Did you just get done cutting your hair or someone else’s hair? Most likely you probably took the hair and placed it into the garbage. Did you know there are quite a few ways to recycle that cut hair? I am sure you all heard of Locks of Love, where you can donate the cut hair to a child who has cancer, or other hair loss conditions, but there are other places similar to Locks of Love such as Pantene Beautiful Lengths, Wigs for Kids, and Matter of Trust. If you don’t feel donating the hair you can do things like save a few hair strands for the next time you need to do a color swatch test strand, fill up a birds nest to keep them warm, make hair crafts, or test different beauty products on the hair to see how the product works before applying it to your hair. Being a beautician I have kept quite a bit of people’s hair. I have used it for testing products, creating new colors on different textures of hair, and I have even used it to keep the squirrels out of my backyard. Here are a few websites that can help you choose where you wish to donate the used hair to. Always remember recycling the hair is better than having the hair go to a waste.
Locks of Love- This organization is one of the top. They have been around for many years making and donating hairpieces to children who have cancer, or other hair loss issues. All you need to do is cut off at least 10 inches of hair in order to donate for Locks of Love to create a special hairpiece. This will help children feel more confident. The hair must be cleaned, and placed into a ponytail before cutting. If you have less than 10 inches of hair that is placed into a clean ponytail you can still donate it. This company uses the shorter length for little boys who have lost their hair. If you go to this website it will give you full instructions how to donate the hair, a hair donation form to fill out, guidelines on what type of hair is accepted, and a video to show you step by step.
Pantene Beautiful Lengths- This is another website who allows you to donate your hair. It’s almost similar to Looks of Love, but has a few different things to offer. In order to donate hair here it only has to be 8 inches long in a ponytail. When you visit this website it will give you the hair requirements, donating form, and complete easy to follow instructions. Also on this website you can learn how to grow your hair, learn about short hair tips, see and share photos, and see what kind of hair events are going on in your home town.
Wig for Kids- This place requires at least 12 inches of hair that is cleaned, braided or placed into a ponytail. Go to the home page where you will find the donation form, donor stories, children stories, request a hairpiece if needed, medical information, buy a headband, or you can make a financial donation to a child that needs help.
Matter of Trust- This place you can donate any amount of hair. Here they take the hair and turn it into an oil spill hair matt. I thought this idea was a great way of recycling hair. By making the mats it helps soak up all the oil spills, reduces waste, and of course saves the company money in the long run. Also this place takes animal, which is great for all animal owners. I know with my mom’s dog he sheds like crazy and with the amount of pet hair I can get off of him would actually save quite a few oil spills indeed. This place is free to sign up to, gives you easy to follow instruction and explains to you what actually happens to the hair after you make a donation.
http://www.locksoflove.org/
http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/makethecut.jsp
http://www.wigsforkids.org/index.php
