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Good hair day: when it helps someone

Fantastic Sams will help you part with your locks to make a child's world a little happier.

By TIMES STAFF WRITER
Published September 17, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Snip that ponytail and donate to a good cause.

Fantastic Sams hair salons throughout the country are teaming with Seventeen magazine this week in a promotion that will benefit Locks of Love, a Lake Worth nonprofit that supplies hairpieces to financially needy children who are suffering long-term medical hair loss.

"It helps a lot of kids. It's just a good charity," said Michael Grouse. He and David Kinnard are partners in two participating Fantastic Sams, in Pinellas Park and Largo.

Lynda List, a hairstylist who owns franchises in Clearwater, Palm Harbor and Safety Harbor, said participating Fantastic Sams last year sold blue silicone "Fantastic Friends" bracelets to aid the cause. Some were signed by celebrities and auctioned on eBay. Through that effort and contributions from a printer cartridge recycling program, the nationwide salon network donated more than $135,000 and 10,000 ponytails to Locks of Love in 2005.

From Monday through Sept. 24, people who donate their hair to Locks of Love will receive free haircuts at participating Fantastic Sams salons.

Pay close attention: Hair must be clean, dry and at least 10 inches long. Seventeen says curls can be flat-ironed to help meet the length, and the hair can be colored or permed, but it must not have lots of breaks and splits.

The hair must be tied in an elastic band, and it can't touch the floor. Ask a stylist to put your hair in a ponytail and then hold it in one hand while cutting it with the other.

The hair is put in a zippered plastic bag, packed in a padded envelope and sent to Locks of Love.

The hair then goes to a wig manufacturer, said Lauren Kukkamaa, Locks of Love communication director. Molds are taken of the heads of approved applicants, who work with the manufacturer to create fit caps for the prostheses.

The children and their parents receive color swatches to help them select hair colors.

Madonna Coffman founded Locks of Love in 1997, Kukkamaa said. Both Coffman and her daughter, Abby, had alopecia, a medical condition that causes hair loss. Its cause is unknown, and a cure has yet to be found.

For information, see www.locksoflove.org and www.fantasticsams.com.

[Last modified September 16, 2006, 20:27:23]