Locks of Love

[D&T]

I've donated my hair a few times already since I was 18, I'm going to be doing it again when I turn 30 in the next 6 months, but I've now been searching and confuse if this is a scam or not? 50% of people on other forums and google says it is, and the other says no! so what would you do? or where would I go? I used to just send them my hair as indicated on their website. I just want to make sure it goes for the cause, and not sold for profit or anything like that.

 

[sba771]

I am pretty sure its legit. If you are uncomfortable there is also a program run by pantene prov. I may do that one only because the length requirement is about 2 inches shorter than locks of love. It is such a good thing to do- congrats on doing it twice! I am antsy growing it now and its so hard.

 

[D&T]

Date: 8/7/2009 5:36:09 PM
Author: sba771
I am pretty sure its legit. If you are uncomfortable there is also a program run by pantene prov. I may do that one only because the length requirement is about 2 inches shorter than locks of love. It is such a good thing to do- congrats on doing it twice! I am antsy growing it now and its so hard.

Thanks sba- I''ll check Pantene as well

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 8/7/2009 5:32:20 PM
Author:D&T
I''ve donated my hair a few times already since I was 18, I''m going to be doing it again when I turn 30 in the next 6 months, but I''ve now been searching and confuse if this is a scam or not? 50% of people on other forums and google says it is, and the other says no! so what would you do? or where would I go? I used to just send them my hair as indicated on their website. I just want to make sure it goes for the cause, and not sold for profit or anything like that.

I don''t know if it''s legit or not, but both of my SIL''s have donated their hair to Locks of Love. Personally, my sister and I have both been blessed with naturally blonde blonde hair and would never just give it away.

I shake my head at myself because it is a charitable thing to do, but I just love my color so much

I''d do some more research before donating anything though - is there a number on their site that you can call?

 

[Munchkin]

I have done locks of love in the past. I recently heard, however, that people are charged for the wigs they receive. (Again, all heresay) I was told that Wigs for Kids provides wigs cost-free.

 

[D&T]

Not sure, about them charging the recipient for the wig but I''ll keep that in mind when I call them, I know when I did it the last few times, the thought never occurred to me that it may not be all charitable

 

[lulu]

each of my granddaughters has done this once. Please tell me it''s legit.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Locks of Love is very much legit. Your stylist should make the donation.

Now, LOL is very particular. Your hair needs to be "virgin" in order to be used. This isn''t something a lot of people know or understand...and if you try to donate chemically treated hair, it will be denied because it can''t be used. The hair boiled, processed and knotted into wigs...the process stresses the hair enough without prior damage.

 

[onvacation]

Date: 8/7/2009 9:08:42 PM
Author: DivaDiamond007

Date: 8/7/2009 5:32:20 PM
Author:D&T
I've donated my hair a few times already since I was 18, I'm going to be doing it again when I turn 30 in the next 6 months, but I've now been searching and confuse if this is a scam or not? 50% of people on other forums and google says it is, and the other says no! so what would you do? or where would I go? I used to just send them my hair as indicated on their website. I just want to make sure it goes for the cause, and not sold for profit or anything like that.

I don't know if it's legit or not, but both of my SIL's have donated their hair to Locks of Love. Personally, my sister and I have both been blessed with naturally blonde blonde hair and would never just give it away.

I shake my head at myself because it is a charitable thing to do, but I just love my color so much

I'd do some more research before donating anything though - is there a number on their site that you can call?

?? Then what would you do with it? Do you sell your hair? (Can you still do that? I thought that was way back in the days..) No offense, just really genuinely curious

 

[D&T]

Date: 8/7/2009 10:35:35 PM
Author: Italiahaircolor
Locks of Love is very much legit. Your stylist should make the donation.

Now, LOL is very particular. Your hair needs to be ''virgin'' in order to be used. This isn''t something a lot of people know or understand...and if you try to donate chemically treated hair, it will be denied because it can''t be used. The hair boiled, processed and knotted into wigs...the process stresses the hair enough without prior damage.

