Students donate 388 inches of hair to Locks of Love

WMUL, Marshall's student-run radio station, hosted its third annual Hair from the Herd event Friday.

The event took place in the Memorial Student Center Plaza and was an opportunity for students to donate 10 or more inches of hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing hairpieces for children suffering from medical hair loss, said Adam Cavalier, station manager of WMUL.

Cavalier said 388 inches of hair were donated from 21 participants and the largest donation from a single participant was 60 inches of hair.

Last year, members of WMUL had hoped more males would participate in the event, Cavalier said.  This year, both sexes participated almost evenly, with eight males and 13 females.

"We had a nice little battle–I guess you could call it–earlier," Cavalier said. "Two very long-haired individuals, one guy and one girl, battled it out. The girl gave 60 inches and the guy gave 42 inches."

Rhiannon Massey, sophomore medical laboratory technology major from Richwood, W.Va., participated in the event.

"I've donated in the past but didn't actually know that this was going on, so it was kind of a spur of the moment thing," Massey said.

She said she thinks donating her hair to Locks of Love is a great cause.

"It feels really, really good," Massey said. "It would be neat to see the wigs afterwards, but it still feels really nice." 

Free haircuts were provided by six members of the Huntington School of Beauty Culture, including student cosmetologists Sheri Romans, Shawn Ward, Kimberly Burke, Nina Kelly, Sherika Howard and missions director Tena Kimball.

Free T-shirts were given to each person who donated hair, Cavalier said.

Cavalier said the goal for next year is to get even more participants than this year.