Long locks gone for a good cause
By Kate Ruggles
Farmer Staff Writer
What began as a common battle between parent and child over hair has ended in an act of giving.
Three-year-old Eastyn Wold had long, beautiful hair, and like most girls her age, it would get tangled. Eastyn was constantly having to put it up or sweep it away from her face. And, most of all, she hated to have it brushed, especially at bath time.
“We would struggle when she took a bath because it would get so knotted and it hurt to brush out,” states Kelcee Wold, Eastyn’s mother.
However, three weeks ago, Eastyn decided not to battle with her hair anymore.
In December Kelcee states that she and Eastyn’s dad, Jarrett, began planting the idea for Eastyn to donate her hair to Locks of Love.
“We started suggesting that since she hated to brush it out so much, she should give it away to a little girl who needed it,” states Kelcee.
At first, Eastyn wasn’t too keen on the thought of cutting her hair, but Kelcee and Jarrett continued talking with her about Locks of Love. Finally, the idea took hold.
“Eastyn’s dad would have to have her lay on the bed so her hair hung over the side and he could brush it and put it in a ponytail,” Kelcee states. “Eastyn began comparing herself to Rapunzel, saying, ‘Mom, I’m like the girl from Tangled.’”
Eventually she decided that like the ‘Tangled’ girl, she too would cut her hair. And, like her parents had suggested, she would give it away.
As soon as Eastyn’s plan was set, Kelcee made the appointment, and this past Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, Eastyn gathered with her family at Monjores to get her first salon haircut and give away something precious to her to help someone in need.
Though she doesn’t yet completely understand who her hair is going to, as her first desire was to bestow it to her grandpa Kelly, the purity in her willingness to give her hair away was not lost on those who came to support her decision.
Now, with a new haircut that she can brush herself, Eastyn says that she likes her hair very much.
Locks of Love, according to its web site, is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada suffering from long-term medical hair loss. The hair prosthesis provided to children by Locks of Love helps provide a sense of confidence and self-esteem and enables them to face the world and their peers.
For more information on Locks of Love, please visit their web site at www.locksoflove.org.