Hair Share (Donation)

                       Photo Credit:  William Snobl 

Sharing.  Is the spirit I have been in.  I want to share what I have, because I have so much.  I am blessed.  Now, before you get crazy thinking about How it must be nice, I will have you know that I am not talking about physical “things, monetary excess, or other worldly things.”  I am talking about abundance within the soul.  Does this mean that there are days when I feel depleted, or lacking?  Of course there are days, but they are only moments, flashes in the grand scale of life, and time.  I am still working.  I am still learning to count my blessings and open my eyes to the gifts that surround us in the everyday ordinary.  I am still in infancy learning to take baby steps to living fully in each and every moment.  Even the empty ones, those whose illusion of nothingness that threaten to scald my soul, I am awakened to a lesson, a learning to open me, heart-cracked wide open learning.  And breathe.  Open the heart to open the soul, to live fully in Spirit, to receive the joy.  Passing along the joy is a part of living fully.  Blessing others when you have been blessed.  Opening hands, hearts, and eyes.  I have been blessed with beautifully thick hair, more than enough to share.  I have finally had the opportunity to do just that.  I have been growing my waist-length hair for more than eight years.  I have researched several hair donation organizations, and my heart helped me to decide which to open to.  I chose one that would benefit children.  Locks of Love custom makes hair prosthesis especially for children who experience long-term hair loss due to illness.  These hair prosthesis are very different from an ordinary hairpiece.  Having been professionally trained in the hair industry, I have a very thorough understanding of the effects a hair prosthesis has on a person’s spirit.  Because of my sensitive nature, and gentle understanding, I was selected for specialized training to fit hair pieces for people suffering from hair loss, both from cancer, and also from long-term health conditions like alopecia.  Unfortunately, we did not specialize in children’s hair pieces, as this is a very, very specialized field.  Children’s heads are much smaller than adults, and they are still growing, so that poses another challenge in the process.  Children tend to be much more active than a lot of adults can be, and so arises another challenge of how to keep the hair piece in place without fear of losing it, and the emotions that would go along with that in a school, gym, beach or play setting.  Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping just children.  I had read some articles discounting the Locks of Love organization, because they are non-profit, and they sell hair unusable for their purposes, for profit.  So I decided to look into hair selling.  I looked up a few of the main websites devoted to selling human hair.  I discovered that I could have sold what I have donated to Locks of Love for over $1000.00.  Wow!  What that spoke to me, is that purchasing human hair is expensive.  It takes a whole lot of it, they say six to eight donations of over ten inches each, to make just one hair prosthetic. It makes sense.  These are not just ordinary wigs.  They are custom fitted, molded silicone that is constructed in such a way, as to create a vacuum to the scalp, so it cannot be removed by anyone, or any activity, even swimming and showering, except by the wearer.  That peace of mind in itself is priceless, especially to a child or teen.  Locks of Love has grown to become a world-wide organization, as much as we would like to think that non-profits can all be run by volunteers that is not the case.  There must be behind the scenes operation of business that utilizes skilled professionals, in order to best serve the children that the original intent was.  It is that spirit of intent to help and serve children have happy, healthy, and whole childhood experiences that colored my choice of the non-profit.  Follow your heart in your act of service, do your research, and joyfully give what you have.  In my case, that was hair.  I did not have the equal amount of money to donate, but I did have something of value to give.  My hair donation (sharing), is an act of giving/sharing, that is very intimate, and close to my heart.  I did not grow my hair with the intention of donation as some do, rather it was something that grew from my heart.  Having worked with many people struggling with alopecia, and cancer, I have experienced first hand how devastating and deeply personal hair loss can be.  Hair is an extension of how we see ourselves, it expresses sometimes personality and uniqueness.  It can be our crowning glory, or our greatest tragedy.  It affects not only one’s self-esteem, but also dignity and well-being.  If I can give the loving gift of well-being to a child, I am happy to do so, and do so with great joy. I invite you all to serve and give of yourself in whatever way you can today, whether it is the act of gifting a smile to a stranger, the gift of loving touch to your child, or spouse, whatever you choose to give, give it in the spirit of sharing the joy of who you are.