Here’s how you can help create wigs for young children with cancer

Clients can donate their used hair directly through the salon

September is childhood cancer awareness month and it's more important than ever to support organisations and charities that are helping children during one of the most harrowing experiences in life. Hair extensions brand, Great Lengths has recently announced its plan to create more wigs for children with cancer. They confirmed their partnership with the Little Princess Trust will continue. They recently revealed that over 4,000 bundles of its 100% human hair extensions have been donated to the charity to help create real hair wigs.

The Little Princess Trust is the only dedicated charity that provides real hair wigs to children who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other illnesses.

The charity has been accepting donations from Great Lengths since 2015.  The collaboration was initiated by Great Lengths extensionist and co-founder of M Hair in Nottingham, James Henderson, when he noticed that high quality hair extensions being removed in his salon could be re-used as hair donations.

Currently Great Lengths is the only hair extension brand in the world which can be used after removal to make wigs due to the high quality of the hair and ethicality nature. Over the past 14 years, the Little Princess Trust has provided over 10,000 real hair wigs to children in need and has funded vital research which improves treatments and outcomes for children with cancer.

Great Lengths explained that it takes 300 grams of hair to create a children's wig, which is the average weight of two full heads of extensions. The Little Princess Trust can accept Great Lengths hair extensions that are 16 inches or longer, and clients can donate their used hair directly through the salon where they have their extensions applied.

Since switching to local manufacturers, five full wigs for children have been created using purely Great Lengths hair. For this to have been achieved through the Covid crisis is remarkable, particularly given that making wigs is an extremely labour intensive process, with the majority of work done by hand.

It takes up to 60 hours to create one wig, with rigorous quality checks in place to maintain standards.

Now that salons are re-opened and many Great Lengths transformations are taking place daily, The Little Princess Trust is hoping to produce 10 more Great Lengths wigs – and Great Lengths will be making a donation for every salon that returns hair over 16”.

It’s easy for Great Lengths salons to get involved in this important cause. Hair simply needs to be removed as usual, then packed and sent in a pre-provided kit.

Joscelin McCourt CEO of Great Lengths UK & Ireland, said,“We are honoured to continue to collaborate with The Little Princess Trust, it’s such an inspiring charity and one that makes so much sense for us to contribute to.

She added: "We live and breathe hair and felt that too much waste was happening before the introduction to the charity. This year we really want to celebrate our long-standing partnership with LPT and encourage all salons to get involved.”