For some parents, convincing their kids to get a haircut can be a challenge. For Sawgrass Country Club resident Lisa Lindsey, however, the challenge was getting them to wait for one.
“They’ve been so patient,” Lindsey said of daughters Izze, 7, and Leni, 5, both students at PVPV-Rawlings Elementary School. “They’ve been waiting a long time.”
Two and a half years, in fact.
That’s how long the Lindsey girls had been growing their hair so that it would be long enough to donate to Wigs for Kids, a nonprofit that provides free custom wigs for children dealing with hair loss, often as the result of cancer or another illness. Last week, the big day finally came, when both sisters had their flowing locks trimmed into chin-length bobs at the Great Clips salon in Ponte Vedra Beach.
“Oh, monkey, you look so cute!” Lindsey said as hair stylist Britain Bell trimmed Izze’s hair.
“She does!” echoed Leni, sporting her own new bob and a shirt proclaiming “Girls Can Change the World.”
Great Clips has a relationship with Wigs for Kids, Bell said, because of the charity’s commitment to provide hairpieces free of charge to children in need.
“We provide donors with everything they need, including printed donation forms, plastic bags for the hair and preaddressed envelopes,” she said.
Each girl also received a coupon good for $2 off her next haircut.
Setting an example
This was Izze’s second hair donation, Lindsey noted.
“When Izze was in kindergarten, her hair was getting really long, so I told her she had a choice,” Lindsey said. “She could get her hair cut and have it thrown in the trash, or she could donate it and make another little girl’s dream come true.”
After viewing a website showing children in need of hair pieces, Izze decided to donate her hair – and almost immediately began growing it out again for her second donation. Her patience and determination encouraged younger sister Leni to do the same.
Lindsey expressed pride in her daughters for enduring two years of tangles and hair hassles in order to help other children.
“It’s truly a great thing for kids to do,” she said.
The sisters’ generosity also inspired other Great Clips customers waiting for haircuts last week. Ponte Vedra resident Fran Coraggio presented each girl with a guardian angel pin.
“I had cancer,” Coraggio told the girls, “and I lost my hair.”
When asked why she wanted to donate her hair, Leni said simply, “Because some girls don’t have any hair.”
Added Izze: “It’s nice to help people.”
