If you’re going to get your haircut, wouldn’t it make sense to do something worthwhile with it, instead of just throwing it in the garbage? Lots of people with long, lustrous locks donate their hair every year to make wigs for good causes. Whether it’s for children with conditions that cause their hair to fall out, or for adults suffering hair loss because of cancer treatment, it seems like a fairly simple process. You go to a salon, cut your hair, and the hair is sent to a wig maker.
There’s more to it than that, according to Buzz Feed.
A Zero Waste Solution For Your Hair
Well, the first step is for the donor to go to a salon to get it cut. Hair it carefully measured, put into a tight ponytail, and then cut. The cut hair is carefully packaged and then mailed to a particular charity. That’s the first step, and it’s the furthest most people follow.
Once the hair arrives at the charity of choice, that’s where things get interesting. First, all the hair that arrives is sorted by color and quality. Hair that isn’t good enough to make wigs with is discarded. Usable hair is then shipped off to the wig manufacturer.
Hair that’s going to be made into a wig is brushed out, and the shorter pieces are removed to help keep the wig’s length uniform. Then ponytails are sewn together and carefully treated in a chemical bath. while that’s going on, a custom wig cap is created, based on the shape of the future wig owner’s head. Hair is blended together to create a natural look, and then every, individual hair is sewn onto the wig cap. When the wig is completed, it’s sent to the individual who needs it.
Given that it takes between 20 and 30 ponytails to make a single wig, there’s no such thing as too many donations.
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