To Us, It's Hair, But To Women With Cancer, It's HOPE.

Anyone that knows me knows how frugal I am. Cheapskate, bargain hunter, whatever you want to call it, I simply don’t like to spend my money frivolously. If I ever make a “big” purchase it’s usually an investment item. So obviously this crosses even into the beauty department. I rarely get my hair cut. RARELY. I am a hair stylist’s worst client because I won’t be booking another appointment to see you in 6 weeks….it’s gonna be a minimum 6 months realistically…minimum. I don’t get my nails done, cause I have nail polish at home and two perfectly capable hands that can apply polish to my nails, why would I go pay $20 for someone else to do it? I envision buying a pack of diapers in my mind instead. I know, I’m a little bit of an oddball when it comes to pampering myself. Although by all means this makes a great gift if anyone ever needs an idea! (hint, hint, Christmas will be here soon) Nonetheless, it’s a fact that I also have an attachment to my hair. I love it long, always have. I’m a simple client in the chair, just re-layering and cutting off dead ends is usually my request. But this time was different, this time I did not just cut off the dead ends…

The last time I saw my hair stylist Kristine was at the end of October LAST YEAR. Whoooops. I made an appointment because I knew I desperately needed a cut. I should be back in the work force soon and I couldn't imagine dealing with my hair at it’s length, (and lack of any style lately), getting it ready to get out the door with a toddler early in the morning. Last thing I want is to be the woman at work with her hair always in a bun. I want to be slightly cooler than that. So I felt like this was a legit request for my first official “Mom” cut. That day I took a blow dryer to my hair to prep it for the cut while my daughter was napping and it took me 20 mins to dry it all. TWENTY MINUTES. JUST FOR DRYING. #aintnobodygottimeforthat So I needed a practical, easy to style, manageable but in a hot mom way, not soccer mom, I made that clear. I’m still 26 for goodness sakes, I want to have some edge to me. 

Before

After

My hair is long, so very very long. Almost down to my bootay. At first I only wanted to cut maybe 6 inches, maybe. Then I thought well if I’m going to cut that amount I might as well cut a few inches more and donate it to charity. So I googled some charities, “Locks for Love” and the “Pantene Beautiful Lengths” programs specifically to see what their requirements were for length in the donated ponytails. Locks needs a minimum 10 inches and Pantene a mere 8 inches. No problem. I have that. I have “virgin” hair as they call it. Never processed, no chemicals, dyes, highlights, bleach, etc. I have naturally healthy and thick hair. The last thing I wanted was to get my hair cut and see that swept away into the trash when it can actually do some good and help someone else going through a rough time. I did this once before in high school. My first ever hair cut in a salon and I donated to Locks of Love then. So this would surprisingly only be my second time…but certainly not my last.

Kristine is amazing and practically the only person I would trust to do this, she’s not just my hair stylist but a friend. So my hair was in her hands….literally. She separated it into four ponytails and snip, snip, snip, snip….suddenly all my hair was in my hands! I already felt like I lost 5 lbs. My hair had been seriously dragging me down lately from the sheer weight of it. We put it in a plastic ziploc bag and she continued on with washing and then cutting my hair. I was surprised my anxiety level wasn’t higher after the initial cut. But when you know you’re doing it for a good cause, it definitely lowers that. 

As my style was being blow dried, I had a minor panic attack on the inside…I haven’t had my hair this short in…EVER. Never EVER in my life. (Except for my birth when I was practically bald but that doesn’t count) Thankfully Kristine gave me the style and edge I was looking for. I fully let her know it will take me a couple days to a week to fully get used to this new cut but I did love it! It was a major change for me. Showering is gonna be so much easier, I’ll be saving on the amount of shampoo and conditioner I’ve had to use and I’ll be out the door in no time now. But most importantly someone out there will have a wig of  healthy hair to boost their confidence as they go through cancer. As one breast cancer survivor stated on the Pantene website, “It was very hard when my hair started falling out. It really takes away who you are when you look in the mirror.” Putting on a wig made of healthy hair helps make these women feel like themselves again. For that cause alone this made my cut so worth it. I couldn’t imagine going through such a terrible disease and on top of that lose your hair. 

So my hair will be mailed off to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program with a note and a pic of me sporting my new short style. So far, they have donated 24,000 free real-hair wigs to the American Cancer Society’s wig banks which distribute wigs to cancer patients across the country. It takes at least 8 to 15 ponytails to create one wig so I highly recommend that if you have ever considered donating then please do. Or grow your hair out some more so that you can donate it to such an incredible cause like this. 

To top it off when I walked in the door, Aubrey reacted to my hair by saying, “It’s so cute!” while referring to me as Rapunzel. If she thinks it’s cute, then it’s definitely a win! A big thank you to Kristine Bodman at Hairworks in Southwick, MA for my new amazing cut! Check out how the cut went down in the salon below!