Hair donor makes big chop for a good cause

Jan 9, 2018

Cindy Parola said good bye to 9 inches on Tuesday. Her hair was measured with a ruler and chopped off for the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program, the Wareham real estate agent's first time donating hair.

Pantene accepts donations of hair to be made into wigs for women with cancer. Parola said she has a lot of friends who have had cancer, so the cause is near to her heart.

"It seemed like something I can do easily to help people," she said.

She chose Pantene's program to donate the hair to because the organization provides women with wigs at no cost to them.

"I would freak out if I were in that situation and lost my hair," Parola said. "Looks are an important thing to people."

But when 9 inches of hair were removed from Parola's head, she wasn't wigging out at all.

"My husband's really excited because my hair won't be clogging the drain anymore," she said.

Tina Campanario at Looks Unlimited Salon & Spa executed the cut. She's been cutting Parola's hair for 20 years. Parola said she thinks everyone should donate their hair at least once.

"It's such a personal thing to lose your hair, no matter what the disease," she said. "I feel 10 pounds lighter already."

Pantene requires donations to be at least 8 inches of hair that has not been bleached, permanently colored or chemically treated. It takes six ponytails to create a Beautiful Lengths wig.

The Beautiful Lengths program, which started in 2006, works with the American Cancer Society to distribute the wigs to women across the country. More than 400,000 ponytails of hair have been donated to Beautiful Lengths so far.