Western University held its’ annual ‘Cuts for a Cure’ event at Concrete Beach where students gathered to donate their hair towards charity. The donations were transferred towards Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths program, who have been working with the Canadian Cancer Society since 2006 to provide wigs to women with cancer.
Paige Doyle (right) is pictured after donating 8 inches of hair to be used to make wigs for women with cancer.
The sun was unforgivably blazing, however there was still a horde of students who were visibly excited to donate their hair towards a great cause. Both men and women had signed up to donate their hair—those with less than 8 inches of hair to donate were also able to shave off their hair and beards to raise awareness towards cancer.
Among the many, Paige Doyle was a seasoned donor who had decided to donate her hair on a whim. The 3rd year student studies Psychology at Kings College and was inspired to donate her after seeing many others doing the same at Concrete Beach. Doyle has donated her hair once before, and she acknowledges that her ability to grow hair is a privilege, and she saw first-hand exactly how much of a difference a wig made in her aunt’s confidence after she was diagnosed with cancer.
“Cancer runs in my family and everybody has gotten it. Two years ago, my aunt was actually diagnosed with breast cancer, lost all her hair, and she had a wig. [I] could see how much confidence wearing that wig out in public gave her, and I thought it’s really nice. [If] I could do that for somebody else, I’d love to.”
Doyle says that the decision was easy as she adopts the mindset that her hair is something that can and will eventually grow back. However, she wanted to allow women with cancer to feel as confident as her aunt was—especially while battling cancer. She urges anybody who has the privilege to donate their hair to also go and donate their hair to those who may not share the same privilege.
In addition, students were sure to get a win-win as Western Charity also enlisted the help of Chatters Salon to provide free haircuts to fix the blunt cuts from the big chops.
Next month is Cancer Awareness Month and those who missed out on the event can still submit personal donations to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign until December 31, 2018.
