Donating hair...give me all the info and answer some specific questions....PLEASE!!!!!!!

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Member since 5/05

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Name:
K

Donating hair...give me all the info and answer some specific questions....PLEASE!!!!!!!

I have had very long hair for most of my life and now I am 42 and I am starting to feel bad that I never once donated my hair like so many of my friends have. I kept it long when they donated it and then after DS was born, I did the mommy chop thing gradually, not at once.

I have been looking at the different charities that accept donations. My hair is color treated with permanent color but not bleach. I have some grays. I had bleach hi-lights 3 years ago but I believe those have all been cut out by now. I am willing to start the growth process again to make sure that none of what I am donating was bleached. I would want to grow my hair a lot longer than it is now anyway.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths will not accept color treated hair but will accept hair that is up to 5 percent gray. I would say that my hair is much less than 5 percent gray but how do I really tell? When my color needs to be done, the grays pop up (they literally have more height than the rest of my hair because the texture is different). I would say that less than 1 in 20 hairs on my head are gray but there really is no way to tell what percent gray I am. I can't donate to this charity anyway, because of the permanent color. I am using their 5 percent as a guideline anyway b/c other sites are not specific.

Locks of Love will take color treated hair but the website just says that gray hair is only of use for them to sell to offset costs of things like the prosthesis for the wigs. I would prefer they use my hair because if they are going to sell it, I may as well donate money & not grow my hair. My hair is not very easy to care for and I would have to take extra care if I was donating it. I am worried that my ends get very dry. I have a ton of hair but each individual strand is very fine. I don't think that is the optimal texture.

Are there local organizations that do this? Has anyone heard of Zichron Manachem? It is an Israeli organization with a NY office. Their site says that they do not accept hair that is "completely white or grey" but that they sell some of the hair to fund their various projects (all of which do seem to be worthy but again, if I grow my hair I do hope they use it).

Anyone know more about donating when you have a little bit of gray? I may only get to do this once because I might be too gray later on.

One of my best friends grows her hair and donates it regularly but her hair has never been colored and she does not have any gray. I have watched her do this many times!! She would be so excited if I told her I want to do this now.

I am getting a haircut very soon and I have to decide whether to just trim it to get ready to donate or whether to get rid of some length now (if I can't donate anyway). What if a ton more grays come in before I am ready to donate? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.

Thoughts?

ETA: Now I find Wigs for Kids, which accepts gray but not color treated. I know it must sound awful but I do not want to stop coloring my hair. The color actually gives it the texture for me do more with it, plus I hate seeing even one gray. I could grow my hair as long as they want & condition it as much as possible but I want to color it!

I'm going to bed but I hope to figure this out so I have a plan.

Message edited 12/2/2010 1:51:13 AM.

Posted 12/2/10 1:41 AM