A Beautiful Lengths Photojournal

Last week Kennady did something she had been thinking about for a long time. She got her hair cut and donated it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. The donation is going in today's mail. Kennady's signature look for years has been her long braid - past her waist! So this was a big change.

Any makeover should include "Before and After" photos, so here is "Before" the cut. 

First, our hairdresser friend trimmed the ends so they were even. Then we pony-tailed the hair and decided how much of it Kennady was willing to part with. The minimum length for a donated pony-tail is 8 inches, but Kennady had a LOT more than that available to give! So she said what she wanted the finished length of her new style to fall, and the pony-tail was cut off an inch or two below that.

Here's the disembodied pony-tail! Yes, that's me - the lady that's totally squeamish about hair - holding the thing. And not gagging even a little bit.

Now Kennady's ready for her makeover.

She wasn't ready to go with a truly short cut, or to make any drastic changes to how she normally styles her hair, so she wound up with just a shorter version of the same style. She doesn't want to spend time blow-drying and working with her hair, so this is still perfect.

Then it was my turn for a haircut, so I gave Kennady the camera and she took a couple of selfies.

We measured the pony-tail and this donation is about 15 inches - almost twice as long as the minimum!

To find out more about the Beautiful Lengths program, visit the Pantene website. You can find the details about donation requirements and learn more about the Beautiful Lengths program. Why is it important to us? Well, Kennady started saying quite a few years ago that if she was going to cut her hair, she would like to donate it to one of these programs that uses it to make wigs for people with cancer. About one year ago, our very dear friend - a fellow homeschool mom whose daughter is one of Kennady's best friends - was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was already well-advanced and the diagnosis came as a shock. The church and our local homeschool community came alongside with family and friends to offer support through all the surgeries and chemo and radiation treatments. And God is so very good! I'm thrilled to be able to report that she is now finished with all the treatments, and cancer-free, although obviously the recovery is ongoing and she and her medical team will need to be watchful against any recurrence. Being close to a family battling cancer meant that making a simple donation of hair was more personal.

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This post was added to the Throwback Thursday Blog-Style link-up hosted by Tots and Me... Growing Up Together! on August 28th, 2015

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