Lots of Love for Locks of Love

Since I was a young girl, I had long hair. By the time I was 12 I had had my hair cut once and no trims. I could sit on my hair. I have always enjoyed long hair.



Having five girls, I have enjoyed doing their hair for 20 plus straight years. The girls have all had hair long enough to sit on as well. Sometimes hair that long can be time consuming to comb and do.



Many, many times over the years, the girls cut their hair and donated it to Locks of Love. This organization takes hair that is donated and makes wigs for children who have none for whatever reason.



The hair that is donated that can't be used, is sold at market helping pay the costs for making the wigs. They send you this thank you card when they get your hair. Here is a link.

http://www.locksoflove.org/

Each of my girls has donated a few times as they get older. When my oldest went to get her hair cut, I took a before and after shot and kept a lock of her hair.



I took the lock of hair and braided it into a long thin braid. I then got it a bit damp running wet fingers over it. I fashioned it into a heart. I then placed it in a large book making sure that the braid had no twist in it. I placed an elastic in the center of the heart holding the bottom and the top together. I let it dry for a few days.



Once dry, I removed the hair heart braid and put a small ribbon over the center of the heart to cover the elastic. I trimmed the center to make the ends even. I then wrote a poem about the day she got her hair cut:

The Gift

Young girl arrives with long, dark hair.

Decides to cut it shorter to share.

Fourteen inches come off in the salon,

The hair dressers name was ..........

The precious gift then packed for "Locks of Love"

To make wigs for others that are bald above.

The hair looks short, but the heart is pure,

As my girl leaves the salon, a woman for sure!

I bought a mat with three holes. In the first, I put her before picture. In the middle, I put the poem with the heart of braided hair. In the last, I put the after picture.

I have done this for a few of the girls but as any parent knows, you are much better at finishing things for the first. I do have the hair and dates and pictures but have never put them all together in a frame.

When my mom almost died, I took pictures of each of her children's families and put them in a mat. She had an emergency brain shunt put in and they shaved her head. I kept the hair that had been left hanging in her pony as they didn't take the time to worry about her hair. I fashioned the hair into little hearts and used waxed dental floss to tie a bow to make the heart stay as the rubber band was thick and wouldn't frame well. I photo copied all the pictures and poem on a color copier already matted. I then attached a real hair heart with bow on each color copy and framed them and gave one to each sibling so that each would have a picture of each sibling's family and included the heart lock of mom's hair.

Two things, I framed mine in a slide in frame and that is why the heart I have looks rough. I would put it in a frame that the back locks in rather than slides from the side. I would also hairspray the heart when you have the heart the way you want it to avoid what happened to my moms. The loose back of the frame slid side to side making the hairs loose. I would also clip the fly away hairs making the heart look trim.

It is a fun keepsake that can be framed and enjoyed for generations. The possibilities are endless. Your son's first haircut, keep a lock of his curls and shape it into a baseball bat. Write a poem about how much you love your tough little guy. Make the hair heart a frame and put a picture in the center. Depending on the length of the hair you could do a lot with it.

There are also some places that will buy long hair for thousands of dollars and it is worth more if it hasn't had hot irons used on it. There are many types of art using hair. Spend some time looking them up online. There are some talented people who make beautiful pictures with the hair.

Just some thoughts of how to use family treasures to decorate your home and make an heirloom picture and help someone at the same time!