October 19, 2014
Tim Schmidt, Physical Education Teacher at Riverside Intermediate School in Plymouth has been letting his hair grow. In fact, it’s been nearly two years since his had a real haircut. It’s not that he was saving money, or boycotting haircuts…he’s been growing his hair long for a cause.
Schmidt said, “I will be donating my hair to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths group.” The program requires eight inches for a donation. Schmidt said, “I started growing my hair sometime in December 2012.”
Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between Pantene® and the American Cancer Society®, the largest nonprofit health organization committed to saving lives from every cancer and improving the quality of life for people facing the disease. The role of Pantene is to help women grow long, strong, beautiful hair and to provide the funds to turn this hair into free, real-hair wigs for women with cancer. So far, Pantene has donated 24,000 free real-hair wigs to the American Cancer Society’s wig banks, which distribute wigs to cancer patients across the country.
Mr. Schmidt explained the reason behind his plan to grow his hair long. “The main reason I am doing this, is that over 35 years ago my mother passed away because of breast cancer and I remember what she went through like it was yesterday, with losing her hair and stuff.” He continued, “When I was growing up and had my hair somewhat long, she would always say to me, ‘Timmy hair like that should not be on a boy!’ So’ I thought why not let it grow and donate it for a good cause.”
Beautiful Lengths was created because healthy hair means a lot to Pantene, and the appearance of healthy hair means so much to women battling cancer. Their website states, “We want to be there for women when looking and feeling healthy is so important to them. Many of the women we help say that putting on a wig makes them feel like themselves again. And when you donate your hair to the cause, you’re helping make that happen.”
When asked about the process of growing his hair long, Tim said, “Believe it or not it has not been to bad having long hair. I think I might miss it after it is cut.”
Mr. Schmidt’s hair is now ready to be cut so the staff at Riverside has decided to raise some additional funds for cancer awareness. Students can purchase raffle tickets for $1 each and they will announce the winner during an all school convocation on Wednesday, October 22nd. The winning student drawn will cut Mr. Schmidt’s hair in front of the entire school.
Asked if he’d consider letting his hair grow long Schmidt said, “After I get my hair cut and trimmed up, I plan on doing this again.”
The Pantene motto, “Help women fighting cancer receive real-hair wigs. Grow your hair to show you care.”