Short Hair - We Care: the #MegaMitzfa Hair Donation

A Big Fat Hairy… Gift? How Donating Hair Works

In this episode Cyla speaks about her big #MegaMitzfa - donating 10 inches of her hair to kids struggling with Cancer through the non-profit organization Children With Hair Loss.

She shares the intention, emotion and process behind it and why it even tested my bravery as a Mom.

Visit them online at www.childrenwithhairloss.us to start your contribution or find out more. Check out the complete transformation on our Instagram account and follow along @SheSoundsLikeMe. 

Please enjoy!

Transcription:

[1:01] How you feeling? Good. Do you feel so fresh? I feel like a non while eating a bagel.
How dare you find a song like that is so stuck in my head?
Curses, Narwhal eating a bagel.
We're looking super. You're looking super fresh.
Thank you. I think you cut 10 inches off of your hair and you grew 10 years in personality.

[1:37] Maybe that or your haircuts Just that fitting. But let's talk about it today, Sai we, uh together.
But you mainly pulled off a mega mitzpeh already this year, which we haven't talked really enough about.
Because there was so much attention around the political space and Black History Month, which has been the last. The focus of the last four episodes really six episodes and will continue to be.

[2:05] It's time to get back to the basics, given back to the community and given back and doing good with mega mitzvahs.
Yeah, for those of you that don't know, a mitzvah in the Jewish tradition is doing good. It's a good deed, right? It's doing good without asking for anything in return.
It's not Mozza. It's mitzvah. Mhm.
It's like giving your mozza to someone else. at no charge.
Yeah, Or like making matzo ball soup from the goodness of your heart to feed someone else's soul is a mitzvah Motsepe.
If it was a Mozz for everybody to be given lots of balls to everybody Mozza balls, not lover balls.
OK, I digress. So quite a while ago, you got this idea.
I think you have heard about it donating your hair to kids with cancer Sometimes if you don't know a whole lot about cancer.
And unfortunately we do because we've lost, um, a very, very important person to us to, um, stage four colon cancer.
Rest in peace, rest in peace. Naomi.

[3:18] And I think when we started to realize the process of cancer and how chemotherapy would sometimes cause cancer patients to lose their hair, that was like a soft spot for about a year ago.
After you cut your hair less, you have usually had a pretty long hair,
Yeah, creating long hair but cheek hair.

[3:40] But she care. But she care in your budgie.
Yeah, And so you thought to You had heard I think about organizations that would take hair and repurpose it for wigs, for kids and other patients for cancer.
You were really committed for about a year. Do you know why I was committed?
Because I wanted to do good for the world.
I mean, like kids with cancer, and I really liked it with my hair being short.
So and I also like my hair grows pretty fast, and it's really easy for me to grow my hair out longer.
And for other people and other kids, it's harder for them to grow their hair out.
I wanted to help other kids like that who want hair and they can't get hair.
And I wanted to help other people in need, be able to feel natural and feel more put together and confident. Yes and confidence.

[4:54] Yeah, that's great. You know, I'm sure that this isn't a topic we talk directly about, but it's self esteem, right? And how we feel about ourselves.

[5:06] We do talk about how looks aren't the most important thing by a long shot, right?
Right. What? Some of them What? Some of the more important attributes as a young girl.

[5:20] Confidence, bravery, intelligence, love.

[5:28] Believing and looks is like nothing right compared to kindness, right and gratitude and being a good person.
And so I think that, you know, while we don't talk directly about that particular topic.

[5:48] For some people, losing your hair can feel heartbreaking because it is a bit of our identity, our style.

[5:58] It helps us to feel a little confident, you know,
and for those that are struggling with battling cancer or other illnesses that prevent them from having hair by being able to donate to those organizations that help support that.

[6:14] Um, you know, your hair will now give some other child happiness and a smile and make her or him feel a little bit better, brighter in their day.
I'm super proud of you for that. So we started talking about that, and then we did some research because there's a lot of organizations that will accept hair donation.
And, like I kept begging and begging like, please, I really want to do this.

[6:44] And then finally while while later you say yes, and then we start finding this well, yeah, I mean, I'd always said Yes, I wanted to definitely support you in that mission. It's an honorable thing to do.
I haven't had hair long hair in a very long time, and I was never really able to grow it long enough to donate.
It's kind of hard to do. You got to donate anywhere between 8 to 12 inches or more, depending on the organization, right?
And so I never had had long hair in the past, but I never cut it short enough to have that sort of length.
At one time, you were scared because you kept cutting your hair and it never turned out that right? That great for you?
Well, when I was a little kid, this is the total truth.
And I'm glad we're talking about this. Because while I try so hard to teach you that looks are the least of the important attributes of being a young woman.

[7:46] The reality is, is that's what A lot of society It's the first thing people pick up on sometimes.
And I remember when I was in my pre teen years, I don't remember exactly how old 12 or 13.
And I got a really short haircut like pixie like a pick seen.
Yeah, you would consider it a pixie, but it was like way before it was trendy or cute, and I didn't really have the greatest cut.
And it was all often wonky for my hair texture. It wasn't nearly as cute as it is today.

[8:20] Nice. Look, Mom, I know bad mom joke, but hey, and I just remember feeling really self conscious about myself as a little girl.
And I was nervous for you to feel the same way because, like the paddle upload experience, Yeah, my own fear got in the way of my bravery.
It did it did. And you have been committed and brave.
And I have wanted to support you in that and do. But the experience left me very uneasy.
And I also didn't. I wanted you to feel supported even if you changed your mind at the last minute.
Because this was something you were dedicated to.
But sometimes we talk ourselves up.

[9:02] To this big game and we get super in our head about what we're going to do.
And then you can get a little, you know, some cold, cold feet, which is another way of saying, like, nervous and a little shy to pull it off in the last minute like we were going to do, like,
10 or 15 minutes of the episode before I got my hair cut.
How I was feeling then and then we were going to do the last last part with me having my hair cut and like what it felt like after.
But we decided not to do that because I would be fiddling pressured that I had to do it right. And I just wanted you to feel supported, whether you chose to go through with it or not, because there's a big commitment you were taking.
You cut 10 inches off a little more than 10 inches, actually, and that's a big change when you haven't seen yourself with a style like that or you haven't seen yourself look a certain way in the mirror.
And I know as a young girl growing into your confidence and your self esteem that can be a little bit jarring.
It can also be really freeing and liberating and like empowering. I feel like I was in, like, ropes around my ankles and around my and around my wrists.
And now I have no more ropes. You feel free.
Yeah. And I feel really, really, really.

[10:28] Pumped and crazy right now you feel full of spirit.

[10:32] Yeah, Good, Good and sparkle. I feel like a cheerleader right now.
Can't stop moving your short haircut. So not only do you feel like that because you feel lighter and you maybe feel like this Look fits.
Who are your personality is a little bit more or you feel like a little freer.
But you also have done something so good for someone else.
And I really wish, but the missing link to donating your hair I wish that there was a way to connect,
the donor with who received the wig or the hairpiece, because to put those two people together would have, like, this extra spark of magic.
But you just gotta trust that that's out there in the,
These organizations are doing the best they can to match up quality contributions, whether it's hair or financial contributions to the right people that need it the most.
And I know they will. So let's talk a little bit about that because, yeah, and one more reason I felt more comfortable with doing this was because I have a great haircut er that I trust and know and love.

[11:44] And she makes you feel good your hair.
So oh, that's awesome. Shout out to Chelsea at Jacob K.
She is She is a stud and and she does a really great job of making us both feel confident and fresh, right? So it was nice to be there with you.
So there's there's plenty of charities that do this on a national level. There's five that we were comparing.

[12:11] UM, one's called hair. We share Children with hair loss.
There's, of course, locks of Love, which is pretty well known. Pink heart funds and wigs for kids.
Now most of these recipients are Children or girls with alopecia to cancer, medical hair loss, things like that Jalopy.
Chas is a different type of condition altogether, but they all are unable to retain their hair.
Now there's a different minimums of length that you can donate, and because we weren't sure what level you were going to cut your hair to, we went with Children with hair loss, whose minimum contribution is eight inches.
But the other important part of this was to know whether or not the recipient had to pay for the wigs or if the organization sold the hair donation.
So what we didn't want is the feeling of like you're going to cut your hair and donate it.
And with that, we were also going to submit a cash contribution on your behalf.
But I didn't feel good about them, maybe selling the hair to another organization or selling it to someone that really was struggling.
I wanted someone to receive that for free, and so we went with Children with hair loss, and so that was important.
And what's cool about them, too? If you if you don't know and if you are considering it, they will accept colored, which is like color treated hair or grey hair.

