Pony giveaway

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

They could have gone to Disney World, or slept an extra few hours in their first weekend of summer break, but new sixth-graders, Alexis Haffner and Rebecca Fuiek, chose to spend their Saturday morning at Styles Salon in stylist Tatiana Rodrigues’ chair for a good cause. They will be donating their hair to Locks of Love.

After hearing the final scissor cut that separated their wet ponytails from the rest of their hair, the two best friends were at a loss for words, as the reality of a different lifestyle began to set in.

“There won’t be any braiding of my hair anymore, when I go to sleep,” Alexis said.

After watching YouTube videos about haircuts, Rebecca came across Locks of Love, and presented the idea to Alexis. While this was the first time they participated together, neither is a stranger to hair donations. When her hair grew down her back, Rebecca’s parents donated her hair, when she was in the third grade, and Brandy Haffner, Alexis’s mom, has been donating her hair since she was 16 years old.

“I was just tired of my hair being so long,” Brandy Haffner said. “So, when I cut it, I thought, ‘Why just waste it and throw it away, when it can go to something good?’ I’ve done it several times since.” Brandy’s hair is short now, because she donated her hair two years ago.

The Haffners have already decided to make this a family tradition. Brandy began to say to her daughter, “When you’re 40,” she joked, “and you have a daughter,” Alexis finished, “Make sure she gets this haircut.”

When both were done, both girls complimented each other on their new looks, as they held their old identity in their hands.

“It’s very exciting and proud to see these kids at such a young age choose to sacrifice their hair for others,” Brandy Haffner said. “It makes me feel like I don’t have to worry about which direction they’re headed. They’re starting off well.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure.