Locks Of Love - Good or Bad?

Well I guess someone needs to start a thread and I am willing.Here goes: while I think the Locks of Love is a worthy cause, I also worry that people with long hair will be coerced into cutting it to "do the right thing". One of the recent Miss Beauty Somethings, was it Virginia? was recently in the press for cutting tons of her hair off "for a good cause".What are the politics of this issue and is this a good thing or a thing where you get confused in the issues?Thanks for bringing the board back. I for one am glad it is back.Carol

> In fact, if I wanted to donate my hair, I wouldn't> even know where to go. I'm willing to bet this Miss> Virginia (or whatever) did it 1) for publicity, 2)> because it IS a worthy cause, and 3) because she> wanted to cut her hair anyway.It was Miss Virginia USA, Kellie Lightbourn. As for they hows and whys for doing it, stay tuned... =)Related Link:JerkyFlea's Celebrity Hair Spray

JerkyFlea,You have to look at these kinds of "charities" carefully. Locks of Love is a non-profit organization, this is true. They do not give away the wigs, they sell them at "cost". The hair may be donated, but the wigs have to be made. They are made by a "for profit" company that just happens to be owned by the person who runs Locks of Love. Now it starts to look a lot less charitable. This is probably why some people consider it a scam.Bryan> Hi Carol,> Actually, I was considering staring this thread> myself, so I'm glad you did. I had heard rumblings> that some of the more long hair oriented people look> upon this charity as a "scam". I'd really> like to hear why for my own edification.> Personally, I see it as any other charity. If you> don't want to donate your old clothes to the Salvation> Army or give money to the March of Dimes, then you> don't. I don't see how they would have any more> societal influence than any other charity. In other> words, if you are keeping those jeans you never wear> anymore and spending your dimes on bubblegum, odds are> that you won't cut off your hair for Locks of Love.> Just my opinion,> JerkyFlea

Dave..You are exactly right. Some people can't understand why people want to keep their hair long and consider it as no big deal to cut it short. For others it is a huge sacrifice.To say that Locks of Love doesn't pressure people is maybe correct, but it's whole premise in helping children who are seriously ill must engender pressure on long haired women, who know about it, to part with their hair. I can imagine jealous friends or colleages applying such pressure and guilt. Is anyone seriously telling me that quality wigs are in such short supply in the US that long haired women need to part with their hair? I think not.Keep your lovely long hair and send money to buy wigs if you feel it worthwhile. You short haired people could do the same.Iggy..

Hi Iggy,> To say that Locks of Love doesn't pressure people is> maybe correct, but it's whole premise in helping> children who are seriously ill must engender pressure> on long haired women, who know about it, to part with> their hair. I can imagine jealous friends or colleages> applying such pressure and guilt.Case in point: Just two days ago, I met a group of three young women (friends of each other). One of them has waist-length hair, the others shoulder-length hair. The one with waist-length hair told me that one of the other two friends has been pushing her to cut her hair and give it to Locks of Love.> Keep your lovely long hair and send money to buy wigs> if you feel it worthwhile. You short haired people> could do the same.I recently read a "People" magazine article about Locks of Love which stated that they have had 20,000 donations yet have made very few wigs (about 50?, with about 10 donations per wig), and that the reason they haven't made more of the hair into wigs was for want of money. I would agree with you, Iggy, that the better way to help (within this micro-context) would be for people to send money to pay for the making of wigs... yet I am concerned about Locks of Love's conflict of interests, which Bryan has pointed out.Dave

I read a story that said that the beauty contestant met a little girl who either was losing her hair or had lost her hair due to an illness. When the woman asked the little girl what she wanted more than anything else in the world, the little girl said that she wanted hair just like the beauty contestant's! The woman loved her hair but made the sacrifice for a child, knowing that it might cost her a few modeling jobs (her hair was *beautiful*!).Donating hair to a child with a disease is a *very* worthwhile cause, in my opinion. The woman can grow her hair back. The child can't. I do not think women should be coerced into doing this by any means, but those who do (and who really love their long hair) are being very, very selfless and should be admired, I think.Jena> I have yet to hear of a situation where someone cut> his/her hair off because they felt socially obligated> to do so. This is like saying that the Salvation Army> coerces people into giving up their wardrobes. The> truth is, people donate only what they're willing to> part with, generally items that no longer suit their> tastes, needs, or body type. The same goes for hair.> But let's assume a worst-case scenario: Let's say> Locks of Love is pressuring women to give up their> long hair for the sake of those who can't grow any.> Hair grows back. Donating a ponytail can help to heal> someone's emotional scars and help them to feel> "normal" and pretty again. This, in turn,> can help motivate them to fight their illness and> survive.> But I don't see how the organization could be> "pressuring" individuals to cut their hair.> They don't have a mailing list of long-haired> Americans. They don't have agents stationed at every> salon. The most extreme situation I could imagine> might be a charitable promotion going on at a salon,> where the stylists would ask long-haired patrons,> "Would you like to donate your hair to Locks of> Love?" The customer would then have only to say> no.> Someone who /couldn't/ say no to that would have to> have assertiveness issues, period.> In fact, if I wanted to donate my hair, I wouldn't> even know where to go. I'm willing to bet this Miss> Virginia (or whatever) did it 1) for publicity, 2)> because it IS a worthy cause, and 3) because she> wanted to cut her hair anyway.> Ally

