her friends are wondering how they would go about donating their hair to charity and how long it needs to be to do so? (Dawn C. - Smithtown)

Richard: In the salon, we do a lot of hair donations for a charity called Locks of Love. The hair needs to be at least 10 inches in length, braided or banded together, and measured in the back. The ponytail is first cut dry and then a full haircut is performed after that. The ponytail donation is then mailed to Locks of Love to help create hairpieces for children suffering from long-term medical hair loss.

Here are a few guidelines posted by Locks of Love:

• Hair must be 10 inches measured tip to tip, since this is the minimum length needed to create a hairpiece.
• Hair must be in a ponytail or braid before it is cut.
• Hair must be clean and completely dry before it is donated.
• Hair must be placed inside of a plastic bag and then inside of a padded envelope.

Most salons, including ours, will perform haircut services free of charge to anyone donating their hair to charity.

Please refer to the Locks of Love website for further information at www.locksoflove.org.