The last three times I''ve done it, I had to send it in myself

Should I ask them next time to do it for me?

 

[onvacation]

Date: 8/7/2009 9:10:36 PM
Author: Munchkin
I have done locks of love in the past. I recently heard, however, that people are charged for the wigs they receive. (Again, all heresay) I was told that Wigs for Kids provides wigs cost-free.

I just looked at their website and it says that the cost of the prosthetic will be calculated according to financial need?

 

[swimmer]

Locks of Love is not a scam per say, but they are not really what they say they are.

new york times article link

I too found this out after donating twice to them. I will not do so again. Most of the hair is thrown away, their BBB status is poor and they put themselves forward as being something that they are not. Icky all around. Go with the Pantene program instead.

But I do have to agree with them, kids have a hard time with real hair wigs, when my sister was battling leukemia she just wore a scarf and could not have dealt with a real hair wig, the poly one she was given by a well wisher was itchy and hard to maintain, can not imagine how hard a real one is to maintain.

Side note, selling hair is quite lucrative, again it must be "virgin" but my super straight heavy black hair got me a few hundred back in grad school at a place catering to Latinas. They prepared it much the same as the locks of love stylists did.

 

[phoenixgirl]

I read up on Locks of Love when I was considering donating once, and I knew that most of their wigs did not go to children with cancer and that the wigs weren''t all donated. However, that article was pretty disturbing. The president seemed so patronizing when it came to the donors.

-------------------------------------
"We created this monster because people get so much from it,” said Madonna Coffman, the president of Locks of Love. “They get the attention. They get a warm and fuzzy feeling. They feel they’re going to help a child.”

. . .

“A check would be easier for me,” Ms. Coffman said. “But would the donors get out of it what they do? No.”

-------------------------------------

 

[justginger]

Oh jeez - I''m glad someone asked about this. I''ve been growing my hair for ages (had a setback last Aug when I had to get some cut off for my best friend''s wedding -- it was "too long" for the desired updo) in anticipation of donating it. I''ve always had long hair so have had to spend some time growing it out so that when I get the necessary 10 inches (or whatever it is) chopped off, it''ll still be at least shoulder length. I thought I''d do it last month, but was honestly too busy to find time to get to a salon.

Thanks to everyone for the input - will look at Pantene''s program instead of LOL now.

 

[sba771]

Here is the pantene link http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/index_home.jsp I will be giving mine to them.

 

[D&T]

Date: 8/8/2009 7:05:34 AM
Author: phoenixgirl

I read up on Locks of Love when I was considering donating once, and I knew that most of their wigs did not go to children with cancer and that the wigs weren''t all donated. However, that article was pretty disturbing. The president seemed so patronizing when it came to the donors.


-------------------------------------
''We created this monster because people get so much from it,” said Madonna Coffman, the president of Locks of Love. “They get the attention. They get a warm and fuzzy feeling. They feel they’re going to help a child.”

. . .

“A check would be easier for me,” Ms. Coffman said. “But would the donors get out of it what they do? No.”

-------------------------------------

alrighty then, I''ll be donating to pantene this time around, oh well, its out of my control once its out of my hands anyways right

 

[D&T]

Date: 8/8/2009 8:29:05 AM
Author: sba771
Here is the pantene link http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/index_home.jsp I will be giving mine to them.

Thanks sba I made the link clickable just in case anyone else was interested.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 8/7/2009 10:43:01 PM
Author: onvacation

Date: 8/7/2009 9:08:42 PM
Author: DivaDiamond007

Date: 8/7/2009 5:32:20 PM
Author:D&T
I''ve donated my hair a few times already since I was 18, I''m going to be doing it again when I turn 30 in the next 6 months, but I''ve now been searching and confuse if this is a scam or not? 50% of people on other forums and google says it is, and the other says no! so what would you do? or where would I go? I used to just send them my hair as indicated on their website. I just want to make sure it goes for the cause, and not sold for profit or anything like that.