[13:41] Bleached hair are highlighted hair. So, like for women, maybe that are a little bit further, not just for kids.
They'll accept all types, which is exciting for a lot of people that may have color treated their hair. Now you haven't yet, although you've been begging me to dye your hair dark periwinkle blue.
Wow, that's going to take a whole lot more bravery on Mom's side. Okay, that is never going to happen. And you know it.
Curse you. Can we wait just a few more years before we do start doing radical hair coloring?
No.

[14:18] All right, for another discussion, but anyway, tell us about the process.
Do you remember the step by step process that we had to do when we were with Chelsea? Yeah, we braided my hair.
First, though you had to come in with a clean, dry, washed hair.
Yeah. Then we braided my hair into six braids.

[14:40] And then she tied the braids and then she tied each braid at the top where I wanted to cut it.
And then one by run slowly she cut right above the hair tie each time. And I had my eyes closed because I was so scared.
Were you I was like, Please, please, please, please, Please, please.
And then all my hair had, like, fallen down And I was like, Opened my eyes and I'm so excited.

[15:10] So then we wash my hair. We got out. She curled it and made it tippy er at the end and not all bulky and flat.
So she textured it a little bit. She styled yacht a little very cool. So then we walked out and we had, what, six braids and over 10 inches long, which did look a little freaky.
You're nicely bundled so they could be Yeah, so we could take him home in a bag.
And then we're about moth. So there's an intake form that the organization has you complete and we send it off, and that's it.
And then you receive your certificate and then you feel great.
And then Mom takes you to ice cream and gets you three toys, three toys, and then, you know, a Okay, The ice cream part was true.
Three toys. That's some convoluted eight year old deploy.
But the cool thing is, is that you feel good.
You've done good. You've done a mitzvah. And really, we both got over some stuff, right? I got over the courage to trust your bravery.
Yeah, talk to me about what it feels like now in your heart.

[16:26] I feel free. And I feel like I did a great deed, and I feel alive and strong and confident in myself.
I'm proud. Yeah. I'm proud of you. Yeah. Do you want to check out the before and after check out our instagram page.
We put a real up there of, uh, of silo with hair, almost underwear tush.
And then now it's up to your chin. It's a fresh look.
I I wonder if you'll keep it. Or do you think you'll grow your hair out again and try this again? Next year?
I'm going to grow it out again, and at this time next year, I'm going to chop it off again.

[17:08] I do this on a summer cycle so great before the weather gets warm?
Yeah, cut it off again. Chop chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop white.
So if you want to check out what Children with hair loss is all about,
you can check them out on the Web will drop a link in our show notes or the hashtag cut pass love past love, which is just another beautiful way to share the love and do a mitzvah.
Yeah, mitzvah. Not Matza.
Yeah, there's some other awesome organizations. And no matter who you go with, it's always good to do your research to make sure that your goals align with your organization's and, you know, ask around.
Ask other people that maybe have worked with them in the past, or find recipients because your donation can go very far.
But it's important that it goes to the place that it feels best for you too, because it is a commitment is a commitment.
Yeah, but a good one. Yeah, I'm proud of you.

[18:12] Well, we've got to start planning. Our next mitts was We've got so many myths was coming up and some another mega mitzvah on the table we'll have to talk about in an upcoming episode.
But I think what's a great takeaway here is to be confident in who you are and that, if doing good, feels like the next move for you.
Consider a donation like this, or even just doing something to pass along some kindness.
Yeah, in some way that gives back to another. Another kid need do a mitzvah?
Yeah, and let us know about it. To job is a line at Hello and she sounds like me so we can talk about it and give us some new ideas for ways to give back and what you're doing in your community.
So thanks for listening and have an awesome day. Thanks for listening, guys.
Until next time peace.