Keep Marching On by Mind Boggle
April 25th, 2010 8:36 AMLast month, I went for a dramatic haircut where I chopped off 10 inches of hair that I've been growing out for over a year. I feel kind of bald now, but I thought it was time for a change.
To cut or not to cut?
10 inches of my past
For a second, it almost felt like losing an arm.
I can't believe it's all gone
Feels pretty empty back here
Locks of Love confirmed my donation!
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Locks of love is a particularly poorly rated charitable organization. They end up with a lot of unexplained costs and an extremely small output.
They sell most of the hair they receive to a high end wig maker for super cheap. They then take the money they make from those sales to buy synthetic wigs which they make people pay for. (on a sliding scale based on the parent's income.) If you look at their info here, you will get some idea on how well they are doing. It shows that the General manager makes 55k$ for her work. That number was much higher in years past, but has been decreased due to criticism. (I suspect.) it's also worth noting that when I was looking into it years ago she held some position in the for profit company that buys most of the hair Locks for love sells.
Locks for love is a particular pet peeve of mine because I used to have long hair. I don't know if you plan on growing it out again, but if you do, I suggest taking it to craigslist to sell or here. The money you make can then be donated to a charity that is better run and organized.
Further links that might be of interest:
snopes discussion
fairly well cited wiki includes their trouble with the Better Business Bureau
As to the task, I wonder, when you did this, were you doing it with the task in mind? Also, I think your new dew is styling. Well done.
Oh wow, I had no idea Locks of Love was run this way. It seemed to be the most well-known organization for hair donations, so I just went with that without doing much research. Thanks sharing all this helpful info!
I didn't cut my hair specifically for this task, but I definitely knew this task existed beforehand. Every now and then I browse through the tasks to see if anything calls out to me. It was only when I was mailing my hair away that it hit me. That braided piece of my hair use to be part of me. Now it's detached and dead. That past part of me is forever destroyed, from the split ends to the chlorine-bleached parts to the small waves caused by tying it up too much. It's all gone. I suddenly remembered that I read an SF0 task about something like this, so I looked it up again and voila!
thank you for doing that!!
it's having your past become part of someone else's future, which is beautiful.