Students and hair stylists collaborated for a two-day hair donation event in the Wilkinson Student Center on Nov. 9 and 10.
Run by volunteers at BYU, Share Your Hair is a Y-Serve program that brings in students from a local hair school to cut inches off of students’ hair to donate to the non-profit organization Children With Hair Loss.
According to their website, Children With Hair Loss provide free hair replacements to children and young adults with medically-related hair loss, such as “Cancer treatments, Alopecia, Trichotillomania, Burns, etc.” Since 2000, they say they have helped 7,000 children with hair replacement and care kits. They also helped set a Guinness World Record as part of The Great Cut in 2019 for the most hair cut and donated at 339 pounds of donations.
Program director Mallory Baird said the committee meets once a week to decide what needs to be done for the program. They post signs throughout campus buildings and send fliers through email to spread the word about the event. She said over the two days she thought they would probably have 60-80 people get their hair cut.
“We have a website that they can book appointments through, but half of our donations are probably just walk-ins though because people come in here and are like, ‘This is so cool!’ and then they want to join,” she said.
The hairstylists from the cosmetology and barbering school Paul Mitchell came to cut hair for this event. One of the stylists, Christiane Frost said, “It’s pretty cool. It’s fun that it’s going to people that need it.”
In order to donate hair, volunteers needed to meet a minimum of eight inches and they accept dyed, treated and grayed hair as well. Frost said it takes four to five donations to make a single wig.
Students getting their hair cut mentioned the convenience and of the free hair cut as well as doing it for a cause. BYU student Grace Reader said, “Obviously it’s for a cause, but it’s also free and easy and I’ve been wanted to get my hair cut for a long time.”
BYU student Sarah Sun said she decided to donate her hair because of her friend who received a wig due to alopecia. Sun said she saw the difference it made in her friend’s confidence and the way she saw herself. “I think it’s just a cool opportunity that at BYU there’s such an outward focus. It’s great that these students are able to get experience and but more importantly use their skills to make a difference in someone’s life,” Sun said.
The event went until 2 p.m. on Nov. 10, but donations are accepted year round.