I don''t know if it''s legit or not, but both of my SIL''s have donated their hair to Locks of Love. Personally, my sister and I have both been blessed with naturally blonde blonde hair and would never just give it away.

I shake my head at myself because it is a charitable thing to do, but I just love my color so much

I''d do some more research before donating anything though - is there a number on their site that you can call?

?? Then what would you do with it? Do you sell your hair? (Can you still do that? I thought that was way back in the days..) No offense, just really genuinely curious

I''m not offended by your comment! I don''t sell my hair - the stylist sweeps it away and throws it out when I get it cut

I guess I just can''t wrap the idea around my mind that people give their hair away - even for a good cause.

For the record though I''ve been approached several times to donate my hair to LOL because it''s virgin and because of the color. I''ve always declined, and in recent years it''s been cut too short to have enough to donate.

 

[pinkstars]

I''ve been wanting to donate my hair too. I looked into Locks of Love, but I really don''t like it that they sell SO much of the hair that they receive, so I''ll be donating my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. I love it that they require a shorter length of hair and that it benefits the American Cancer Society.

 

[kas baby]

I''ve donated my hair twice now: once to locks of love, and the other time to Children with Hair loss. I didn''t get any feedback from Locks of love, although, with their many donations I don''t know if it is reasonable to expect that. When I donated to Children with Hair loss, I got notification, a certificate, and a letter of thanks from the company. http://www.childrenwithhairloss.us/subpage.php?table=tFaqs

hopefully they were able to use my hair- I donated 12 inches of pin straight, incredibly healthy, shiny, medium/dark blonde lusciousness!

 

[D&T]

Date: 8/8/2009 8:32:06 PM
Author: kas baby
I''ve donated my hair twice now: once to locks of love, and the other time to Children with Hair loss. I didn''t get any feedback from Locks of love, although, with their many donations I don''t know if it is reasonable to expect that. When I donated to Children with Hair loss, I got notification, a certificate, and a letter of thanks from the company. http://www.childrenwithhairloss.us/subpage.php?table=tFaqs

hopefully they were able to use my hair- I donated 12 inches of pin straight, incredibly healthy, shiny, medium/dark blonde lusciousness!

Kas - thank you for the link. Out of the three times I''ve donated to Locks of Love, only once did I get a notification but that was over 12 years ago, so maybe they have just gotten busier and bigger

I''m so proud of so many here that have donated hair

The very first time I donated my hair it was 26 inches of virgin black thick hair, then it was only 11 inches then 10 inches (it started to take longer to grow out as I''ve started to age

)

 

[purplediamond]

Date: 8/7/2009 5:32:20 PM
Author:D&T
I''ve donated my hair a few times already since I was 18, I''m going to be doing it again when I turn 30 in the next 6 months, but I''ve now been searching and confuse if this is a scam or not? 50% of people on other forums and google says it is, and the other says no! so what would you do? or where would I go? I used to just send them my hair as indicated on their website. I just want to make sure it goes for the cause, and not sold for profit or anything like that.

Hi D&T:

My sister has donated her hair to them countless times, but after much research she realized that they sell the hair to other companies. I wasn''t sure about it at first, but I asked around and a lot of beauty insiders say that they do. Now I have no idea what they use these funds for, but a great thing to do is buy wigs and donate them instead of donating your hair to them if you are not comfortable doing it anymore.....just a thought

 

[D&T]

Date: 8/9/2009 12:41:54 AM
Author: purplediamond
Hi D&T:

My sister has donated her hair to them countless times, but after much research she realized that they sell the hair to other companies. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I asked around and a lot of beauty insiders say that they do. Now I have no idea what they use these funds for, but a great thing to do is buy wigs and donate them instead of donating your hair to them if you are not comfortable doing it anymore.....just a thought

Thanks purplediamond for your thoughts- and that sounds like a great idea about buying wigs and donating as well. I'm not uncomfortable donating to them I just want to be able to give to charitble organizations, I actually prefer donating my hair than to let it go to waste if someone else could use it, its virgin hair that has never been treated, so I just thought I'd help some kids/adult in something like this.