How much is your hair worth to you? Enough to save a kid's life?
I've got to confess, I've never been one of those women who connected her femininity with the length of her hair. I first shaved my head in high school. When my daughter came along, I realized the shock value of walking around as a woman with short hair was worth something more. I could go down to the scalp for more than just my need to shave minutes off of the morning routine. These days, I shave my head for the St. Baldrick's Foundation.
Founded in 1999 by a bunch of re-insurance agents looking to kick in for a good cause, St. Baldrick's "shaving events" happen every March (and some throughout the year). The premise is simple - people put up pledges that go to the foundation. In return, you shave your head. They laugh. Everyone wins.
So why bother with this one?
I almost look at my yearly head shavings now as good karma. I grow my hair out (the real sacrifice for me) for a few months, then I walk into a room filled with the kind of positive energy you don't encounter much anymore. It's a day when people are thinking about kids. Family members of kids lost to cancer and kids who've survived cancer sit down in chairs beside high school kids who have spent the last few weeks banging down doors for money even knowing the funds raised won't help pay for their trip to Disney World or football uniforms.
And the kids come too. The kids who have survived a fight with cancer. No one wants to see their child fall sick, and staring in the eyes of one of these kids always sends parents of the healthy kids home to wrap them in their arms.
But what does that do? It makes us feel better, but not much else.
So how much is your hair worth? Willing to put it on the line?
If you're not, how about finding a donor event near you and dropping by to meet the kids who make it happen, maybe stashing a little cash in their pot? It's just hair, but this is one of those times bald is absolutely beautiful.
Image: St. Baldrick's Foundation (visit to find a shavee event or search to see if anyone you know is shaving this year)
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