Hair donation: to trust or not to trust?

There’s a total of four posts, in this blog, on how to donate your hair, and they make up a total of 201 comments.

“Hair donation”, “donate hair”, “how to donate hair” etc are the most common keywords to get to this website.

And this all makes me happy: I’ve spread useful infos for those who want to do something to help other people, and that’s good.

large

But at this point I find it necessary to write this post. Please forgive me if this sounds harsh, but at some point one needs to speak as simple as one can!!!
A number I do not dare to count, out of those 200 comments, asked me “Should I trust it?”.
I always give you my earnest opinion as a girl who simply googled things around and decided to take the leap.

Would you like to know what’s my first, most genuine, reaction every time I read one of those comments?

WHAT DO I KNOW???

Let’s shed some light on the topic, because I do get that no one wants to read over two hundred comments and, on the plus side, if people keep asking is because I haven’t been clear enough:

I am in no way ever affiliate to these associations, I haven’t got a single clue on how these associations “really” work, all I have ever done was going online, reasearching around, reading around and making up my mind. I’m not an authority at all!!!

I simply decided to trust them and donate my hair, then they gave me a thank you email and that was it for me, I was happy with it.

So first thing first: this anxiety of being cheated on is peculiarly italian, we’ve been trained badly on that side, but generally I think that this kind of charity associations, when they go so public around, are to be trusted. Maybe they’re not, ok, we can never know, but I want to believe that there is good in the world.

Anyway, let’s follow some logic.
Let’s pretend they do take your hair, sell it out as some Jo March gone bad… then what?
How much profit do you think they can get?

You think they can get so much profit to go to Hawaii on holiday?
Ok, let’s pretend they do… what if?

I mean, at this point your hair is cut off anyway and you donated it. Period.

You did something beautifully selfless.

Some other people took advantage of that? Such a pity, that’s a very nasty thing, they’re really horrible people.
But, in the end, what’s changed for you?
You won’t do it again, of course, but other than that?
“Well, if I knew I would have asked for my share of it”? Please do not tell me this would be your alternative.

Another thing to ponder: you cannot know where your hair is gonna go. You can’t, it’s impossible!
If you google a bit on how wigs are made you’ll find out that locks of hair are harvested, loosen to single hair, united based on colour and lenght, processed through chemical stages to ensure durability, gathered and made into wigs, dyed and cut and styled… I mean, it’s like asking which one of the rice grains harvested on your field went into which one of the packagings that are sold at the supermarket!
It’s impossible to track, and even if it were possible it would mean such a huge cost for the association that it wouldn’t last long.

It’s even less possible to know who gets the wig that has (also some of) your hair in it, it’s called PRIVACY!
And again, please don’t tell me you want something more than a thank you email, you do not wish for a gilded plaque to mark neverending gratitude for your gesture, do you???

Otherwise selflessness and charity just fly off the window…

You want to help and be sure your help goes in the right place?
Donate to a local association so you can monitor their outcome or, if you can’t donate money, donate your time.
Go to homeless shelters to serve meals, go to refugee camps to let kids play, go to foster homes to do some chores, go to hospitals to read books to the patients, go to the local dog pound to clean up some poop…

There is a huge need for volountary work everywhere, if you do not feel like trusting associations to donate your hair to, if it’s such a huge concern, change type of donation.

This is all I can tell you: if you decide for it, trust it and take the leap. Otherwise it’s not a big deal and you can choose from so many other things to do.

What really matters, in the end, is that those who need help, get it.

PS
If I’m still missing the point and this isn’t answering your question, I’m asking you to leave a comment to clear my mind up, because if you don’t help me understanding what your doubts and fears really are about this all, I can’t help you out!

Related posts:

11 thoughts on “Hair donation: to trust or not to trust?

  1. Irene

    Ciao! Grazie ai tuoi post ho scoperto come donare :-) !!!!!
    mi stavo informando e sei stata utilissima!!!!!!!
    Volevo solo sapere se per donare a quell associazione olandese se i miei capelli sono un po rovinati sulle punte e sono SCALATII … È uno spreco ? :

Leave a comment

Related Post