recycle your hair: 2012

Wig No. 3

Here are the shots I took this morning of our 3rd wig. The mannequin heads used isn't as 'friendly' as the one previously used, so it might not looks as nice as. Also, the lady seems to be rushing her work, so the wig was a little off too.

This wig was made from hair donated by Vanessa, Sapphire and Gloria. Thanks once again for donating your hair. I would also like to thank Christina for sponsoring part of the amount for this wig.

Making my last day of 2012 worth

I had a great day moving around the island meeting lovely people!

Went to collect our 3rd wig this morning. I was excited to see how the new wig would look like. Its prettier than I could imagine. Took a few shots before heading to work.

I was alone today to deliver the wig, as donors were not able to make it today. But at least one donor and her family managed to see the wig before it was being delivered to NCCS. Two ponytails were also collected today (more details soon). Thanks!

Have you done anything meaningful today?

Anonymous friend

Received a ponytail yesterday from a friend of mine who wished to remain anonymous. Thanks anonymous friend for your 13 inches ponytail. And not to worry it's long enough. =)

Finally its here!

Finally, our 3rd wig is ready after almost 2 months! I will be collecting next Monday morning and donating it the same afternoon.

Donors has been informed. They are also invited to join me to donate the wig.

Being anonymous

Some of you have asked; Would donors be able to get updates if they choose to remain as anonymous?
Yes donor will be informed when their hair is being used and special arrangement will be made for them to view the completed wig.

FAQ has been updated.

It's time to share

It's time to share this festive season, and Jessica had decided to share with us her beautiful locks. She donated her 21 inches of hair yesterday.

It takes years to grow and great time in taking care such length, so what makes Jessica decided to let go her twenty-one inches?

"I've always had long hair since young and so I thought I would like to try something new. It would really be a waste to just throw all that long hair that I have taken care for such a long time away, so I thought why not donate it?"

"Since I treasure my hair a lot, sometimes I think what if I was the one who was bald? And just the thought of it scares me. I felt that since my hair would still grow, I should share my hair with someone who needs it more, so that they will have the confidence and the will to fight their illness."

Thanks Jessica for sharing your hair and thoughts, we really appreciate your donation.

Photos courtesy of Jessica (2012).

A date worth remembering...

Today is 12/12/12, the last repeating-number date of the century. A date worth remembering especially for our new donor, who donated her 11 inches of hair. Thanks anonymous for donating your hair!

Thanks Keili (sing2heart)!

http://youtu.be/0N0XdvYqRQc

For those who have watched the video I posted on 'How to donate your hair', you would probably find the young lady in this video familiar. Yes, she is the same girl in the video I posted.

Keili (sing2heart) donated her hair once again and posted a video in August. On top of that, she also helps to promote my cause with a link to my site. A big thanks to her and I greatly appreciate that! Now more people will get to know about hair donation in Singapore.

I was shocked

Received a ponytail from another hair donor who wish to remain anonymous. Seriously I was shocked when she handed over her ponytail to me. It's not only long, but thick and heavy as well. Her hair is the thickest we have ever received and it measures 16 inches.

Thanks anonymous!

Header's photo

Does this photo of the ponytail looks familiar to you? Yes, it's the same photo that we used for the header.

This is my first attempt in photographing hair, and the reason for taking this ponytail was because Si En, the hair donor, said she found a greater reason to cut her hair. I believed all donors had the same thought when donating their hair.

Just sharing.

Site Update

Since the beginning of this project, we did not have any updates as much as this. Some of you may not notice any changes because I have been updating bit by bit, as and when I have the time.

The most obvious changes made I think would be the photo for the header. I added a photo weeks back to test it out and today, we have replaced it with something new.

Links for Google Plus Page and Facebook Page have been shifted from the bottom of the right side bar to the top, making it more visible and easy access.

The following pages have also been updated;

We have also added a new F.A.Q page as well to answer most of your questions.

