Ithaca College

I would advise anyone considering to donate hair or money to Locks of Love to read the Better Buisness Bureau's guide to charities, www.give.org, report on Locks of Love.

http://www.give.org/reports/care2_dyn.asp?733

According to the BBB, most of the hair donated to LOL is sold for profit. The little bit of hair they keep is used to make wigs for children and teens with Alopecia Areata, not cancer. Children whose hair loss is due to chemotherapy may be excluded from consideration, as their condition is considered temporary.

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locks_of_Love

"Locks of Love has received criticism for its practice of selling donated hair, rather than using it in wigs as the donors expect. In general, hair contributed by Americans is unsuitable for wig manufacture. The reason is that their hair is damaged by frequent washing, the use of styling products and dyes, and the heat from hair dryers and irons.

* Guidestar noted in a 2005 report that Locks of Love receives over 104,000 donations of hair each year, but has created a total of 1000 hairpieces since 1997. In response, Locks of Love asserts that six to ten hair donations are required for each wig.

At ten donations per wig, 1000 wigs would require only 10,000 donations. From the 1997-2005 period of time, at 104,000 donations a year, Locks of Love would have recieved an estimated 936,000 which assumes 1997 is included. That still leaves over 925,000 donations unaccounted for. [citation needed]

Locks of Love representatives are frequent guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show and other daytime television shows, where they provide haircuts to guests and audience members. Though the representatives and show hosts normally suggest that the hair collected during the show will go into a wig, that the wigs are given free of charge to children with cancer, neither of these outcomes are guaranteed."

LOL is not the "wonderful" organization that they make themselves out to be. However, there are many other organizations that are.