Author Topic: ever sold/donated your hair?  (Read 8448 times)

johndoe

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ever sold/donated your hair?
« on: July 11, 2017, 09:45:17 AM »
I've grown my hair out and up til now assumed I would donate to a charity.  I've recently heard of actually selling hair...has anyone here done so?  I was hoping to find a local place that would take care of the process for me, but am not having much luck.  Anyone with experience on this (including donation) ?

iris lily

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2017, 10:40:09 AM »
Read ip on the scam that is Locks of Love before you go all charitable.

raffmaster

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2017, 12:04:16 PM »
I've donated twice. The first time I was in school and donated to Locks of Love - the school had organized a free cut and took care of donations. Second time I donated to Pantene Beautiful Lengths since they accept shorter hair. I went to my normal salon and they cut off my ponytail and then got a regular cut. I mailed in the hair myself.

It's not a complicated or expensive process, but be sure to review the requirements before chopping off your hair. A lot of places won't accept gray, colored, or treated hair, and there are varying length requirements. As Iris hinted, a lot of charities sell off unusable hair to offset the cost of making wigs which may be objectionable to you. If you're looking to make it free for you, you might look around at schools or other charitable organizations that have upcoming donation events.

PoutineLover

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2017, 12:14:40 PM »
I've donated my hair 3 or 4 times and I think I've always donated to Pantene Beautiful Lengths because the requirement is a bit shorter and I didn't want them to charge anyone for the wig. I printed off a mailing label and made sure to comply with all the rules. They sent me a nice thank you letter after the fact.

JanF

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2017, 12:16:51 PM »
I donated to Panteen as well because I got too impatient to wait for my hair to grow another 2-3 inches =)
I just went on their website, prep an envelope and ziplock bag to put my hair in, went to a hair salon place to cut it and mailed it out.

Funny story, when I went to get it cut my lady was gushing about how she loves cutting long hair and how nice my hair was....the look on her face when I told her to chop it all off LOL I'm growing it out again but it's been so hot I don't know if I'll last until donating length.

PoutineLover

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2017, 12:22:34 PM »
I donated to Panteen as well because I got too impatient to wait for my hair to grow another 2-3 inches =)
I just went on their website, prep an envelope and ziplock bag to put my hair in, went to a hair salon place to cut it and mailed it out.

Funny story, when I went to get it cut my lady was gushing about how she loves cutting long hair and how nice my hair was....the look on her face when I told her to chop it all off LOL I'm growing it out again but it's been so hot I don't know if I'll last until donating length.
Haha yeah my hairdresser was shocked when I said I wanted to take off 8 inches and he asked me so many times if I was really sure I wanted to do it. I told him I'd already done it a couple times and showed him a pic of my hair at its shortest (about 2cm long) before he agreed to do the cut. He said most of the time people freak out if he cuts like 2 inches off instead of 1 so 8 inches was crazy but he did an awesome job and I love how light my head feels afterwards.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2017, 12:29:10 PM »
I've done wigs4kids twice, and am growing my hair back out for a 3rd round.  I'd recommend them over locks of love, as indicated by others above.  Call around and you'll find a barber to do a free donation cut if you tell them you're cutting it off to donate it.

PoutineLover

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2017, 01:27:38 PM »
I grow my hair pretty long and then cut it off myself and donate it to Locks of Love via mail (will have to check out the scam thing Iris Lilly mentioned). I believe they need at least 8 inches of hair but the longer the better. My hair is currently to my waist and will be cutting it off to shoulder length to donate this week.

 If Locks of Love is a scam (and why? Do they sell it rather than make wigs for charity?) then where else can it be donated?
You actually need at least 10 inches for LOL and they only give to people under 21 and their wigs are sold on a sliding scale based on need. http://www.locksoflove.org/get-involved/
If you want the wigs to be free to the recipients, Beautiful lengths is good: https://www.pantene.ca/en-ca/brandexperience/make-the-cut

ltt

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2017, 02:29:53 PM »
Our daughter went to a hairdresser a few years back to have her hair cut, and we then donated her long ponytail to Pantene.  I simply mentioned to the hairdresser that we wanted her hair back.  We took it, mailed it in, and received a thank you letter a month/few months afterwards. 

ixtap

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2017, 02:59:55 PM »
I grow my hair pretty long and then cut it off myself and donate it to Locks of Love via mail (will have to check out the scam thing Iris Lilly mentioned). I believe they need at least 8 inches of hair but the longer the better. My hair is currently to my waist and will be cutting it off to shoulder length to donate this week.

