Locks of Love

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This article discusses the charitable organization. For the custom of using locks as tokens of love, see love padlocks

Locks of Love is a non-profit charity based in the United States. The organization accepts donations of human hair and money, with the stated intention of making wigs for needy children who have lost their hair due to a medical condition.

1 Requirements for recipients
2 Requirements for donors
3 Tax deductions
4 Criticisms
5 Accountability standards
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
- 8.1 Reports by charity-monitoring groups

[edit] Requirements for recipients

To be eligible to receive a hairpiece, a child must:

Be 18 years or younger.
Have long-term hair loss from alopecia areata (an autoimmune disease), scalp burns, or a similar medical condition. (Children with short-term hair loss are given synthetic wigs.) ^[1]
Provide proof of financial need.
Submit two letters of recommendation, a photo, and an essay.

Locks of Love does not provide all hairpieces free of charge. According to its website, prices for human-hair wigs are set on a sliding scale based on the recipient's family income.

[edit] Requirements for donors

Locks of Love accepts donations from people of all ages, races, and nationalities. However, they do have some specific requirements for hair donations they accept.

Donated hair must be ten inches or longer. (Curly hair can be pulled straight to meet the requirement.)^[2]
Hair may not be bleached, chemically damaged, or overprocessed; permed or coloured hair is acceptable.
Hair must be in the form of a clean, dry ponytail or braid. Dreadlocks are not accepted.
Hair that is less than ten inches or grey is separated from the donations and sold to offset manufacturing costs.

[edit] Tax deductions

As the hair is considered to be a body part and is analogous to blood, any hair donations are not Tax Deductible according to IRS guidelines but financial donations are deductible.^[3]

[edit] Criticisms

Locks of Love has received criticism for its practice of selling donated hair, rather than using it in wigs as the donors expect. According to a 2003 report by the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, in 2002 alone Locks of Love had raised over $150,000 by selling donated hair and had received another $213,000 in charitable contributions and grants, but provided only 113 human-hair and 39 synthetic wigs.^{[citation needed]}

Locks of Love representatives are frequent guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show and other daytime television shows, where they provide haircuts to guests and audience members. Though the representatives and show hosts normally suggest that the hair collected during the show will go into a wig, that the wigs are given free of charge to children with cancer, neither of these outcomes are guaranteed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Accountability standards

The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance report, valid through April 2008, states that Locks of Love meets all twenty of its "Standards for Charity Accountability."^[4]

According to the latest report available on the Charity Navigator site (Fiscal Year Ended 11/04), Locks of Love scored an overall rating of 68.11 out of 70 (“four stars!!”).

The Better Business Bureau reports that Locks of Love made $352,401 from "unusable material sales."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

Children's Alopecia Project Visit www.childrensalopeciaproject.org the only non-profit devoted specifically to children living with all forms of hair loss due to alopecia. We help raise awareness and build self-esteem and help the children and their families move forward in a world that might see them just as "bald" kids. We see them as normal kids with hair loss!

Pantene and HairUWear take donations of hair through a program called Beautiful Lengths and produce hairpieces which then go to women who have been affected by hair loss from cancer treatment.

Wigs for Kids accepts hair donations to create custom made, human hair replacements for children who have temporary or long term hair loss due to burns, chemotherapy, radiation, alopecia, or other medical circumstances.