It’s been about a month, and Victoria Bennett still finds herself running fingers through strands of hair she no longer has. 

Bennett, 13, of Jaffrey, recently cut off a foot of hair to donate to Wigs for Kids through Antrim’s Trends of Fashion. When asked why she would go through two years of growing her hair out – hair that would eventually reach down to her hips – just to cut it, Bennett’s answer was simple: she did it for her best friend’s mom. 

“My best friend’s mom lost her hair due to chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer,” said Bennett, whose hair now reaches slightly below her shoulders. “She always had beautiful long hair, and she was really sad when they cut it off. After she lost it all, I got the thought to grow out my hair and donate it.”

Before last month, Bennett hadn’t cut her hair in about two years, which is when her best friend and her mom moved to Alaska. Bennett decided to donate to Wigs for Kids, so that a child with no hair could be kept from being bullied. 

"I wanted to donated my hair to a kid so that they can feel better [about what they are going through],” said Bennett. 

Bennett’s hair was one of 65 bags recently sent out by Trends of Fashion, but there was something special about her donation. Included with the bag was a handwritten letter to be sent to whoever gets her hair. 

“A lot of the time I think about someone else walking around with my hair,” said Bennett. “I wrote the letter because I wanted the person who received my hair to know why I did it.”

Bennett said she hopes she gets a letter from the child that receives a wig made of her hair. 

“I’m happy that she was willing to grow out and cut her hair,” said Bennett’s grandmother, Sharon, who was with Victoria when she got her hair cut. “It was a really good and inspiring thing that she did.”

Victoria said her best friend’s mother had mixed reactions about her donation. She was happy that she had decided to donate her hair to a worthy cause, but was sad because she was cutting her hair. 

“I would like to help out more, and will probably donate my hair again when I get older,” said Bennett. “But for now, I’m excited to be able to do all the hair styles I couldn’t do when my hair was longer. Maybe next time, I’ll grow it down to my knees.”

Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT. 

]]>