Well Susan here goes the first paragraph is the email I sent them.
Hi My name is Tiffany and I am African American, I would like to donate hair some time next year, but I first need to know does Locks of Love accept African American hair that has been chemically relaxed? My hair is relaxed chemically and I would like to know before I cut it do you accept that type of hair or do you want it to be all natural with no kind of chemical process done to it.
Thank you so much for your time. Tiffany
And here is the response email I recieved:
Thank you for your email. Your hair is acceptable as long as it has not been bleached or highlighted.
We accept tax-deductible financial contributions and donations of human hair. Hair donations must meet the following criteria: * 10" or longer (measured from tip to tip) * Clean and dry * Bundled in a ponytail or braid and placed in a Ziploc bag * Write your name and mailing address on a sheet of paper Mail in a padded manila envelope; send regular mail, UPS, Fed Ex, or any way you prefer. Locks of Love 2925 10th Ave North, Ste 102 Lake Worth, Fl. 33461
Hair cut years ago is usable as long as it has been stored in a ponytail or braid.
Sorry, we DO NOT accept dreadlocks as they are unsuitable to make our children's hairpieces.
We DO NOT accept wigs, falls, hair extensions or synthetic hair. Contact the American Cancer Society (800-227-2345) or a local hospital; maybe they would have some use for hairpieces.
We DO accept colored and permed hair but we DO NOT accept chemically damaged hair. If you are not sure, ask your stylist. Hair that has bleach or highlights is considered chemically damaged and will dissolve when processed before making the child's hairpiece.
We don't dye the hair because the pieces are worn for at least two years and dye would wash out over time. We don't use gray hair because we only provide pieces to children. Several ponytails are used to make one piece and different colors are combined to get the finished color. Gray or silver hair will show prominently in a hairpiece and that's why we don't use it. I do not know of an adult program, like ours, that accepts gray or white hair.
We realize some people do not want to wait for the longer length to grow. We prefer 10" or longer in a braid or ponytail, clean and dry and if curly, pull it straight and measure. It does not matter if there are split ends, angled or layered hair. The hair will be taken care of when the hairpiece is being prepared. You may donate a single ponytail or several ponytails for a more even cut. We can accept hair bound together into a braid or ponytail that is at least 6 inches long, clean, and dry.
We DO accept gray hair and short hair, longer than six inches, and the complete ponytails are separated from the other ponytails, because they are unsuitable to make a child's hairpiece. We do sell them in bulk and the proceeds help us with our administrative, and production costs. We are a non-for-profit organization.
If you have any further questions, give us a call at (561) 963-1677 or visit our web site www.locksoflove.org.
P.S. - Your hair does not change to green from being in a pool because of the chlorine. The chlorine in a pool does not damage your hair and does not turn it green. You get green hair from a pool because pools often use a copper based algaecide or copper heating elements. These hard metals (copper, iron, and manganese, in particular) are oxidized by the chlorine and the water and then bond to your hair creating a blue-green tint. Pool green hair is okay to donate.
Mailroom Coordinator Locks of Love 2925 10th Ave N. Suite 102 Lake Worth, FL 33461 http://www.locksoflove.org ph: 561-963-1677 fax: 561-963-9914
That looks like some sort of pre typed FAQ answer.
Just think of all the people with grey hair who are cutting their hair for no reason. If you have grey hair and are going to cut it you're better off selling it yourself if you can get a better price than LOL gets. Then you can donate the money to them or other. But is LOL going to the media and saying please don't send grey hair? No they just take the donations and sell it.
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Actually I saw an online article from a woman with grey hair who donated her hair to LOL, and she knew that they would sell it rather than use it. Also the above FAQs are easily accessed on the website, so anyone that chooses to donate could check before they cut.
I can see that some people wouldn't want to bother selling it themselves. We do live in a Fast Food, Fast Service world. If I were cutting my hair and didn't feel like looking through the yellow pages for a hair buying wig shop and going there and all that I would just send the hair to LOL knowing they already have a way to sell it. I just hope that they are actually getting a good price for it.
I think they use hair for oil spill equipment so LOL could be selling it to a company that makes those if not something else. I suppose it's better cleaning up the environment than going in a landfill in a bag. Maybe those oil spill equipment companies accept donated hair?
But is LOL going to the media and saying please don't send grey hair? No they just take the donations and sell it.
It is so pitiful that they do that. I have been thinking and I would much rather do a financial donation rather than cut my hair off and donate it to them and they then decide instead to sell it.
I've never heard of this or the particular organisation involved so it was an interesting read. All I can say is that if anyone approached me, in the street for eg, and was accussing about my not wanting to donate my hair I have a very simple comeback - the money I save on haircuts by having long hair already goes to charity instead.
If I ever do decide to cut my hair it would be great to know that I could send it to a good cause (not sure if we have anything similar here - certainly never heard of it) . Perhaps the issue here is that LOL do not understand how protective we are over our hair and that greater openness is required to encourage more to donate.
