"Losing it" Is a Gift of Love

Editors' note: 
The Boyertown Area Expression wishes everyone a wonderful holiday season! We’ll look back this upcoming week to some of our earlier stories—just in case you missed them or subscribed after they first appeared.

As always, we encourage you to reach out to us with news of the Boyertown Area, add your events to our calendar, subscribe to the site and encourage others to do so, support the site through your advertisements or donation dollars, and perhaps even submit feature stories of your own for consideration.

We are blessed to live in this very special community and determined to continue to help its growth and continued success by bringing the good news, good people, uplifting events and opportunities to our readers’ attention.

Meanwhile, our final story for 2022, showcases a recent gift of love through the nonprofit organization Locks of Love. Find an inspiring video at my.happify.com: https://my.happify.com/hd/when-you-donate-your-hair-this-is-what-happen…

by Jane Stahl

“I love my hair! I feel younger!”

Many of us may feel this way after a good haircut, but Amy feels especially lighter now that she’s lost over 12 inches of her hair thanks to family friend Donna Stauffer who has been a hairstylist for over 65 years.

Amy’s hair hasn’t seen a scissors for at least four years. COVID concerns kept her housebound, but this last year she’s been determined to grow her locks as her donation to someone who needed them more than she.

“Donating to Locks of Love became a goal; it was getting really difficult to manage the length of my ponytail, and it took forever for my hair to dry. I’m really happy that I’m finally able to sit down without sitting on my hair!” she concludes.

“I had my first customers as a ninth grader,” Donna recalls, “and have been doing hair every since in my own shop. Today I have customers who come religiously every Friday; several dozen who come for perms four times a year; and others who may show up at my door when they have a need and a window of opportunity.”

Donna cuts and colors her own hair and admits that it’s only been the past 5 years that she’s allowed her husband to see her with “monster” hair during the coloring process. “I’d wait until he was out of the house before I’d start,” she says.

It's difficult to explain; but an hour in a salon for a hair styling, a cut or color, a manicure or pedicure is life-affirming, and Amy can testify to its benefits and to feeling good about the gift to someone she'll never meet. A win-win is always something to celebrate!

Locks of Love
The mission of Locks of Love, a 501( c )(3) organization certified in 1997, is “to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing ponytails to provide the highest hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children free of charge.”

Locks of Love has served children in all 50 states and Canada. It takes 20-30 ponytails to make one wig. The organization sponsors a camp week for children experiencing hair loss.

Donation forms and further information regarding the causes of hair loss, the organization’s prosthesis, financial donations, nominating a child or sponsoring a child can be found on their website: locksoflove.org.

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