13-1/2 inches

Lina cut 13-1/2 inches off her hair on Saturday to donate to Locks of Love. She had been wanting to cut it for awhile but I told her she had to wait a few weeks. She decided Spring Break was a good time to do it. We didn't have an appoinment and when I went into the salon Saturday morning they said the earliest time available was 12:15. But Lina had softball practice at noon. So we walked down to Great Clips. They seated her right away.

And I knew trouble lie ahead. They didn't even seem to know that to cut off hair for donation it should be in a ponytail. They had to get a rubber band out of the cash register! I should have walked out right then. But I stayed because Lina was excited. Then they didn't know how to cut off the ponytail. First of all, I told them she wanted it shoulder length. But the rubber band was above her shoulders. The stylist must have been a newbie because she looked at the manager with a questioning look. He took the clippers and started sawing away at the ponytail! It was all I could do to stay calm. I really should have just walked out then but hair was already cut and Lina was still smiling.

Once they finally got the ponytail off and handed it to me, I had to go sit down. But I could still see the stylist and she started butchering the back of Lina's hair. Seriously! Had she not been trained?! Thankfully, the top layers were pinned up so when the manager noticed what she was doing (and thankfully he didn't have a client at the time), he came over and basically salvaged what he could in the back. He covered up the hack job with the top layers and basically just trimmed the sides and front to taper down. Holy cow! I was texting DH while it was all happening, trying to stay sane. I guess the new stylist was going for wedge look but she was cutting the back layers like a boy haircut. I will NEVER take my girls to Great Clips again!

Anyway, here are the before and after shots.

On Sunday morning after Lina's shower, I blew dry her hair and used a roll brush to make it look decent. It looked pretty cute, even with the unevenness of the back. All I could think of was "it will grow back". And now some special child will have a gorgeous wig to help make their life happier and more normal.

Hair donation is not new to our family. This is actually Lina's second hair donation. Miranda has donated her hair three times, and I have donated mine four times. The two programs we have contributed are:

Locks of Love

and

Pantene's Beautiful Lengths

Enjoy your day :)