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Wow I never knew that Locks of Love was one of
those charities that most are this cautious about. I was planning
on growing my hair and cutting it and donating it but I don't know
anymore. I think I need to email them and ask about African
American hair because mine is chemically relaxed and I don't know if
they will accept it.
I would like to thank the person who started this thread. If
you had never started it I wouldn't have found all of this info.
Thank you.
Hi Tffy,
I've read before on their website that they cannot use chemically
treated (including relaxed) hair in the hairpieces they have
made. Any such hair they receive is either sold or discarded.
Their response to you was, to me, confusing:
"Your hair is acceptable as long as it has not been bleached or highlighted... We DO accept colored and permed hair but we DO NOT accept
chemically damaged hair. If you are not sure, ask your stylist. Hair
that has bleach or highlights is considered chemically damaged and will
dissolve when processed before making the child's hairpiece."
Are they suggesting that colored and permed hair are not
chemically damaged? Or are significantly less damaged than hair
that has been bleached and highlighted? If naturally dark hair is
"colored" blonde, it has been bleached. Their guidelines are
vague and inconsistent.
Wow I never knew that Locks of Love was one of those charities that most are this cautious about. I was planning on growing my hair and cutting it and donating it but I don't know anymore. I think I need to email them and ask about African American hair because mine is chemically relaxed and I don't know if they will accept it.
I would like to thank the person who started this thread. If you had never started it I wouldn't have found all of this info.
Thank you.
Hi Tffy,
I've read before on their website that they cannot use chemically treated (including relaxed) hair in the hairpieces they have made. Any such hair they receive is either sold or discarded.
Their response to you was, to me, confusing:
"Your hair is acceptable as long as it has not been bleached or highlighted... We DO accept colored and permed hair but we DO NOT accept chemically damaged hair. If you are not sure, ask your stylist. Hair that has bleach or highlights is considered chemically damaged and will dissolve when processed before making the child's hairpiece."
Are they suggesting that colored and permed hair are not chemically damaged? Or are significantly less damaged than hair that has been bleached and highlighted? If naturally dark hair is "colored" blonde, it has been bleached. Their guidelines are vague and inconsistent.
I don't know if they are suggesting that permed hair isn't chemically damaged, but as you read in my post my hair is chemically permed but it's not damaged. Although there are some, I think a majority, that perm and don't take proper care of their hair and it is damaged.
I definately agree with you about their guidelines being vague and inconsistent. Plus them saying that they do accept that type of hair is just them attempting to get more hair to sell rather than make the wigs.
That does sound confusing. When I was in school we were taught that perming or relaxing was used to break the bonds in the hair and that once broken they can't be repaired. Breaking the bonds permanently sounds like chemical damage. Now some people can have chemical services and not have any problems with their hair but it is still chemically damaged at some level.
I think that since LOL is so picky about what hair they will or won't use you are probably better off not sending any hair that is questionable. I mean that for anyone who is in doubt.
I personally would not trust a stylist to tell me if it was damaged unless they were my long time stylist. You're asking a stylist to tell you whether or not your hair is ok to cut for donating. I'm sure a lot of stylists out there would tell you it's healthy enough for donating just because they want to get you to try a new style.
It's a catch 22. Either it is healthy enough to cut and donate or it's too damaged and they would recommend cutting it off anyway.
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Yes Robert, it was quite clear to me that the response she received was a form letter.
And adding to the categories of damage could be cases such as the ends
of my hair (for sake of discussion, the last 12" of it), which have
been subjected to (damaged by) years of wear and tear, and exposure to
the elements (including sunshine). The ends of my hair are much
lighter than the hair at the scalp. Chemically processed (perm,
color, bleach, highlight, etc)? No. Damaged? You
bet. Would they use the ends of my hair in a hairpiece?
Absolutely not.
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Well, for all the Brits on here who weren't aware of LoL type organisations here, fear no more - in my local newspaper tonight there was an article about a policewoman who grew her hair for five years so she could donate it to LoL, and is now doing to do it again because it was so easy.
Evidently we can just post our hair to liars. Hurrah!
This is just the kind of thing I *don't* need...People are bound to have read it who will now start trying to presure me too. Luckily my friends know better
I was answering a thread on another forum about this charity.
Unlike Locks Of Love, Wigs For Kids, or Angel Hair this charity,
Strands For Stars does not ask for hair donations because they make
synthetic wigs for not just kids but anyone who needs one.
I didn't see anything on their donate page that mentioned donating hair.
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I was answering a thread on another forum about this charity.
Unlike Locks Of Love, Wigs For Kids, or Angel Hair this charity,
Strands For Stars does not ask for hair donations because they make
synthetic wigs for not just kids but anyone who needs one.
I didn't see anything on their donate page that mentioned donating hair.
Lovely, yet another hair charity. It seems that people are
picking up on the notion that farming others' hair (for free!) can be a
lucrative endeavor.
On the "products" page they state: "Typically, we provide synthetic wigs; however, we will work with each client to ensure they have the wig of their choice."
They don't say they don't use human hair. They also say they use
existing wigs but don't say that they don't make new ones. Almost
nothing of their operations is mentioned in their web content.
Too many unanswered questions.
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