Hi everyone,I'm responding to several posts in this one, so it may be kind of long, which I apologize for in advance...First Dave, who says:Your statement seems to presume that people who have long hair choose to not cut it based on a choice to retain things which aren't seen by others as being immediately useful. Not true. I was simply relating the first examples that came to mind. I could have easily tossed in donating time at a soup kitchen or building a house for Habitat for Humanity. One's time is obviously a very useful commidity, as is one's money as in the case of of my March of Dimes example. What you choose to do with it is entirely your decision.Being resourceful/frugal/thrifty and simultaneously being charitable are not necessarily mutually exclusive attributes.Very true. As a matter of fact, a personal pet peeve of mine is letters to the editor of the newspaper that lament that anytime any large expenditure is made that the writer may consider frivilous (e.g., the city's Christmas tree), the money could have been better used to educate children, feed the homeless, etc.I also sense a subtle condemnation (a guilt trip) on your part toward that subset of long-haired people who choose not to cut off their hair for charity. Should like-minded but perpetually short-haired people be made to feel badly for not growing their hair long so that they, too, could potentially donate hair to charity? No. And likewise, neither should those long-haired people be made to feel badly for wishing to keep it long in the face of choices to the contrary.I truly don't know where you picked that up from my initial post. I have absolutely nothing against long hair. In fact, Mrs. Flea currently has almost waist-length hair, which I love. She has no immediate plans to cut it, but she has said that if she ever decided to cut it, that donating the cut hair to Locks of Love would be a worthwhile gesture, since just throwing it away would be a waste. And I can't disagree with that. That doesn't, however, change the fact that I love her hair long and hope it stays that way.Iggy sez...To say that Locks of Love doesn't pressure people is maybe correct, but it's whole premise in helping children who are seriously ill must engender pressure on long haired women, who know about it, to part with their hair. I can imagine jealous friends or colleages applying such pressure and guilt. I don't believe you can isolate the "pressure and guilt" of donating to a chartity to just to Locks of Love. Haven't you ever had a United Way fund drive in your office? =)Anyway, I look at it this way: it is unfair to pressure or guilt anyone into donating to any organization, since it should be done for genuine philathropic reasons (though the tax break is what drives most). In other words, if I'm rich, I'm going to get pressure to donate money. If I own a shoe factory, I'll get asked to donate shoes to the homeless. If I own a restaurant, I'll get requests to donate extra food to the needy. And, if I have long hair, I may get suggestions to cut my hair to donate it to kids who can't grow hair. Do I have to do any of those things in any of those situations? Not at all.Is anyone seriously telling me that quality wigs are in such short supply in the US that long haired women need to part with their hair? I think not. The wigs produced by Locks of Love are custom fit, personalized wigs that would normally retail in the range of $3000. These wigs go to kids who can't afford these type of high quality hairpieces. Actually, some families have difficulty paying for any sort of wig and need to go through their HMO (which, in many cases, refuses to pick up the cost). I'm sure, Iggy, if you were able to work with one of the wig companies to organize their donating high quality wigs to these kids, we would support your efforts as well.Speaking of cost, that leads us to Brian who writes...You have to look at these kinds of "charities" carefully. Locks of Love is a non-profit organization, this is true. They do not give away the wigs, they sell them at "cost". The hair may be donated, but the wigs have to be made. Actually, the wigs are either given to the children for free or are priced on a sliding scale based on the family's income. This ensures that the children can get the wigs as intended, but also makes sure the organization has funds to continue making the wigs. As you said, the hair may be donated, but the wigs have to be made. It takes a minimum of 4 months to make one of these wigs by hand (since they are custom wigs). Since they get much more hair donated than money, in order to continue, they must cover the cost of making the wigs. And, I would think, it would be difficult to get someone to work 4 months for free.They are made by a "for profit" company that just happens to be owned by the person who runs Locks of Love. Now it starts to look a lot less charitable. This is probably why some people consider it a scam. To my knowledge, neither the woman who founded Locks of Love, Peggy Knight, nor the Executive Director, Jennifer Cox, runs the company that actually manufactures the wigs. Ms. Knight started the organization because she suffers from alopecia areata herself. Ms. Cox runs the office with one other full-time person and a myriad of volunteers.Doesn't exactly sound like a pyramid scheme to me, how about you?And finally to Carolyn B and BB, I don't find you selfish for not wanting to cut your hair and donate. Unlike cash or old clothes or your time, your hair is something that's part of your self-image and thus, in many ways, an even more significant sacrifice than the other things I mentioned. Thus, just because you have long hair, that is no reason to cut it and donate it anymore than just because you have a nice car, you should sell it and give the proceeds to Jerry's Kids. That's just ludicrous.JerkyFleaRelated Link:JerkyFlea's Celebrity Hair Spray

