Can You Donate Hair to Someone Else?

Human hair is essentially cornified cells that develop from hair follicles. It has one of the fastest growth rates for tissues in the body, second only to the bone marrow.

You can shed as many as 50 to 150 strands on an average day through washing, brushing, combing, or engaging in other hair care treatments. Now, the amount of hair you shed daily is nothing compared to the strong-rooted 100,00 to 150,000 strands the average person has.

This begs the question of whether you can donate hair to someone who needs it. That’s the essence of this blog post. If you have a healthy head of hair and would like to share it with those battling hair loss for one reason or the other, please read on. We’ll explore the conditions that may result in hair loss and how you can help. So, stay with us!

Can You Donate Your Hair?

The world is riddled with many diseases that are genetic, caused by lifestyle preferences, diets, and many other factors. Some of these diseases can be terminal, while most can be managed appropriately, thanks to technology and medicine. Cancer, high blood pressure, arthritis, and heart diseases are some examples that may result in hair loss.

Radioactive therapy is an effective treatment for terminal diseases like cancer and leukemia. However, the effects are pretty strong and can cause severe hair loss while killing cancer cells and treating leukemia.

However, the effects of these treatments sometimes reflect physically and can cause slight to severe hair loss. It can also be temporary or permanent.

Many people don’t want others to know they’re undergoing any treatment, and the apparent and rapid loss of hair can result in questions that some patients don’t want to answer. So, we can help by donating hair that’ll be made into wigs for them.

You may do this for someone you know or have your hair shipped to facilities that deal with hair donations. There are many uses for the hair you donate – you can make someone happy with those locks you’re considering snipping and throwing away.

Why should You Donate Some Hair?

Hair has become a beauty standard in society today. It’s so significant that it can be and usually is one of the major determining factors for a person’s appeal. That’s little wonder why people go all in to care for their hair, creating volumes and luster and choosing styles that complement their faces.

Now, for one reason or the other, some may find themselves battling with severe hair loss. This can take a considerable toll on them when you consider the society we live in. It can affect their self-esteem, especially those who are victims of burns and have telling scars.

People donate hair for different reasons. For one, you may be tired of your long locks and may want a change. Instead of cutting it off and throwing it away, why not help a child or an adult’s self-esteem by donating these tresses?

You can also decide to grow out your hair specifically for donations. The process is relatively straightforward, and the requirements are usually the same.

How to Donate Some Hair?

By now, we’re confident you already know you can donate any hair, whether fine, coarse, or medium. However, you must follow some steps and meet some requirements before your donation becomes worthy of acceptance. You can either cut the tresses yourself or go to a salon to get it done.

There are donation salons that partner with hair donation collection centers. You can look up the closest one and go there to have your hair cut.

Without further ado, here are the steps:

Ensure it’s clean and dry

When donating hair, only dry tresses are acceptable. This is because wet hair will develop mold during the transportation process and eventually get thrown out. So, to ensure that your strands meet this requirement, cut them just after your most recent wash.

Cut it well

Now, when you’re cutting the hair yourself or at a salon, ensure the hair is in four sections before snipping. You can also make it six, which is much better because it’ll result in generous amounts afterward.

If you’re doing it yourself, make a parting at the center of your head. Then, part the hair again, starting from the center of your head, where you made the first part. Tie these sections into a tight ponytail to prevent the strands from coming unraveled during transportation.

You can use tight rubber bands to secure the ponytails and cut the hair right above the bands. Finally, wrap the ponytails in packaging paper and ship them out.

The Requirements for Acceptable Hair

It’d be challenging to maintain order if donating hair had no requirements. People will donate all sorts of locks, which will take too much time to sort through. So, the average center that accepts hair donations has these requirements:

1. The hair needs to be at least 12 inches long, including curly hair. So, if you’re donating curly tresses, you can straighten and measure them before snipping.
2. Hair has to be in its most natural state. You can’t donate colored hair. The same applies to permed or highlighted locks.
3. If your highlights or hair dye is temporary, you can wash it out before donating the hair. Remember to wash first, then cut after.
4. Finally, you can donate your gray hair, but not every organization accepts it. So, inquire before snipping.

Bottom line

Alopecia can happen to anyone at any time. You can make someone suffering from hair loss ecstatic by donating your locks, and you have the assurance that your hair will grow back before you know it.