By Nicole M. Wells, Special Writer
CRANBURY — On June 17, about 20 female students from Woodland Elementary School in Monroe are going to let their hair down. Six to 12 inches of it each, to be exact.
According to Juliana Lako, owner of the recently opened salon Studio 43 Hair Design on Main Street, the students are coming to Cranbury to get their hair cut, for a cause.
They plan to donate their cut ponytails to the Locks of Love charitable organization, to help children who have lost their hair due to medical conditions and are unable to afford hair prostheses.
Using the donated hair, Locks of Love creates high-quality hair prostheses that help restore the self-esteem and confidence of their recipients, "enabling them to face the world and their peers," the organization’s website said.
The stylists at Studio 43 will be doing the haircuts for free, Ms. Lako said, as a donation to the cause and as a way to "make all the little girls feel special about what they are doing."
Coming from a family of hairstylists, Ms. Lako said her initial thought was to ask her family to help her cut the girls’ hair, so her stylists wouldn’t have to work for no pay.
When she told her employees about the reason behind the girls’ trip to the salon, however, they were happy to help and wanted to be a part of the day, she said.
"I’m really excited about it," Ms. Lako said. "We’re going all out for them (the girls who are participating)."
The Cranbury hair salon became the scene for the girls’ act of kindness when client Iggie Rasmussen put her in touch with Abbe Fleming, a fifth grade teacher at Woodland Elementary, Ms. Lako said.
Ms. Fleming encourages students to donate their hair to Locks of Love every year, Ms. Lako said, but this year she extended the invitation to the whole elementary school. According to Ms. Lako, the response has been pleasantly surprising.
In addition to the girls’ donation, Ms. Fleming will also be cutting and donating her hair on Tuesday, Ms. Lako said.
Wanting to make the experience as memorable as possible, Ms. Lako said that she is in the process of speaking to other downtown businesses about contributing to the girls’ special day.
"I’m trying to make it a community event," she said.
Locks of Love is a public non-profit that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children who are "suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis," according to the organization’s website. It serves children under age 21 in the United States and Canada.
According to the organization, most of the children it helps "have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure." Based on their financial need, the children receive their hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, according to the organization’s website.
Locks of Love is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, certified by Independent Charities of America and received high marks from Charity Navigator. It is also a GuideStar Exchange Silver Participant. GuideStar is a 501(c)(3) public charity that collects, organizes and presents information about non-profits in an easy-to-understand way while staying neutral.
Studio 43 Hair Design is located at 43 N. Main Street in Cranbury.
