Five-year-old Angel has not had his hair cut in a year.
He’s been letting his hair grow, his mother, Vanessa Santiago, said.
“He likes it, but it gets in the way because he constantly has to be putting his hair behind his ear. People mistake him for a little girl, but he looks so cute. He looks like the lead singer of The Doors, a real rocker type.”
But Angel’s long locks will be shaved off today when Santiago and her son donate their hair at the third annual Locks of Love event in the James West Alumni Center, hosted by the Alumni Scholars Club.
Locks of Love is a nonprofit organization that provides wigs to children who have lost their hair and who may not otherwise be able to afford a wig, said Philip DeSouza, Alumni Scholars Club campus volunteers director.
“These kids are suffering from hair loss for a number of different reasons, and as a kid, looking different can just ostracize you,” DeSouza said. “By providing these prosthetic wigs, Locks of Love gives these children a chance to feel like they have a normal life. It’s not necessarily saving lives ““ it’s saving lifestyles.”
Donations of at least 10 inches will be used to make wigs while those between 5 and 10 inches will be sold by the organization to offset production costs.
More than 230 people have signed up to receive a free hair cut by student stylists from the Vidal Sassoon Academy, and a few spots have been reserved for walk-ins, said Danielle Ross, a coordinator on the Alumni Scholars Club’s campus volunteer committee.
“We get a lot of donors because people know the cause and that it’s a direct way to benefit someone’s life,” Ross said. “People know that with Locks of Love, their hair isn’t just going to be swept up from the floor of a salon, but that it’s going to help a kid out there.”
For Santiago, an alumna of UCLA, the cause is highly personal, as her mother passed away in 2004 after battling cancer for a year, Santiago said.
“We would continuously go to the UCLA Medical Center for her chemotherapy sessions,” Santiago said. “Going back there still sends chills down my spine. My mom was a grown woman, and seeing what chemotherapy does, I can imagine how hard it must be for a child.”
Santiago has not cut her hair since her mother passed away. After hearing about last year’s Locks of Love event, she decided to wait another year before cutting her hair, Santiago said.
“My hair is really long, it’s past my waist,” Santiago said. “I waited this past year so I would have more hair to give, and now my son is doing it too, so we’re anxiously waiting.”
Angel never knew his grandmother, who passed away a month after he was born, Santiago said.
“I don’t think Angel grasps the concept of death yet,” Santiago said. “But he knows that his hair is going to other little kids that can’t grow their own.”