 If Locks of Love is a scam (and why? Do they sell it rather than make wigs for charity?) then where else can it be donated?

The objections to Locks of Love are:
-They sell the wigs on a sliding scale...As I understand it, families above a certain income level are asked to contribute to the cost of manufacture, rather than required to receive the wig.
-They sell off donated hair that they can't use for wigs. I don't understand this complaint. The funds they raise through this are used for administrative costs and would you rather that they just throw it out?

For those with shorter hair, or pets, consider a practical alternative by donating hair to clean up oil spills: http://matteroftrust.org/clean-wave-faq

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2017, 03:05:55 PM »
-They sell off donated hair that they can't use for wigs. I don't understand this complaint. The funds they raise through this are used for administrative costs and would you rather that they just throw it out?

I think the complaint is they got the hair for free (from us), and now they're selling it for a profit.  Which is even worse than selling the wigs they made for a profit.

ixtap

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2017, 03:28:11 PM »
-They sell off donated hair that they can't use for wigs. I don't understand this complaint. The funds they raise through this are used for administrative costs and would you rather that they just throw it out?

I think the complaint is they got the hair for free (from us), and now they're selling it for a profit.  Which is even worse than selling the wigs they made for a profit.

It isn't profit. It is still supporting the making and distribution of wigs. Especially since they offer synthetic wigs for younger children and those with temporary hair loss.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2017, 03:47:50 PM »
-They sell off donated hair that they can't use for wigs. I don't understand this complaint. The funds they raise through this are used for administrative costs and would you rather that they just throw it out?

I think the complaint is they got the hair for free (from us), and now they're selling it for a profit.  Which is even worse than selling the wigs they made for a profit.

It isn't profit. It is still supporting the making and distribution of wigs. Especially since they offer synthetic wigs for younger children and those with temporary hair loss.

Their cost of goods sold is zero, because I gave it to them for free, expecting the hair to make it to someone that needs it, also for free.  If they instead sell my hair to someone else for money, they are profiting off my donation.

ixtap

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2017, 03:50:04 PM »
-They sell off donated hair that they can't use for wigs. I don't understand this complaint. The funds they raise through this are used for administrative costs and would you rather that they just throw it out?

I think the complaint is they got the hair for free (from us), and now they're selling it for a profit.  Which is even worse than selling the wigs they made for a profit.

It isn't profit. It is still supporting the making and distribution of wigs. Especially since they offer synthetic wigs for younger children and those with temporary hair loss.

Their cost of goods sold is zero, because I gave it to them for free, expecting the hair to make it to someone that needs it, also for free.  If they instead sell my hair to someone else for money, they are profiting off my donation.

So you would prefer they toss your hair or give it away, instead of using it to fund the project that you were willing to support with your actual hair?

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2017, 04:02:34 PM »
So you would prefer they toss your hair or give it away, instead of using it to fund the project that you were willing to support with your actual hair?

If I gave them my hair and they couldn't use it, yes I would prefer they donate it to another organization that could.  You know, pass it on.

ixtap

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #15 on: July 11, 2017, 04:13:26 PM »
So you would prefer they toss your hair or give it away, instead of using it to fund the project that you were willing to support with your actual hair?

If I gave them my hair and they couldn't use it, yes I would prefer they donate it to another organization that could.  You know, pass it on.

See, that is what I don't get. I put my research into choosing where I spend my time/money/hair, I want them to use it for the advantage of the project I chose.

Do any of the other wig organizations admit what they do with hair they can't use?

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #16 on: July 11, 2017, 04:26:45 PM »
See, that is what I don't get. I put my research into choosing where I spend my time/money/hair, I want them to use it for the advantage of the project I chose.

Do any of the other wig organizations admit what they do with hair they can't use?

Same, which is why I don't send my hair to locks of love.

Wigs4kids (where I send my hair), supposedly lets the manufacturer keep unusable hair, and they then discount the wigs accordingly.  Which I guess you could argue is the same as selling it to a 3rd party.

PoutineLover

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #17 on: July 11, 2017, 04:35:33 PM »
So you would prefer they toss your hair or give it away, instead of using it to fund the project that you were willing to support with your actual hair?