13 inches

Received a 13 inches ponytail today from a very young lady who wish to remain anonymous. Thanks Anonymous for donating your hair!!

Donors’ page has been updated.

That extra inch

Today, I collected another ponytail from a hair donor, Elaine. Her hair measures 12 inches. When asked, she said it should be 11 inches because she cut off an extra inch just in case it’s not long enough. It turns out to be 12 inches in the end. Thanks Elaine!

I can shoot

My friend just shared this with me the other day; its an online photography competition.

Organised by National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), this competition aims to create cancer awareness. Theme for this competition is ‘Resilience and Hope’.

Anyone who are interested to find out more, please go to the link given below. But Closing date is this coming Sunday, 11 November 2012, so hurry!

http://www.nccs.sg/icanshoot/

We had our first again

Two names were added to our hair donors list today; they are Si En and Diana.

Si En donated her 15 inches curls (almost 16 inches actually). It doesn’t look that long until it was being pulled straight. Our first curls, and it reminds me of the first 2 wigs we made. Thank you for your time, hope I didn’t hold you up for too long.

Diana is from Mexico; our first hair donor from outside Singapore. Thank you for rushing down to meet me and special thanks to your husband as well. Really appreciate your time and of course your 11 inches of hair.

Donors’ page has been updated.

In the making

Went to the wig manufacturer for our 3rd wig this morning. Brought along with me are all the hair I have to let them select and match.

3 donor’s ponytail were selected. Gloria’s, Sapphire’s and the most recent donor, Vanessa. The wig will be ready in December, and will be donated to NCCS.

The selected ponytails on the right.

The lead time for this wig will be slightly longer than the previous two, because they have a lot of orders to rush. Donors will be informed once the wig is done.

Just in time

Today, we received another ponytail from a hair donor who wish to remain anonymous. Thank you for your donation!

We would also like to thank Sann, our volunteer who help to collect the ponytail.

According to the donor, the ponytail measures around 11 inches long. If so, it came just in time to be used for our third wig, which was planned for December.

3rd wig coming soon

As some of you may have heard that we are currently planning for our third wig, which should be ready before December, if not, early December.

This wig will be a short wig, totally different from the previous two. As for what style it would be, I can’t really tell you right now. The only issue we faced is if we have enough hair for this wig.

Don’t get me wrong, currently we do have enough hair for at least 3 long wigs, but to make our third wig, we required some shorter length. As you can see from the donors’ page, all the hair donated are at least 15 inches long. So we called our vendor for some advice.

After talking to our vendor, the only way out now is to select the correct ponytail(s) and chop it in a way that no hair will be wasted. It’s a tough decision as I don’t really like cutting those hair donated. But if we have to do it, we have to do it.

As for who’s hair will be used and how are we going to chop it, we will announced it at a later date once we have decided. So do look out for more updates in the coming weeks.

Recycling Week

Today marks the start of the Recycling Week 2012. And yes, you can recycle your hair too.

If you have plan to go from long hair to short, consider donating your hair for a good cause. We recycle your hair by making them into wig and donate it to our local cancer patients. If you are in Singapore, do drop us an email. We will be delighted to hear from you.

Please help to spread the awareness by sharing this post. Your little click means a lot to us.

More hair gone to waste?

I just know that in Malaysia, they have a shaving event similar to ours. Just hope that there will be some organisations or groups out there that could make use of the hair for their local cancer patients.

Some good news

In my previous post, I wrote about my thought of chopping the longest ponytail into two because I thought I could never get something that long. I was wrong.

Last Saturday, 3 donors donated their hair. One of the donors, Karan, donated her 23 inches of hair, making it the second longest hair donated so far. Karan’s daughter also donated her 17 inches lock.

Dawn’s had her 16 inches cut in January, hoping that it could be used for a good cause. Dawn is also the first person from the public who approached me. So far, all the donors were either friends of mine or being approached by me. Really appreciate Jolene for the help in creating the awareness.

