If you’re blessed with lush long hair but choose to go for a big chop, you’ll probably know you can donate your tresses to a children’s cancer charity.
The Little Princess Trust provides real-hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment.
But anyone hoping to donate different-textured hair, such as afro hair, have been unable to do so. This was because the hair was too delicate for the charity’s wig-makers to work with – until now.
Raoul, London’s oldest wig-making shop and the first to provide wigs for the NHS, has developed what’s known as a ‘wefting’ method to simply the wig-making process, meaning the Little Princess Trust can accept donations from Black, mixed-race and other hair donors and provide real-hair wigs to the children who need them.
A hair weft, in its basic form, is a collection of hair strands sewn on to a super-thin cloth strip ready for your stylist to work into your hair. Machine-sewn wefts are cuttable, but they’re much heavier and often thicker at the seam. Before this method was developed, the Little Princess Trust did provide afro wigs – but made from European straight hair, which had been styled into tight curls.
When wig-makers tried to use real afro hair, they found it would break during the process of turning it into a wig. Now they can use this new technique, only developed in 2021, more young people can benefit from real curly hair.
As Phil Brace, chief executive of the Little Princess Trust, explained to the BBC: “We wanted to just give that extra choice and ensure that we could give that heritage wig – that heritage afro hair.
He added: “It’s always bittersweet because we’d rather not be having to supply these wigs at all. There are enough challenges with hair loss for a young person, without having to worry about whether they get the wig they want.”
The Little Princess Trust is now welcoming donations so it can get more afro wigs made. To find out how you can help, visit the charity’s website.