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Local salons helping people make hair donations to those in need

By Alyssa Ochss 4 min read

ALPENA -- Growing out hair can take years, but when someone is finally ready for that big chop, many places accept hair donations.

Multiple salons in Alpena donate their clients' hair or will help them donate by chopping it off and giving it to them to mail to the charity of their choice.

Lisa McQuarrie of Reflections Salon in Alpena said they give their clients a choice of what they want to do with it.

"We give our clients a choice if they want to send it in or we have a box of hair that when it gets full we send it to Wigs for Kids," McQuarrie said. "We put it in tissue paper and pile it all on top of each other and send it in."

Wigs for Kids is one of many charities that take hair donations to make wigs for children who are losing hair.

McQuarrie said hair must be at least 10 inches long to be donated and there are other things to remember if someone comes in and wants to donate hair.

"As long as it's washed and cleaned and dried and we put it in little ponytails and cut it off for them and measure it of course," McQuarrie said.

McQuarrie said clients are usually really excited when their hair does get chopped off, knowing their hair will go to a good cause.

Richard Gauthier, owner and stylist at Salon 125 in Alpena, said the salon sees consistent hair donations -- usually about 100 to 150 ponytails -- and sends them out twice a year.

"For them we have ziplock bags that we put it in and we wait until the box is full and then send it out," Gauthier said.

He also said the salon sees all kinds of clientele.

"We see all ages, both male and female," Gauthier said.

Gauthier said Salon 125 uses Children with Hair Loss, which is a Michigan based company. Gauthier also said some companies and charities charge for wigs, so they've stopped giving to certain places.

Meredith Day lived in Alpena for four years from 2014 to 2018 before moving to Bay City. While she was in Alpena last month, she was ready for the big chop herself.

Day said she was ready for all her hair to come off, and wanted to give the hair to someone who really needs it.

"So I just needed it cut out of the way," Day said. "And one of my son's friends had cut his hair and my son had said 'oh you know he donated his hair' and I said 'You know what, I've got lots of hair and I need it cut so I'm just going to go ahead and donate it. Why not?'"

Day said she'd previously had her husband cut her hair during the pandemic.

"I'm just really over it," Day said about her long hair. "Actually in September I had my husband cut off six inches at the bottom because I didn't think about it then that I was going to donate. Because had I thought about it then I would have went 'oh that's even more that I could've.'"

Day said the story of her son's friend gave her the idea to donate her hair. Day has donated her hair once before, and that time it was down to her waist.

During the appointment the hair designer, Charlene Fraser, put Day's hair into two ponytails and cut them both off. Later in an email, Day said her ponytails were both 17 inches. She wasn't nervous during the cut.

"My hair grows fast so I don't have a problem with 'oh my gosh only cut off an inch of my hair' so I don't have that," Day said. "Figured it's long, somebody else can use it so might as well."

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