Weddingbee boards

I've donated to LoL before, and will be doing it again as soon as I can get an app't w/ my regular stylist.

My understanding is that yes, they do charge on a sliding scale -- it's right there on their website; they don't try to hide it.  Wigs are VERY expensive, esp. when made of quality human hair, and think about it: would you really want someone whose family can AFFORD to buy them a multi-thousand dollar wig getting one for free instead of a kid whose parents can barely afford rent?  Also, yes, they do sell off hair that does not get used in the wigs that are made for them.  Some hair is too short, or it is the wrong color (can't give a kid a white wig, can ya?) so they sell it and use the funds to help offset the costs of producing the wigs that the kids do get. 

The thing you may want to consider more between the two programs (LoL vs. Pantene) is that LoL's is SPECIFICALLY for children (18 and under) whereas Pantene's wigs are distributed through the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer Resarch Foundation and go to women (their homepage says American Cancer Foundation, but their FAQs indicate this other group).  Also, LoL helps kids who suffer from alopecia (hair loss), not just cancer. Yeah, it's not deadly, but don't you remember being a kid and having people make fun of you for the least little thing? Sucks.

FWIW, I checked both websites, and LoL includes much more info about how the hair is used and where it goes. Pantene is doing a good thing, I'm definitely not knocking them, but they're corporate, and from what I can tell on their site do not have a lot to do with the actual program. They use their corporate muscle to encourage donations -- which IS an awesome thing -- but they are rather far removed from the donation process.  In other words, LoL collects the hair, sends it out to be made into wigs, and then distributes the wigs themselves. Pantene collects and gives the hair to be made and then someone else determines who gets the hairpieces.  I personally just feel much better about donating "as close to the end recipient" as I can.

I think it's great that someone in corporate America is supporting this cause so I don't want to discourage anyone from donating through Pantene. But I also think that what LoL does is wonderful too. 

Sorry for the lengthy and perhaps overly passionate post, but this is a topic that I hold close to my heart.  No matter how you do it, if you're donating your hair, it really is a great thing.   (Plus, you save a lot on shampoo...)

i also donated to Locks of Love a few yrs ago, so i dont want to be debbie downer bc i still think it's a GREAT thing to do, but last month the nytimes had an article saying that 80% of the hair they receive ends up getting tossed bc it's unusable!  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/fashion/06locks.html  still, it's best to be optomistic bc i'm sure that 20% helps a lot of kids!!

Hi Piper -- Thanks for the article!  I thought it was interesting that the charities said they'd rather have checks than hair.  But I guess it is a good point -- it takes a lot more resources to process the hair than it does a check.

An important point, though, is that they mentioned that most of the hair that gets rejected doesn't fit their guidelines.  The guides are pretty much the same for all the groups -- no overly processed (bleached) hair, no dreads, no white hair, has to be the minimum length. I can see why they have to toss or sell off a lot of it if people are just giving it to them willy-nilly and not bothering to read the guidelines.  (I did think it was really gross that they said they get moldy hair...who gives moldy hair?!)

I would imagine that any WB reader who's planning on doing this will read the guidelines -- after all, everyone here is so darned organized! 

PS -- heh, debbie downer...too bad they can't do those on SNL anymore. they cracked me up!