By Matthew McGevna
Normally a family member does the trimming and the crimping, but with so many of her children needing a cut, St. John decided to call in a professional.
Her six-year-old daughter, Olivia, had wanted a short haircut for some time. Her blonde hair was starting to grow to Repunzel lengths‹down to her wrists‹as she tells the story. She thought she¹d like a shorter look. Maybe four, five inches off the bottom.
How about 13 inches?
³We were at the salon, and I heard about an organization that takes real hair and makes wigs for children with illnesses,² explained St. John. ³So I said to her, would you like to donate your hair, and she said OK.²
The organization is called Locks of Love, a not-for-profit based in Florida that has been operating since 1997. According to its web site the group was spearheaded by Madonna Coffman, a retired cardiac nurse who experience first-hand, the agony of losing hair at a young age. When her daughter developed alopecia, a disease that causes the hair follicles all over the body to fall out, she felt she needed to do something to relieve the pain her daughter was going through‹the snickers, the whispers, the ridicule. Synthetic wigs looked so obvious. So she founded Locks of Love, and started collecting hair donations from long-haired people all over the country.
Over at Hair Razors in Malverne, Gilbert Giraldo, Olivia¹s stylist for the day, was hip to the idea. When Olivia settled in, Giraldo took a good handful of her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. Just below the ears. He snapped the tail into a tight rubber band. Then he held the scissors horizontally and sheared off two-thirds of Olivia¹s hair. Most girls would freak. ³I thought it was so cool,² Olivia said, ³I love my short hair.²
Giraldo remembered Olivia fondly. ³It¹s a nice thing to do,² he said, ³If you can help somebody, why not? She was a very nice, very sweet girl. She didn¹t complain, she was very happy with how high I cut it.² Giraldo added that a few weeks later, another girl came in and donated her hair as well.
Visions of America¹s Next Top Model spring to mind, when the contestants writhe, and squirm and weep bitterly in the barbers chair as they get their new hairdos. Some raise such a fuss they get kicked off the show.
³I don¹t understand, it¹s just hair,² said Olivia, with her palms up, ³it grows back.²
³And it made some very sick little boy or girl very happy right?² Olivia¹s mother asked. Olivia nodded and smiled.
St. John said she didn¹t have the first clue what to do with Olivia¹s ponytail once it had been lopped off. ³Neither did they [the salon]. First Gilbert was walking around with it in his hand, and then I took it, and we drove it home. I¹m in the house with this thing in my hand.²
Finally, they got the situation under control and mailed the ponytail to Locks of Love in a sealed ziplock bag. Olivia was right about her hair growing back. Since July of last year, her hair has grown down near her shoulders. She doesn¹t know if she¹s going to donate her hair again when it gets long enough to meet the 10 inch requirement for Locks of Love. But she does know that she wants to be a teacher. She wants to take after Mrs. Hunt, her first-grade instructor at Downing Elementary School.
Last December, the St. Johns got an official notice from Locks of Love that her 13 inch ponytail had been used to make a hairpiece. As a policy, Locks of Love will not disclose the recipient of Olivia¹s hair unless the recipient requests a meeting. The St. Johns say that¹s OK. As long as they know somebody got to use Olivia¹s donation to make their lives a little more bearable. For Olivia, donating her hair and becoming a teacher, or a nurse, is all part of a simple explanation.
³I like helping people,² she said.
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