Fritzie is my regular client at Maximus. I rarely cut her because she decided over a year ago she’d grow out her hair to donate to the Locks of Love foundation. Locks of Love provides high-quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss using Ponytails donated by salons across the country.

After a long wait, she came in last Sunday ready to make the big change. “I’ve always wanted to donate my hair, I just never grew it out long enough until now”, she said, “but it’s for such a great cause.” Fritzie’s innate spirit of charity drives her to volunteer her time teaching children self-defense at a battered women’s shelter in the Bronx. The need to give comes naturally. She confirms this by saying, “I appreciate the cause more than anything.”

She had over the required 10” of length to donate. I ended up pony tailing and cutting off 15” inches of hair. I could have gone longer but I needed the length for the type of cut I planned on giving her. I already knew that she is a low to no-maintenance type of woman. We joked about how she doesn’t own a brush or a comb. She washes her hair and lets it dry naturally.

Fritzie was under the impression that I would be giving her a chin length bob. But because of her round face shape, I decided I would keep it longer to create the illusion of an oval face by framing with the length. She parts her hair on the side too, which is a great way to add another framing aspect to the face that elongates rather than highlights the round shape. Her hair is straight and thick, so I used a razor the entire time. Razoring can create a lot of depth and broken up layers that would work with her no/low-maintenance lifestyle.

I blew it out, rough drying until it was almost fully dry. With a large round brush I smoothed it out and gave it a bit of a bend inward to define the ends. She can wear this style with a rough blow-dry and no brush if she wants, only using Ocean Spray for texture and The Dry Secret dry shampoo for body on the days she does not wash.

I can always tell when a client is happy when I catch her stealing glances at herself in our mirrors. But I could also tell that it wasn’t for vanity’s sake alone, she was proud. “Afterward, I felt great and I think it was both because of the cause and the weight off of my head.” Fritzie told me. All she could ask for was to give a child confidence by giving this little bit of herself and as a hairstylist, I am honored to be a small part of this. The one thing I asked her at the end was to invest in a comb.

To see some amazing before and after photos of the children of Locks of Love, visit www.locksoflove.org.

Jackie is a Senior Stylist and a trainer at the Carle Place location. You can find her on twitter @ilovehairNstuff