A Shrewsbury salon which launched a campaign to help children who have lost their hair through cancer treatment or alopecia has been amazed by the response of women in the county.
Toni & Guy in Castle Street urged people with long hair to get a completely new look by having it cut off – all for charity.
“We have been encouraging women and girls to donate seven inches or more of their hair to the Little Princess Trust, based in Hereford, as part of its ‘Hair to Spare’ campaign,” said Gavin Pulham, proprietor of Toni & Guy.
“This is a wonderful charity which provides real-hair wigs to young people who have sadly lost their own hair due to cancer treatment or alopecia and it is in need of longer lengths of hair – seven or more inches.
“We asked women to come forward to transform their appearance at our salon and as an incentive for those having that much hair cut off we offered a free re-style. The response has been amazing and so far we have collected almost several metres of hair.”
Gavin recently cut off over a foot of hair from Shrewsbury dental nurse Maria Maddox.
Maria said: “It has taken almost five years to grow my hair to my waist, just having the occasional trim to keep the ends tidy.
“I made the decision to grow it so that I could donate it, however, I wasn’t sure how to go about it. I searched the internet for inspiration and I saw the Princess Trust. That’s when I decided to donate it to them – it’s such a worthy cause.”
The charity was launched in 2006 by the parents of five-year-old Hannah Tarplee of Hereford who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer in 2005.
Gavin added: “As hairdressers, we know how important hair is to women and girls of all ages therefore we hope to be able to help this excellent cause by promoting the Hair to Spare campaign.”
People who do not have enough hair to donate but who would still like to get involved can make a small cash donation instead which will go towards the production costs of the wigs.
Simply text WIGS01 (followed by the amount) to 70070.
All the money raised for the Hair To Spare or No Hair To Spare campaign will go the Little Princess Trust.
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