We will be making our next wig(s) hopefully soon. I am still waiting for an organisation to get back to me in order to proceed. As usual, donors will be informed once their hair is being used.

Untangled and ready to be used

Finally, I have managed to untangled the hair and had it tied into multiple ponytails. Next will be combining all into one ponytail for easy keeping. It will be an easier job… but not as easy as you might think.

I have updated the donors’ page with donors’ name, photo (if granted permission to use) and the length of hair donated. All the recent ponytails donated are about 16 inches long, which means that I can finally able to use it with Jillia’s 16 inches hair which she donated last year. =)

There is one long ponytail which I think it’s very hard to come by; Ivy’s 25 inches hair. I don’t think I will be able to get another similar to go with this length, so probably have to chop into two in order to use it. Or shall I wait?

I will be updating this site

There will be some minor design and layout changes in this blog. I will also be doing some updating on the contents starting today. It will take some time to complete, so stay tuned.

I would also like to thank Jolene for mentioning my cause in her blog post titled The 2 Brave Botaks about week ago. Thanks Jolene for helping to spread the words. Greatly appreciated!

Win-Win Solution

My friend texted me on Thursday night saying that she has finally got a new look.

She cut her almost waist length hair into a short bob and donating her hair for my cause. Thanks Peixian!

First sponsor

My colleague, Christina, is sponsoring S$50 for the new wig. Thank you!

Also, I have measured some of the hair last night, some are tangled and I need time tidy them up before I could send them to the manufacturer, if I don’t, they would just chop the tangled part off, which would be a total waste.

I will need to comb out the tangled part and save as much hair as possible.

The donor’s page will be updated once all the hair has been tidied and measured.

Hair collection

Yesterday, I managed to collect hair from 5 donors. I have yet to measure the length, but all should be longer then 10 inches. Especially from Ivy, her almost butt length hair should measure up to 20 inches… I guessed.

Well, thanks again to donors; Gloria, Jade, Grace, Ivy and Sapphire for their hair. Not forgetting Gloria’s mum for waiting for me. Thanks!

Touching base…

I might seems to have disappeared all these while, but actual fact was, I have been finding ways to connect to as many possible hair donors as possible before that event.

Have contacted close to thirty possible donors so far, awaiting for a favourable reply from them. So if you are one of those whom I am looking for, do consider donating your hair. Share your hair!

Also, with a friend’s help, we might be getting a salon to help us collect some hair. Waiting for the salon to get back to me.

Anyway, we believed that we are the only group that accept hair donation in Singapore (for charity purposes). So if you know of anyone who wish to donate their hair, do ask them to drop us an email.

Photos

Here are the photos as promised.

Wig 1 – front view

Wig 1 – back view

Wig 2 – front view

wig 2 – back view

Boxes used to keep the wigs

Photos taken on Friday.

Ween Sze holding the wig

Fiona holding the wig

Ween Sze (left) and Fiona (right)

I would also like to thanks Sean who came down on behalf of Joanna, our hair donor. Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.

My friend J.J. was with me on that day too. Thanks for coming down to support and witness. Nothing big but it was a happy moment.

We made history

Today marks a new milestone in our hair recycling project. We have donated our first wig(s). I believed we are the first in Singapore to have people donate their hair for making wig for our local cancer patients.

But being the pioneer wasn’t my intention when I started this project, it was just a thought of doing something to give back to the community.

Not all of my friends believed or supported me, some even laughed at my idea. For those who did, thanks! For those who didn’t, thank you too.

Hair donors Ween Sze (left) and Fiona (right) holding the wig

I couldn’t have done it without the hair donors. Thank you all for believing and trusting me with your hair.

Thanks Ween Sze, Fiona and Sean for going down with me today. Thank you for your time and sorry to keep you guys waiting. Thanks Josephine and Grace for your support too.

