LOCKS CUT FOR A GOOD CAUSE

FATEFUL CUT: Summer Morgan, 11, had the original idea: She and three friends would grow their hair until the end of this summer, and then donate it to Locks of Love, the charitable organization that custom-makes wigs for children dealing with hair loss due to cancer treatment. But when Amanda Tsiatsos made the first cuts Tuesday afternoon, Summer had a moment of near panic. (Photo - T. L. Petersen).

- Story and photos by T. L. Petersen

For many parents, it is a rite of late summer — getting the kids in for haircuts before the first day of school.

It was sort of a rite Tuesday, but of a different sort, when Summer Morgan, Rose Winters and Sarah Henry, all 11 and getting ready to start sixth grade, headed over to Amanda Tsiatsos' Lot 21 hair salon on Jefferson Avenue near Safeway.

Two of the three girls had never had their hair cut before. And all three knew the frustration of spending up to half-an-hour a day brushing waist-length hair to shining smoothness, and having to ask their mothers to sometimes help them rinse shampoo out of the long hair.

But the three had agreed.

Their long locks would be cut Tuesday, at least by 10 inches each.

It has been planned all summer, debated, considered, worried about and discussed.

"Even if I don't like it, it's for a good cause and it'll grow back," said a nervous Sarah Henry, glancing over to her mother, Sandy.

Sandy Henry explains that she had asked her daughter, who has never had more than a trim job, that same question earlier in the day.

The three friends, at Summer Morgan's urging, had decided among themselves that their long hair would be donated to Locks of Love, the program that creates custom wigs for children who lose their hair due to cancer treatments.

Summer came up with the idea after a friend of her brother's donated her hair. That girl, then 7, had a family friend who had lost hair due to cancer treatments.

"I thought it was cool, what she did," Summer said.

Rose has been growing her hair since third grade, and demonstrated one of the advantages before her cut Tuesday.

"It's a built-in scarf," the grinning girl said, wrapping her hair around her neck and down the front of her shirt. "It's warm."

But also a headache. Rose and Sarah, both horseback riders, admit that on hot summer days in the riding arena the hair can be hot, heavy and leave them with sweat dripping down their backs.

Sarah and Rose say Summer told them about Locks of Love. It didn't take much to convince them.

"It was a great idea," the friends say, reaching back to pull their long ponytails forward to compare length and color.

"What better reason to cut it?" Sarah adds.

Rose adds a thumbs-up gesture to that comment.

Tuesday was a nervous day, though. All three girls washed and brushed their long hair out carefully, swinging it around themselves and trying to guess how it would later look.

And then it was time.

Three moms — Sandra Henry, Patrice Barreto and Amy Morgan, all with a least shoulder-length hair themselves — delivered their daughters to Amanda Tsiatsos' shop.

Tsiatsos had set aside the day to offer free haircuts to anyone willing to donate their long locks to Locks for Love.

The problem, she said, is the hair organization's rules.

Any 10-inch hank of hair is accepted, but the hair cannot have been highlighted or lightened.

For the adults who came in earlier in the day, that was a problem, Tsiatsos said. Two of the three had hair that had been highlighted sometime in the past few years. She regretfully had to turn them away.

Tsiatsos said she had long thought about having a Locks of Love day, and when Summer, a friend, came up with the idea, Tsiatsos decided to go ahead.

People donating hair have to put it back in a ponytail or braid, which Tsiatsos then cuts, bags and sends in a padded envelope to the organization.

Any color hair is acceptable, from baby blonde to the grayest gray, since Locks of Love will eventually dye the hair to match the cancer-stricken child's natural color.

Tsiatsos gets a small grin on her face. The people who donate, she says, are "usually kids or old hippies. Everybody else colors their hair these days."

When Locks of Love gets the hair donations, "they send the person who donated the hair a certificate of appreciation," Tsiatsos said.

Neither Tsiatsos nor Morgan knows exactly how many hanks of hair it takes for Locks of Love to make into a wig, but they are sure the number is several.

The three 11-year-olds are optimistic, though. Their hair, they pledge, is not only long, but thick, and will make someone a great wig.

As Tsiatsos gets her scissors ready to do her first cuts for Locks of Love, she says, "I just wanted to be able to help out in any way I could. I'd like to do this more often."

It's time. Summer takes a seat first.

Her hair is thick, and it takes Tsiatsos three or four cuts to separate the ponytail from Summer's back. At first Summer grimaces. Then there's a look of surprise. Soon she's shaking the hair that now ends just below her shoulders.

Rose and Sarah debate who'll be next. Sarah volunteers.

As Tsiatsos' shears cut into Sarah's hair, Rose and Summer huddle together in nearby chairs and give little squeals.

No one ends up with really short hair. The girls all are left with enough hair to swing freely about their shoulders.

But it isn't waist-length any more. And there's plenty of hands reaching out to stroke the three braids of hair sitting on Tsiatsos' appointment book. One last time.

A day later Summer checks in.

"It is really cool, and you should have seen us when it was done," she says. "We were running around shouting and yelling.

To learn more about the Locks for Love program, go to

on the Internet. Hair and cash donations are gladly accepted.