When Nursing junior Elsa Waldman went back to her dorm last night, something was noticeably different:
She was missing 11 inches of hair.
"It was a spur of the moment act," she said of her decision to cut her blonde locks and donate them to Locks of Love, an organization that uses donated hair to provide wigs to financially disadvantaged children with medical hair loss.
"It's the best way to get a haircut," Waldman said, calling the experience the "most socially conscious and satisfying haircut" she has received.
And 40 students and faculty followed suit, coming to the Nursing Education Building yesterday to donate ponytails to the philanthropic cause.
Waldman and Nursing graduate student Alexandria McCluskey organized the hair drive, which they began preparing for this last semester.
The actual process of cutting and collecting the hair is simple: it is first tied in a ponytail and measured to see if it meets the minimum 10-inch requirement.
"When they make the wig, they lose four inches alone in the treatment process," Nursing junior Rachel Corbin explained.
About six to 10 ponytails are needed to make one hairpiece.
And when organizers finally counted up the ponytails, they discovered a surprise.
"I thought we would have about 10 ponytails," Corbin said.
However, by the end of the day, a total of 41 ponytails were collected - each one individually packaged and ready to be sent off.
"It's way beyond my expectations," faculty organizer and Nursing professor Janet Deatrick said.
The collection now includes all types of hair - from curly to straight, blonde to brunette.
Most of these donations came from unexpected walk-ins, in addition to students who had signed up in advance.
There was "great teamwork" between faculty members and Student Nurses at Penn and the Graduate Student Organization - two Nursing groups on campus that sponsored the event - Corbin said.
In addition, students from the Jean Madeline Aveda Institute volunteered their time to help cut the ponytails.
To improve the slightly choppy-looking hair on the scalps of the donators - the inevitable result of cutting off a ponytail - each donator received a giftcard to get their hair styled at the Institute.
The hair "was a little scary," admitted Nursing junior Kadie Cassidy-Devito.
"But I feel good," she said.
College senior Beth Gingold agreed.
"It's a free haircut and a good cause."