One step closer

Nervously, I left my house for the factory this morning. Excitedly, I arrived at the door pressing the door bell once and unintentionally, I pressed for the second time.
As the door opened, we greeted each other with a smile and she lead me inside. The first piece of wig I saw was nothing but a hair pan-cake to me. I couldn’t wait to see how it would be like to be fitted on the mannequin head.
I was grinning from ear to ear when I saw the wig nicely fitted to the mannequin head. I was lost for words for a moment. I couldn’t believed what I saw, it is simply beautiful.
I snapped a few shots with both my phone and camera before the second piece was fitted on the mannequin head. As lovely as the first.
The first thing I did after I collected the wigs was to send the photos taken with my phone to the donors. They should be the first to see before I post it to the public. So here are two photos I took using my phone.

Wig 1

Wig 2
I will be posting photos I took using my camera in a couple of days time after I emailed to the donors. So keep a look out.
Oh, one more thing. The lady kept telling me that the hair I provided are beautiful. =)

Its ready

Received a call from the wig manufacturer earlier today saying that the 2 wigs are ready for collection. Will be collecting them soon and will be presenting them to NCCS with the donors, hopefully this coming Friday.

Second week…

Till date, 4 hair donors have responded to my invitation to the ‘wig presentation’. All of them will be going and I can’t wait for the day to come.

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I sent the ponytails over, so I called today to check when will the wigs be ready. The lady told me to call again next Friday. Well, at least I have a date for me to look forward to.

I hope all the 5 hair donors will be able to make it with me and be part of history. They will be the first batch of hair donors in Singapore to have donated their hair for making wig for cancer patients.

Question

Some people asked why don’t we, in return, help them with their donation card like what other is doing.

The reason why we can’t is because we need to keep our cost as low as possible, so that we could have enough money for our future wigs.

As you know, we don’t accept monetary donation and have no sponsors. All the funds used for wig making were from our own pocket money therefore every penny counts.

Hope the public would understand and make your own judgement.

Invitation

I have sent out email invitation to hair donors, whose hair has been used for the two wigs, to present the wigs to NCCS. Two had responded, waiting for the other to get back to me.

Hoping to see the donors again soon.

Meanwhile...

Taking a little time off from lunch break to write something here.

It’s been a week since I sent the ponytails over to the wig manufacturer, it will take another week or so to have our wig completed. Once collected, I am not sure if the wigs need to be trimmed. If so, I will need to go down to their showroom at Lucky plaza and have them trimmed before presenting them to NCCS.

I hope that donors can be with me to present the wigs to NCCS, I want to be the one taking photos and not presenting the wig. Waiting for the day to come.

Meanwhile, I have been trying to contact some shavees via social network. If you are one of them, I am so sorry to have message you via social media, that’s the only way I could contact you. I am trying my best to ‘save’ some hair from being swept away.

Beautiful Hair

The lady told me, these hair are beautiful. I told her its because they came from ladies with beautiful heart.

On its way

Went to the wig manufacturer earlier today to pass them the ponytails. I was told that they can make 2 wigs from it, and it will takes around 2 to 3 weeks to manufacture.

5 ponytails shown here belongs to; Fiona, Ween Sze, Grace, Joanna and Josephine.

Two other ponytails not shown here were from Jillia and Sharon.

Jillia's ponytail is 16" long and was told to keep it till there are other ponytails of the similar length as cutting it short would be of a waste. Sharon's hair on the other hand is too short to be used. I still would like to thank her for donating.

Hoping to see our first wig soon...

Postponed

Something caught up last minute, hence the meeting with the wig manufacturer has been postponed to Wednesday.

Appointment made

Just made an appointment with the wig manufacturer. Will be going down next Monday to see how many wig can be made from the hair I've got.

Next step...

After many months of talking to parties, both local and overseas, I am glad to informs all donors that we will be making our very first wig for NCCS wig bank.

After speaking to Judy, Senior Staff Nurse of NCCS, I would like to share a quote from her.
"We would also like to help them to stay pretty even during their treatment."

I believed all hair donors have this thought in their mind as well. Thanks again to all donors who made this possible.