If I gave them my hair and they couldn't use it, yes I would prefer they donate it to another organization that could.  You know, pass it on.
But it costs money to make the wigs, the free hair is just one input in the process. If they can't use it in the wig, they are still pursuing their mission by offsetting some of the other costs.

ixtap

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #18 on: July 11, 2017, 04:39:40 PM »
So you would prefer they toss your hair or give it away, instead of using it to fund the project that you were willing to support with your actual hair?

If I gave them my hair and they couldn't use it, yes I would prefer they donate it to another organization that could.  You know, pass it on.
But it costs money to make the wigs, the free hair is just one input in the process. If they can't use it in the wig, they are still pursuing their mission by offsetting some of the other costs.

That has been my point the whole time: I was the one who didn't understand why people see this as a problem.

PoutineLover

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #19 on: July 11, 2017, 04:48:17 PM »
So you would prefer they toss your hair or give it away, instead of using it to fund the project that you were willing to support with your actual hair?

If I gave them my hair and they couldn't use it, yes I would prefer they donate it to another organization that could.  You know, pass it on.
But it costs money to make the wigs, the free hair is just one input in the process. If they can't use it in the wig, they are still pursuing their mission by offsetting some of the other costs.

That has been my point the whole time: I was the one who didn't understand why people see this as a problem.
Yeah i dont think that makes them a scam, my reason for not picking locks of love was mainly length requirement, but also the fact the wigs aren't free. But I think Pantene can only do it free cause they're a big company and this is their charitable project, as a company locks of love needs to make money somehow, even if they're non profit (not sure if they are) its still a business

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #20 on: July 11, 2017, 04:49:44 PM »
That has been my point the whole time: I was the one who didn't understand why people see this as a problem.

For the same reason I don't want them selling the wig instead of providing it to someone for free, I don't want them selling the hair.  Even more so, as that gives them incentive to sell the hair rather than bother to make a wig out of it that they'll only give away.

MsPeacock

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #21 on: July 11, 2017, 04:55:55 PM »
A coworker sold her hair on Ebay and it got used on the most horrifyingly creepy baby dolls. We laughed that she is probably now cursed.

okits

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #22 on: July 11, 2017, 06:54:51 PM »
I've grown my hair out and up til now assumed I would donate to a charity.  I've recently heard of actually selling hair...has anyone here done so?  I was hoping to find a local place that would take care of the process for me, but am not having much luck.  Anyone with experience on this (including donation) ?

I had looked into this a while ago but have never actually done it.  The price your hair fetches depends on its condition, length, and your ethnicity (my hair wouldn't fetch a high price because there's already a healthy, low-cost supply of hair like it from populous, developing countries).

For charities making and distributing hairpieces I would try to find out how many hairpieces they make and distribute a year vs. how much hair they sell.  If they're mostly sellers of donated hair I would feel misled.

iris lily

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Re: ever sold/donated your hair?
« Reply #23 on: July 11, 2017, 08:36:35 PM »
So you would prefer they toss your hair or give it away, instead of using it to fund the project that you were willing to support with your actual hair?

If I gave them my hair and they couldn't use it, yes I would prefer they donate it to another organization that could.  You know, pass it on.
But it costs money to make the wigs, the free hair is just one input in the process. If they can't use it in the wig, they are still pursuing their mission by offsetting some of the other costs.

That has been my point the whole time: I was the one who didn't understand why people see this as a problem.
Yeah i dont think that makes them a scam, my reason for not picking locks of love was mainly length requirement, but also the fact the wigs aren't free. But I think Pantene can only do it free cause they're a big company and this is their charitable project, as a company locks of love needs to make money somehow, even if they're non profit (not sure if they are) its still a business
Yes, You are right, I used the word "scam" and that is too harsh.

It's just that many donors in all walks of life and in many charitable endeavors are focused on an object. In this case it is hair, a very personal object. And donors who think " my hair will go to a baby with cancer" think that exact thing will happen and are shocked when it does not.

Same thing for food for food banks, crocheted blankets for homeless children, teddy bears for kids taken into custody by police, dog blankets for shelter dogs. The objects dont always end up in the place the donor expects, and a percentage of those donors are outraged.

« Last Edit: July 11, 2017, 08:38:30 PM by iris lily »