Two young North Bergen girls recently made the decision to donate their hair in order to give to the less fortunate.
Leila Parra, 10, North Bergen, donated her hair last month to Locks of Love, a non-profit charity that provides children in need with wigs and hair pieces. Kaitlyn Lee, 8, of North Bergen, recently donated her hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a similar program aimed at the same cause.
Locks of Love is a nonprofit organization established in 1997 that provides disadvantaged children with hair. According to the website, roughly 80 percent of hair donations come from other children.
Lee chose the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program after researching different companies.
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Kukkamaa said the hair pieces, which take roughly six to 10 donors to create, are custom-made for each individual child.
“[They are] made from a mold of their head so that they fit each of these children perfectly,” said Kukkamaa. “It[helps] them to really return to any activities that they were enjoying before their hair loss.”
Kukkamaa noted that the hair pieces cannot fall off or be pulled off.
“It really enables these children to have confidence and to return some lost self-esteem,” she said.
Young and charitable
When Veronica Parra heard that her 10-year-old daughter was interested in donating her hair, she knew she had done something right.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Parra. “You try to encourage them to give back and to be fortunate for what you have.”
Leila had been growing her hair out since she was young. She had only had a few trims before she decided to cut a large portion of her hair.
“I was thinking about the kids with cancer,” said Leila, a Girl Scout. “I felt bad for the people with cancer who don’t have any hair.”
“It was very emotional for her to learn about children battling cancer,” said Parra. As a social services worker, Parra had always stressed the importance of giving to the less fortunate.
“It was kind of sad to see all my hair go,” said Leila, “but it was exciting.”
Parra also explained the decision to go with the Locks of Love program.
“I think it’s something that’s great, especially for kids,” said Parra, who also stated that they received a certificate and an e-mail explaining how her daughter’s hair was used. “It’s a very good program that we were able to participate in.”
Two other North Bergen residents, Marija Lee and her daughter, Kaitlyn, talked about donating to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program.
“I made the suggestion to her about two years ago,” said Lee, “and she was excited just to be a part of it. She has beautiful hair, and it was quite long.”
Lee mentioned that her daughter decided to grow out her hair over a two-year period.
“She felt good about doing something good for somebody else,” said Lee.
Program controversy
According to Lee, she chose the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program after researching different companies.
“I chose to donate to a program that was backed by a major corporation,” said Lee. “There are reports that they [Locks of Love] have more [hair] than they can handle.”
Indeed, a major criticism of the program is that due to a surplus, the program sometimes sells the hair for cash. Kukkamaa acknowledged the criticism, but she maintained that the company does not make a profit from the hair. She said that the money helps pay the manufacturer to create the hair pieces.
“[All of the cash] goes to the program costs,” said Kukkama.
She also said that a lot of the hair they received is unusable due to either being too short or gray.
For donation information, visit locksoflove.org or pantene.com.
Stephen LaMarca may be reached at slamarca@hudsonreporter.com.