A woman from Newbridge has made a double donation to charity, by raising over £500 and donating ten inches of her hair.
Rebecca Gingell, 25, decided she wanted to undertake a challenge for charity, and eventually landed on the idea of donating her hair to cancer charity Little Princess Trust.
She said: “I’d been thinking about what to do for some time. I’m not the best at running, so ruled that out. I did some research and thought ‘Yeah, why not donate my hair?'”
Little Princess Trust is a charity which provides real hair wigs, for free, to children who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment and alopecia.
Rebecca added: “They do great stuff, helping the children in their care. I’ve known people who have suffered with cancer, and it inspired me to give something back.
“I’ve got family members who survived cancer, and a friend of mine passed away from leukaemia two years ago, which at the time was a real shock, so its something which is really close to my heart.”
After retaining her long locks for her brother’s wedding, Rebecca decided to schedule the snip for Thursday May 12 at Renaissance Hair Design salon, in Blackwood.
As the wigs, which are manufactured in China, cost £350 to produce, Rebecca also set about fundraising to save Little Princess Trust from shouldering the cost and raised close to £550.
Family members lent their support, while the salon left out a tip-jar for donations in the month leading up to the big day.
Rebecca added: “Roger, the owner, offered me two free hair-cuts as his donation, which was very nice, and with the change in the jar, it came to around £170. I can’t thank them enough.”
But how did the end product look?
“I’ve always had long, curly hair, so it’s new to have gone shorter,” she laughed, “but I was relieved when I first saw it because I really like it. I’m still getting used to other people commenting on it, but I’m very happy.
“It’s absolutely something I would do again. Why let my hair go to waste in a bin when it can go towards great causes like Little Princess Trust.”
For more information about the charity and how to send hair donations, visit www.littleprincesses.org.uk.