For most people, hair care is a routine task - a shampoo every day or so in the morning, the periodic trim, and a styling routine done as often with fingers as with a comb or brush. But Lil Ferreira's hair fell down to her knees, and it required a bit more attention.

"My family was always telling me to get rid of it," Lil said. "You're not a teenybopper anymore!" they'd say.

The baker and owner of Cakes by Lil in East Wareham finally gave in, recently cutting off two feet of brown hair to donate to Locks of Love, the nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to children suffering from medical conditions that causes hairloss.

It's made a difference in her life. Some things have improved. She no longer has to tuck it into her shirt when she uses the restroom. It no longer lays on the floor when she gets a back massage. Plus, she no longer has to sit on the bathroom floor and drape her hair into the tub to wash it .

Other things are a little more difficult. Now that it is shorter, it no longer stays behind her shoulders when she decorates her cakes. And she is nervous about having enough hair to put into a bun, which is the hairstyle she has preferred for years.

Lil is undecided whether it was a good decision. She is thrilled to help Locks of Love, and she had been considering cutting her hair for a long time. But she slipped on the ice this December and hurt her back, and she thinks that may have influenced her decision.

"I was not thinking straight," she said, "but then I figured 'just do it.'"