Local girl gives hair with lots of love

Donated locks
help those with
medical hair loss
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK — A 4-year-old resident knows the value of beautiful hair, and that’s why she had hers chopped off.

Megan Pelszynski had more than 10 inches of her long, golden tresses cut on Friday in order to donate them to Locks of Love, an organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under the age of 18 with medical hair loss.

Last September, Megan told her mother, Laura, "You always say my hair is so beautiful. Don’t you think another little girl or boy would love to have it?"

Megan said this to her mother after seeing before and after pictures in a magazine of a little girl who received a hairpiece donation from Locks of Love, her mother said.

"Megan saw the picture and felt bad for the girl, and then she decided she wanted to grow her hair out to donate it to Locks of Love," her mother said.

Based in Lake Worth, Fla., the nonprofit organization has helped over 1,000 children by providing them custom-fitted hair prosthetics since its first year of operation in 1997, according to a Locks of Love press release.

"Volunteer donors provide the hair, and the organization has a manufacturer hand-assemble the hairpiece," Pelszynski said.

The prosthesis requires approximately six to 10 donations of hair and takes about four to six months and between $3,500 and $6,000 to manufacture, the press release said.

"Each hairpiece is custom made, according to a child’s head size and their preferences in color and length," Pelszynski said.

Most recipients suffer from an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata, for which there is no known cause or cure, she said.

Others recipients have suffered severe burns, or endured radiation treatment to the brain stem, in addition to many other skin conditions that result in permanent hair loss, the press release said.

Pelszynski said that it is important to note that 80 percent of the hair donations to Locks of Love come from children.

"It is an important lesson for Megan to learn that others do not have something, like your hair, that you may take for granted," Pelszynski said.

Her mother said Megan found it hard at times to sit through daily hair-styling attempts to keep her long hair untangled and off her face and neck when the weather got warm.

And although she never had hair shorter than shoulder length, Megan proudly held up the long ponytail cut off at Boca Salons on Route 130 last week, and showed off her new hairdo.

When asked how she felt about giving her hair to Locks of Love, Megan said, "Good. It’s the nice thing to do."