20+ inches of hair and over $1000 generously donated to the Canadian Cancer Society

 

For women undergoing cancer treatments, losing your hair is a symptom that can be emotional, bring down self-esteem and make survivors feel as though they have lost a part of what makes them who they are. With every hurdle they must bound over, treatment they must endure, pill they must swallow and ounce of strength they must conger up, it just isn’t fair to have hair loss be added to the mix.

With those sentiments in mind, the Canadian Cancer Society launched the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign in 2007 and thanks to generous Canadians from across the country, over 70,000 ponytails have been donated. Support for the program is extremely important as it takes a lot of hair to make the wigs. In fact, it takes up to 15 ponytails to create one wig.

Over the years, many local women have shaved their heads in support of the program and just recently Creedence Pete (Rayne) joined that group. At 1pm on Monday, February 5 Creedence found herself in a chair at Curl Up & Dye Hair Salon, where she works in Social Media and Make Up, as one by one, staff members put her long, thick hair into small ponytails.

“I didn’t even bring a toque. I don’t know what I was thinking” she laughed. “I’m so happy that people donated. I really hope that doing this sheds light on different situations because I know that everyone is different, and that cancer affects people in different ways. Hopefully this helps bring more awareness to things that people can do to help make a difference themselves, because little changes that you can do can make a big impact for someone else who is struggling.”

Creedence cut the first ponytail and each employee at the shop followed her lead, cutting until there was nothing left to cut. “I feel so much lighter!” From there, studio owner Elora Lanctot shaved the remaining hair until Creedence was left with a perfectly round bald head. “I think it turned out really good and I’m really happy that I did this” said Creedence, with a big smile.

Leading up to shave day, she had raised $1180 and decided to leave her link open for anyone who wanted to donate after the fact. Creedence also hopes that the publicity her event received will inspire others to do the same thing. “It’s super simple.  Fundraise to start and then its simple to donate your hair. As long as you know its for a good cause and you know that it’s going to benefit someone else that can’t have it grow back, then its so easy and amazing, and not scary at all.”

To see a video of Creedence’s big hair cut, visit the Press Facebook page “Whitecourt Press.”