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Good hair day: when it helps someone

Fantastic Sams salons promote Locks of Love's mission to create wigs for children with long-term hair loss.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published September 17, 2006

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 hair stylist who owns franchises in Clearwater, Palm Harbor and Safety Harbor, said participating Fantastic Sams salons 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, persons who donate their hair to Locks of Love will receive free haircuts at participating Fantastic Sams salons.

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, 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.

After that, the hair is packed into zippered plastic bags, packed into padded envelopes and sent to Locks of Love.

From there, said Lauren Kukkamaa, Locks of Love communication director, the hair goes to a wig manufacturer. 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, suffered from alopecia, a medical condition that causes hair loss. Its cause is unknown, and a cure has yet to be found.

[Last modified September 17, 2006, 06:54:43]