At an efficient salon severed coils of hair never remain on the floor for long. The strands are promptly swept up and binned, the matter given fleeting, if even that, notice by the average customer.
However, of late a number of hair donation drives have drawn attention to an alternative ending for your chopped locks.
Tony el-Mendelek sums up his hair salon’s latest initiative succinctly: “You donate for a good cause, and you change your look at the same time.”
“Cut for a Cause” is a weeklong drive, run through the prominent hairdresser’s salon in Dabayyeh, to collect human hair for use in the manufacture of wigs for young cancer patients, who often lose their hair as a result of chemotherapy treatments.
Mendelek and his team are offering a haircut free of charge to clients who agree to donate at least 10 cm of their hair to make wigs for young cancer patients. The hairdresser intends giving the collected hair to the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon at the AUB medical center in Hamra.
According to Karen Khoury, public relations and communications manager for the center, CCCL, which treats children from a few months old up to 18 years, is “looking forward to receiving the donation but notes that it has not yet been confirmed.”
CCCL collects raw hair in 10-15 cm long ponytails and passes it along to a supplier who makes wigs for free for the center’s patients.
Discussing his motivation for undertaking this initiative, Mendelek told The Daily Star that “we as a team felt the urgency of this cause,” adding that his daughter was in fact the one that came up with the idea for the hair drive.
So far, he said, more than 10 clients have donated hair, with some individuals, very excited by the cause, allowing the hairdresser to cut 20-30 centimeters of their hair, and, in the process, completely transform their look.
The drive began last Saturday and is ongoing for one week, ending Nov. 3. All donors have to do to participate is contact the salon, state their intention to contribute to this initiative, and make an appointment.
As far as he is aware, Mendelek is the first independent hairdresser in Lebanon to offer cuts for free in exchange for hair donations; however, since November 2009, Cross Talk, a Christian ecumenical education NGO, has been accepting raw hair donations.
Rania Nasrallah, president of the NGO, says the organization receives at least one hair donation per week. Donors attend their regular hairdresser, get their hair cut and save at least 10 cm to contribute to Cross Talk, who in turn passes the hair along to CCCL.
This year, on Sept. 30 Cross Talk held a one-day donation drive at the Royal Hotel Dabbayeh, teaming up with 10 hairdressers to offer free cuts in exchange for donations.
Nasrallah says the event was an overwhelming success. “Eighty people donated, and almost half [of those] donated more than 25 cm,” she told The Daily Star, adding that one generous participant had donated 50 cm of hair.
Recently the organization has also had donors from overseas, who have heard about Cross Talk’s initiative through the media. Nasrallah mentions a woman from the United States, who saved hair from her haircut and brought it with her to Lebanon to donate. Another woman from Qatar, donated her children’s hair here, she adds.
Hair donations can be dropped off at Cross Talk’s centers in Broumanna, Hamra or Rabieh, Nasrallah adds. – With additional reporting by Dana Khraiche
For more information on Tony el-Mendelek’s offer contact 04-544-440 or 04-540-541.
November 03, 2012
The Daily Star |
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Lifestyle/2012/Nov-03/193688-cut-for-a-cause-donating-hair-to-cancer-patients.ashx#ixzz2BHgLZcdG
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Donating hair to cancer patients great effort.
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