Chase Hadley, 6, gets his hair cut at Salon Vox in August 2010. Chase grew his hair out so he could donate it to Children with Hair Loss of Michigan.

Photo courtesy of the Hadley family

An envelope with instructions for mailing was given to his mom. Chase got his hair washed and conditioned amid giggles and lots of children.

Chase, who lives on Ann Arbor's west side, decided months ago to grow his hair for the charity after his mom donated her hair. So this was a big day to celebrate.

He is a pretty cool kid (in my humble opinion). He likes science, questions anything he hears that he doesn’t understand and is sincere about wanting to help someone with hair, a big step for a 6-year-old.

After the haircut, wash and dry we were off to The Cupcake Station to celebrate. I have a new favorite flavor - the Samoa. There really aren’t enough words to describe it, but “wonderful” is short and sweet like this cupcake was.

The boy of honor got a cupcake with a dinosaur on it - he ate the head off the dinosaur first, of course!

Children With Hair Loss of Michigan is a non-profit that uses donated hair to help children that are suffering with hair loss. The CEO of the non-profit started the program after a relative lost her hair at the tender age of 3 and they found that the resources for wigs for kids were either toy wigs from toy stores or adult wigs cut down to size. She decided to start her own non-profit and give wigs to kids for free.

They accept color-treated hair and gray hair, which is unusual for the industry. A child is allowed one new wig per year up to age 21, if needed, at no cost to the recipient. I have been told that when a child receives their wig at the non-profit's office in South Rockwood, emotions run high. A child that came in shy and withdrawn will often smile, cry or jump for joy once she has hair again.

Getting new hair in the form of a wig is exciting and so is the donation. Consider giving your hair to this worthy cause if you have 8 inches or more of hair to donate.

Kim Kachadoorian is The Geeky Marketer (geekymarketer.com) - she is an “in transition” marketing manager that believes that fishing and marketing have so much in common that she dedicated her website to fishing/marketing analogies. She lives in Central Ann Arbor.