Helping children with Locks of Love

WARWICK - The inspiration for Charlotte Kramer, 7, to cut her lovely long blond hair came during a blood drive. An interesting thought occurred to her while she was watching her father and mother, Mark and Cathie Kramer of Warwick, donating blood at a recent St. Stephen’s Parish blood drive. “She told us that she also would like to donate something to help others,” said Cathie Kramer. “I told here there was a way that she could.” After some research, Charlotte agreed to donate her hair to Locks of Love, a not-for-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under the age of 18 with medical hair loss. The custom-fitted hair prosthetics are provided free of charge or on a sliding scale to children whose families meet the Locks of Love Board of Directors guidelines. Locks of Love provides its recipients with a custom, vacuum-fitted hairpiece made entirely from donated human hair. The vacuum fit is designed for children who have experienced a total loss of scalp hair and does not require the use of tape or glue. Most of the applicants suffer from an auto-immune condition called alopecia areata, for which there is no known cause or cure. Others have suffered severe burns, or endured radiation treatment to the brain stem, in addition to many other dermatological conditions that result in permanent hair loss. On Saturday, August 26, Charlotte and her mom headed over to Salon de Carol at 7 Main St., Warwick. She was welcomed by owner Carol Cossentino and then turned over to veteran hair stylist Mary Lou Mortensen. Shortly afterwards, she was sporting a brand new but shorter hairdo for her return to Park Avenue School this September. “I’m happy with it” she smiled. “I wanted to help other children.”