Your next haircut can help others

USUALLY when you go to the hairdressers, the hair that falls on the floor gets swept up and thrown away.

Not so in the case of sisters Jess Fernance, of Evans Head, and Steph Dennis, of Brisbane, who wanted to make their next haircut count.

"I had been randomly looking online when I came across the website beautifullengths.com.au," Jess said.

"We had already planned to get our hair cut and wanted to make a difference."

Beautiful Lengths is an initiative by shampoo company Pantene to provide real-hair wigs to support women with cancer.

"We're asking women to skip their next salon trim, grow their hair a little longer and stronger and pledge their ponytails to the Beautiful Lengths program," their website states.

"Many women with cancer say that putting on a wig helps them feel like themselves again, but real-hair wigs are a luxury that few can afford."

Pantene provides the wigs for free.

Jess wasn't sure if her hair was long enough when she went to get it cut because the ponytails have to be at least 20cm in length.

"I was worried about getting that much cut off but thought 'what's 20cm to me when I can grow my hair back'," she said.

As it turned out, the sisters had 28cm they could donate.

"You just go to your normal hairdresser and get them to cut it in a ponytail, which you then mail to Sydney," Jess said.

National Donate Your Hair Week kicks off next Monday, November 12.

For more details, you can visit their website and perhaps help a woman struggling to deal with cancer.