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Hair Donation 101: Everything You Need to Know

I can't believe it's already been over a month since I chopped over 10 inches of my hair off. Even though I didn't plan to go this short or to even donate my hair until I sat down in the salon chair, I am so happy that I did! Since my hair donation was pretty last minute and spontaneous my hairstylist and I pretty much did a quick Google on the minimum hair requirement to donate and got to choppin'.

Even though I wish I did a little bit more research on donation length, where to donate all those specifics before going to get my hair cut beforehand everything still ended up working out in the end. Today I've rounded up all the resources and information in one place in case you decide to donate your hair (and so you're not doing a quick Google minute beforehand like I did!). 

Hi Friends!

It's been about a month and a half since I started rockin' the short hair life and I haven't had any regrets so far! The only thing now is trying to figure out how to curl the back of my hair without burning myself, lol.

Donating my hair was always something I wanted to do at least once in my life and kind of forgotten about it until my hairstylist brought it up since I was planning to go significantly shorter anyways. With a quick Google and a few hair ties later the length to cut off the minimum donation requirement ended up being about a few inches shorter than what I had originally planned on cutting. I figured that if there was a chance that I absolutely hated the length it'd be fine because 1. we're all in quarantine so no one is really seeing me anyways (besides you know, the internet because of the blog, but we're all practically like family now, right?) and 2. it's just hair and it'll grow back!

I ended up cutting about 10 inches from band to band and ended up donating my hair to Children with Hair Loss which is a nonprofit organization that creates wigs for children with medically hair loss for free. I wanted to find an organization that had a minimum donation length less than 10 just in case for whatever reason we measured it wrong or just to have some extra security in the length. 

Thinking about donating your hair? Here are some quick notes beforehand:

• Most places only accept hair that is not chemically treated. Some places have exceptions
• You can go to almost any salon to get your hair cut for donation (For my CLT Babes, I went to Kenna Kunjio! Highly recommend, the SWEETEST staff!). Just make them aware ahead of time as they have to tie your hair in a ponytail/braid it beforehand
• Have an organization picked out beforehand and read the donation instructions beforehand some of them have their own specific way of having the hair cut/donated

Organizations To Donate To:

1. Children with Hair Loss - Children with Hair Loss provides wigs for children and young adults with medically-related hair loss for free.

Requirements:

• Donation Hair Length: Minimum 8 inches from band to band
• Clean and dry hair shipped in a ziplock bag
• Shipped in ponytail or braids
• Non-chemically treated hair is preferred, but they will accept any hair that is in good condition
• Gray hair is accepted

2. Wigs for Kids - make wigs that can "withstand typical kid activities" for free

Requirements:

• Must be clean and stored/shipped dry
• Hair donation length: Minimum 12 inches from band to band
• Hair tied into at least four sections
• Cannot be permed, color-treated or highlighted

3. Hair we Share - donates wigs to children under 18 and adults facing financial hardships 

Requirements:

• Hair donation length: minimum of 12 inches
• Cannot be highlighted or bleached (can be dyed natural colors only)
• Gray hair accepted
• Do not accept hair that is an unnatural color
• Hair must be sent clean and dry and in ponytails, not braids

*Note: They have certified salons that are able to properly cut your hair for donation, but if you are unable to find a certified salon near you, you can show them the instructions from their website. 

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Have you donated your hair before? If so let me know down below! I hope you all found this helpful and thank you for reading!

xoxo,

Amy