My arms were aching, the plait looked hideous and I still had another one to go. I began to think how annoyed I was at my hair and how I wished it would do what I wanted it to do. Then I wondered what my life would be like if I had unfortunately lost my hair due to an illness. I would like to think that if I did, I would be confident in how I looked and be able to embrace who I was without feeling the need to hide. Then I wondered that not everyone who has lost their hair would feel confident enough to love who they were because of their loss of hair. This appalled me to think that someone out there might be choosing to miss out on something because they felt too self-conscious about their hair. So that was when I decided to cut off my hair to make wigs so that those people would never miss out on anything. Now I could’ve decided to donate the two plaits and leave my hair at shoulder length but I wanted to empathise with the people I was giving my hair to and I wanted to be thankful that I do have the luxury that it does grow back whereas for some it never will. I donated my hair to ‘Little Princess Trust’ who provide free wigs for children and young people up to the age of 24 who have sadly lost their hair due to cancer treatment and other illnesses. It is an amazing charity which I encourage many more people to donate and fundraise too as well.

Frances, Year 10