Locks of Love - Naples,FL

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Good for her! I donated mine twice. 10 inches are required and it does not have to be professionally done. I would suggest putting several bands down the length of it to hold it all together. They provide an envelope to mail it in.

The minimum required length is 10 inches, as others have said. My daughter did this last summer- we went to Great Clips and the haircut was free. (You can also cut it yourself- the hair has to be in a braid or ponytail. I'd suggest putting it in a couple of ponys- that's what the stylist did with my daughter's). The salon can donate the hair or they can give it to you and you can send it in. If you choose to take it and send it in on your own they send your child a thank you (which my daughter thought was cool).
My daughter had hair to her waist (she was 6 when we cut it and she had never had a haircut) and was so happy to have it cut. It was cooler, much easier to brush and manage, and she looked so cute! It was a wonderful decision all around.
Good luck!

i have donated to them twice. you need a minimum of 10 inches.

Here is a response to the mom concerned about why locks of love sells some hair..
From Wikipedia..
Criticisms

Locks of Love has received criticism for its practice of selling donated hair, rather than using it in wigs as the donors expect. According to the Locks of Love website, some unusable hair (bleached, highlighted, gray, or shorter than 10") is sold to offset the cost of manufacture of custom-made wigs.[6]

According to its tax returns, Locks of Love made $1.9 million from hair sales from 2001 to 2006, and took in another $3.4 million in donations. Besides paying for wigs, the money goes to overhead and other costs, including grants for alopecia research. Locks of Love sends the best of the hair it receives to a wig manufacturer, Taylormade Hair Replacement in Millbrae, Calif., which weeds through the selection still further, rejecting up to half.[2]

The Better Business Bureau 2010 report lists Locks of Love as a reputable charity, as of their evaluation done August 2009. Locks of Love is currently a member of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance[8]

Be careful with Locks of Love. They do not donate the hair for cancer patients. They sell the hair for wigs and those wigs are sold for profit...not given away. Pantene's website has information on how to donate hair. The salons in our area actually stopped sending the hair to Locks of Love...I'm not sure if that's why.

The minimum length for Locks of Love is 10 inches. Here is the link for donation guidelines:

http://www.locksoflove.org/donate.html

No, it does not need to be professionally cut but, as Sara mentioned, it needs to be bound in a ponytail before it is cut. My daughter wants to cut her hair and donate it, and we love that we can do it at home and then just mail it.

If she doesn't have 10 inches to donate I know that pantene beautiful lengths is 8 inches. I have donated to both.

My daughter did it a couple of yrs ago-I believe it's 10 inches-if your daughter does this, she will be sent a certificate-it's really quite lovely!

8 inches is what they require...it's a great idea to give back...I have not done it, but I know several girls/friends/women who have...good girl! By reading the other posts it looks like I am wrong & 10 not 8 inches is the length...:( sorry!

10 inches, and it doesn't have to be professionally cut...you can do it in sections of ponies, cut it yourself, and mail it in an envelope. I did my husbands hair this way and sent it in a few years ago. Of course, you can always check with them to see if they've changed anything.

Yes, there is a minimum length. By the way, I had to go on a haircut "fast" a few years ago, for budgetary reasons. There are NO pictures of me from that time. When I was finally able to go back to the hairdresser, I had not quite ten inches cut off. Locks of Love couldn't make a child's wig from my white hair, obviously, but they did accept what I sent and sold it so they could put the money toward the expenses of their work. It's really a good idea to go to the web site and read all the FAQs.

Sara B is right. Sometimes salons do it for free or a reduced rate if they are doing a cut-a-thon for Locks of Love. You might look into this because it can help your daughter feel good about her haircut, and also learn a little bit about those who have no hair - maybe it will help her appreciate the hair she has that is time-consuming to maintain! Do this in a fun way, not a judgmental way. Sometimes the local papers take pictures of a kid doing this to help other kids - it's nice for your daughter's scrapbook, and it promotes a worthy program. Locks of Love can probably direct you to a salon in your area. Good luck!

There is a minimum length, if you go to the locks of love website it will tell you. I think the biggest thing is that it needs to be bound somehow before cut, ponytail or braid or something, you can't just send loose hair.

You'll need to find a beautician that does it and you can get all the information from them. I believe that my friends that routinely do this let it grow 12" from the nape of their neck to the bottom. That way when it's in a low ponytail there are 12" of it in the length.

I admire her for doing this but truth be told I still wash the 8 year old's hair and condition it. I also comb it out while she is in the shower. Then I help her rinse it.

This is next year is a recital year for us so I won't be cutting it anytime soon. I want to be able to pull it up in cinna buns and all the hair is firmly in the band. Then when we do a high bun it stays up in the back.

At Christmas she was in the opening number, it was the gym show team, they wore a high bun with green tinsel around it. Then she was in the Hip Hop number about half way through. The girls had cinna buns with silver tinsel around them. Then in the ballet number she had to do a mid level bun and they had thick very fluffy marabou feathers wrapped around the bun. So doing her hair is a big deal.

This coming May during recital she will be in a tap number, a ballet number, a Hip Hop number, the show team number, and she might start some competition this fall so she may do a small group number.

Her hair has to be simple for me to do. I think keeping the length is imperative to being able to manage it well.

I hope if she does decide to get it cut that she learns how to feel when the soap and conditioner is out of it. That way she will have learned a very important lesson in self care.

I think it's 8 inches... Call up some local salons, I know there are quite a few who will cut hair for free or a discount when you donate to Locks of Love.

:)

I encourage you and your daughter to do this! My youngest has donated twice, older dgtr donated once. It is such a great way to introduce "giving" to your children! My hairdresser did the cut for free and following the donation cut, gave my dgtr a really cute style. As for dance, my dgtr is on a competitive dance team so we let her hair grow long enough that she could still pull up a pony tail after the donation. She had the cutest shoulder length hair after her cut! It is taking a lot longer for her hair to grow out again this time, but it is healthy and she has learned that she can donate something to others and feel good about it. Lovely lesson :)

I also chose Pantene Beautiful Lengths for many of the reasons others have listed here. My hairdresser cut it but I mailed it in myself. I think it had to be 10 inches.

My daughter recently donated to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. We liked their policies much better than Locks of Love. Maybe take a look at both websites before you make a decision. It is very easy to do and most salons know what is required. Good Luck to you

Go to the locks of love website, they give you all of the qualifications there and a form to fill out to mail in with the hair. What a great thing!

I think its less than 10 inches??

I just took my nephew in (who has crazy curly hair) and he got it cut at Supercuts or something and donated his hair to Locks of Love and I doubt it was 10 inches.

I would just call around to your local shops and see what they say.

Easy.

Locks of Love charges their recipients. Read their FAQ section. They also limit who can receive the hair. Pantene does not charge and has a broader base of recipients. It needs to be 8" long.