Sharing Hope

It's three months today since I chopped off all my hair and donated it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. I went shorter than I wanted to go simply because I wanted to make sure with my layers that I would be meeting the required length  needed in order for it to be acceptable. Three months later and I am loving the length that it is. Sometimes I really miss my long hair, but overall I'm so glad that I did it. I told myself that if I was ever in the position to donate my hair again, that I would. It can't be colored (and it took a LOOONG time to grow it out from that) and you have to be able to donate a minimum of 8 inches. (It also can't be more than 5% gray - which luckily I don't have to worry about just yet.)

I know a lot of people usually think about Locks for Love but I chose PBL because they deal specifically with cancer patients.

Here is a statement taken directly off their website page:

Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between Pantene® and the American Cancer Society®, the largest nonprofit health organization committed to saving lives from every cancer and improving the quality of life for people facing the disease. The role of Pantene is to help women grow long, strong, beautiful hair and to provide the funds to turn this hair into free, real-hair wigs for women with cancer. So far, Pantene has donated 24,000 free real-hair wigs to the American Cancer Society’s wig banks, which distribute wigs to cancer patients across the country. To see if you are eligible to receive a free wig or if there are wigs available in your area, please call the American Cancer Society’s Wig Bank Line at 1-877-227-1596.

It's hard enough going through cancer treatment without having to deal with losing your hair. I figure people always tell me how healthy and pretty my hair is, so why not help others by donating it? So that's what I've done. Both donations were made in memory of my Nana. And since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month I figured it was as good of a time as any to write about it. I wish I could've donated throughout my life, but I don't even know if such an organization existed back then. I'm hoping I'll be able to do it one more time, but I suppose time will tell with that. Meanwhile I'll share the idea with others.