Specifications for Donating Your Hair

Several organizations accept hair donations.

Getting your hair cut can be a great way to update your style, but all that hair need not go to waste. Several organizations can use your discarded hair to make hairpieces for children or adults who have lost their hair because of medical reasons, such as treatment for cancer. The most well known of these organizations include Locks of Love, Pantene Beautiful Lengths and Wigs for Kids. Although these organizations rely on hair donations to accomplish their goals, there are some specifications that must be met before you can donate.

Hair Storage

Hair should be put into a ponytail or braid for donation.

Hair should be tightly secured with a rubber band or hair tie in a ponytail or braid before it is cut. Loose hair or hair that has been swept up will not be accepted by Locks of Love, Pantene Beautiful Lengths or Wigs for Kids.

Length

Hair donations can vary in length, depending on the organization it is given to.

Hair lengths accepted for donation vary according to the organization. Locks of Love donations must be at least 10 inches long. Pantene Beautiful Lengths donations only have to be 8 inches long, and Wigs for Kids requires hair donations to be 12 inches long. All of these organizations suggest pulling curly or permed hair straight to get a more accurate measurement.

Hair Colors

All three of these organizations will accept hair in any natural color. Although Locks of Love will take donations of gray hair, the hair will be sold to offset manufacturing costs. Hair donated to Pantene Beautiful Lengths cannot contain more than 5 percent gray hair, but Wigs for Kids will accept purely gray hair.

Colored, Dyed or Permed Hair

Again these three organizations differ in their policies on accepting color-treated or permed hair. At Locks of Love, colored and permed hair is accepted, but bleached hair, such as hair with highlights, cannot be accepted because it causes a chemical reaction during processing. Pantene Beautiful Lengths will take hair donations that are colored with vegetable dyes, rinses or semi-permanent dyes. Donations to Pantene also cannot be bleached and cannot be permanently colored or otherwise chemically treated. Wigs for Kids will not accept any hair donations that are colored, permed, highlighted or otherwise chemically processed with the exception of temporary coloring or highlights that will wash out.

Hair Condition

According to all three organizations, donated hair should be clean and dry and should not contain any styling products.

Best Results

For the best results when donating your hair, Wigs for Kids recommends going to a professional stylist at a salon to cut your hair for a donation. The hair should be divided up into several ponytails or braids, which will help to use as much of the hair as possible for the donation. Before cutting, make sure each tail of hair is tightly and securely bound. The hair should be cut above the rubber band or wrap, but if the band is loose, it may come out of the ponytail, making it unusable for donation.

References

• Locks of Love: Donate Hair
• Pantene: Requirements for Donating Your Hair
• Wigs for Kids: How to Cut a Ponytail for Donation
• Wigs for Kids: How to Make a Hair Donation