> I agree with many of the things you say but wanted to> respond anyway.Me, too.> I am in the UK so I'm afraid I have no idea what a> United Way fund drive is. We have had collections for> various charities at my company but I work away from> the office so have no idea what sort of peer pressure> is applied during these collections.Here in the US, fund drives can be very unpleasant things, as I and others have experienced. Many companies put heavy pressure on their employees to boost the companies' tax credits or public image.> If this is the case and they take so long to make then> surely the largest cost, by far,is labour to make the> wigs. Getting the hair supplied for free must make an> insignificant difference to the overall cost. Asking> women to cut their hair is probably done more for> publicity value than the actual need for their hair.Excellent points. LOL doesn't need a PR firm. It relies on zealous do-gooders who don't mind laying guilt trips on others. People get worked up over the plight of the victims and see no problem in pressuring even complete strangers. Trust me, in the past couple of weeks, I've had more people mention LOL to me, that it's been almost like the "Twilight Zone." Yesterday, an aquaintance at church and later a stranger at the store mentioned my long hair and brought up LOL. This thing is almost bigger than Pokemon.Also, Dave D. quoted a People magazine article, one that I've read, too. There is a fact about LOL that people should be alerted to, especially those individuals who donate their hair in good faith: the organization is considering selling some of the donated hair to raise money to cover the creation of the wigs. Exactly where the sold hair winds up is anyone's guess, but if I donated my hair, believing it would be reserved for some poor, afflicted child's head, and I discovered it went to some hair auction or to an expensive wigmaker instead, I'd be seriously ticked.> For some reason, kids in the UK in a similar position> don't seem to feel the need for a wig. Perhaps your> society engenders vanity more than ours? Just a> thought.. (Iggy ducks down behind computer as> avalanche starts)..I betcha you're right. No offense taken.Jennifer Eve

> For some reason, kids in the UK in a similar position> don't seem to feel the need for a wig. Perhaps your> society engenders vanity more than ours? Just a> thought.. (Iggy ducks down behind computer as> avalanche starts)..Well, imagine you are a little girl, and through no fault of your own, you lost your hair. I imagine it would be devastating. Even though I'm sure teachers would explain what happened to the child, other children would no doubt tease the child with no hair. I don't think it's so much a matter of vanity, but one of identification and humility. If one of the adult women here lost all her hair, most likely she would view it as losing a part of herself. Even though a wig isn't technically a part of us, it's a soothing bandage. :-)

Hi Folks!I'm from Germany and can tell you that LOL doesn't exist here. Nevertheless the few children who wants to wear a wig easily can get one, but the most ill children prefer to wear a cap. The most real human hair is surely used for long hair extensions. I also heard that only very few longhaired ladies have hair of the quality to make a wig of (if it had been coloured or permed in the past, it is not possible to use it, for example). Nevertheless this organisation seems to cut EVERY long hair. It seems all not very trustworthy to me. How many women should cut her hair, that every ill child get's a wig (not asked if it really want's to wear one). Millions? Impossible that they need so much of it. The whole discussion is superfluous if everyone who feels the need to help those children spends money for them, hairloss is not the only problem if you have cancer, let them decide themselves what to do with the money. I agree only in one point with JerkyFLea: If a lady decides to cut her hair for herself, and ONLY for herself, it's much better to donate it than to throw it into garbage.