Hair raising - Catholic students clipped to help those with cancer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Arkansas Catholic) - Anxiously sitting in a salon chair, high school freshman Felicia Jones prepared herself as stylist Christian Gwatney pulled her hair into a ponytail. Jones' mom, Christy, and schoolmate, Morgan Suski, were nearby to offer their support, but they seemed more concerned than the one actually getting her hair cut.

"I'm nervous for her," Suski said. "I've never seen her with short hair before." Then with a few snips of the scissors, eight inches of blonde hair was gone. Felicia Jones said getting that much hair cut off was scary, but she was excited that it would go to help someone who needed it. Christy Ross told her daughter, "I'm so proud of you." "She's really worked hard to grow it out," Christy Ross said in an interview. "Since this time last year she has been keeping it trimmed up and healthy." Jones was one of 40 volunteers at Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock who had their hair cut for Proctor and Gamble's Pantene Beautiful Lengths' project. The national campaign was launched in July 2006 to provide free real-hair wigs for women who have lost their hair while being treated for cancer. Catherine Tapp, Arkansas ambassador for the Beautiful Lengths' program, was present to collect the donated ponytails and send them off to be formed into wigs. She said the wigs are distributed through American Cancer Society wig banks around the nation. It takes six ponytails to make one wig. Gwatney was one of 13 hair stylists in the Little Rock area who donated their time and services for the April 30 cutting party in the school's cafeteria. The volunteers who donated their hair included Mount St. Mary Academy students, their moms and sisters, and members of the faculty and their daughters. Brunettes Adrian and Susan Clark share the ability to grow their hair long in a short amount of time. Both have donated their hair previously for similar programs. "I've done this before, it was my third time to donate hair," freshman Adrian Clark said. "I feel it's a really good cause." Susan Clark, also known as "Adrian's Mom," had her hair cut after taking photos of her daughter's hair being cut. "I was more scared for her to have it done than I am for me," Susan Clark said with a laugh. Sophomore Angela Davenport had 10 inches of her hair cut off, even though the Beautiful Lengths program only requires eight inches from volunteers. "It feels short," she said, sounding not quite sure how she felt about that. "There's not much to comb anymore." Davenport said it had been two years since her hair was that short. She decided not to cut it a year ago when the school asked volunteers to grow their hair out for the program. She said she liked that the wigs are made out of real hair and "not all that itchy synthetic stuff. This is nice and pretty." Alice Jones, Mount St. Mary Academy librarian, organized the program as a project of the school's Diversity Club, for which she is faculty advisor. "At end of last (school) year we announced to the kids that we were going to do it," she said. In order to prepare for the cutting party, she advised students to only trim their hair, but to get that done frequently so it would grow out healthy and strong. Stylists Heather Smith and Christian Gwatney were the two Mount St. Mary Academy alumnae who cut hair at the cutting party. Smith launched the campaign in Arkansas Oct. 5 when she hosted a cutting party at her North Little Rock, Ark., salon two days before the Little Rock Komen Race for the Cure. Smith said she has had friends and clients die from cancer and feels strongly about being able to be a part of this program. "I've gone wig shopping and it's a horrible experience for people to go through," she said. Wigs can be expensive and the synthetic hairpieces often don't fit right and are limiting in terms of styling, she said. Real-hair wigs allow the wearer to style the hair as if it were her own. Catherine Tapp, who volunteers for the Pantene program, works for the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services in Little Rock. Formerly a cancer epidemiologist, she said she knows the statistics on how cancer has devastated the state. "It's important to do something to give back," she said. Not everyone can donate money and "this is just one way to help by donating a piece of yourself." The program launched nationally July 13, 2006, when actress Diane Lane had her hair cut live on the "Today" show. Locally, Tapp had her hair cut live by Little Rock NBC affiliate station, KARK. "We've got 10,000 ponytails to date donated," she said. That number is significant considering how most women feel about their hair. "You know how women are, their hair is like their crown," Tapp said. "To solicit and try to get somebody to donate, that is a big challenge but the people who do it just love it." - - - For information about donating hair, visit the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Web site at www.beautifullengths.com. To find how to get one of the program's free wigs, call the American Cancer Society at (877) 227-1596.

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Republished with permission by Catholic Online from the Arkansas Catholic (www.arkansas-catholic.org), official publication of the Diocese of Little Rock (Ark.).