A Big Donation

Ella first came up with the idea to donate her hair over a year ago.  I am not sure what inspired her but she has been growing her hair out with the intention of donating it to a child who does not have hair.  Every few months we would measure her hair to see how much it had grown.  To donate she needed to have eight inches to give.  She didn't want her hair too short after the cut so she needed it to be long.  We decided the week after her ballet recital would be the perfect time to donate.  We wouldn't need to get her hair in a bun any more and it would be nice and cool, and easy to comb through for the summer.  
She was very excited the whole year until about a week before the donation.  She was having some second thoughts as we were looking through the different places to donate. The day of the cut she was still hesitant but went through with it.  She was able to get several 8 1/2" ponytails to donate to wigs for kids.  
When we got to the car though the shock hit and she wasn't sure she liked the shorter hair do.  We talked about how she really helped someone else and I shared with her a photo shoot that one of the moms at school had done when they shaved her head because her hair was going to be lost due to chemotherapy.  We talked about how beautiful she still was and all the comments about her beauty.  It was a great lesson on what true beauty is and she enjoyed all the positive comments about her cut on my Facebook page.  
Now that it is a few weeks later she is enjoying the ease of short hair.  She has gotten used to the cut and is proud of what she did.  She still plans to grow her hair long again but we are so proud of her selflessness.  

The before picture.

Ella with Miss Julie, her hairdresser, who donated the cut as part of the project.