Donald Ruiz Jr Photography

This page of my site I have decided to dedicate to something I'd like to proudly call myself... a Donor Junkie.  I will include pictures of myself or others donating to good causes. I will make each photo link to the site of the donation 

And to start off I am going to show off my donation of hair...

I sent my hair to the Locks of Love organization.  Their mission according to their own site is quote:

"Our mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children. The children receive hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need."  -Locks of Love mission statement

Luckily my hair grows relatively quickly so it was only about a year and a half's wait till it had grown from a short cut of a two buzz on the sides of my head and a three on top to about twelve inches in a ponytail.  So after the long wait I finally had my hair to the length I needed it to donate (you actually only need it to be ten inches long in a ponytail but I figured with my curls the extra two inches couldn't hurt). 

 I'd have to say that hair donation is a great thing especially for children because it is a huge part of their life and always will be. We are all affected greatly by our childhood and to have to go through the ordeals these brave children do every day is a lot not only because of their physical pain but emotional stress as well.  Just imagine being ridiculed by your peers for something you have no control over, think about how low your self esteem would be to go through that then to look at yourself in the mirror every day not being able to change how you look no matter how much you may want to.  It must surly be a tough thing to go through.  Now think about how, thanks to organizations like this, these kids will have a more normal childhood, and how also they will be able to realize how much people out there really do care and want to see them happy and hope they get better. 

 The whole donation process is actually rather simple and can be somewhat fun even if it is hard to say goodbye to the hair you've become so accustomed to (which is a lot to say because you don't even have to cut it as far as I did, you can keep enough head warming goodness on your scalp to have a totally styling doo).  All you have to do is cut off your hair (making sure it meets the guidelines stated on their website), then place it in a plastic bag, put it in a manila envelope (fill out the form they have online as well or if you are unable to include your name and address on a separate sheet of paper), and send it to:  

 And donating hair isn't the only way you can help this wonderful charity.  You can also help out by volunteering to help out by hosting a Locks of Love event, becoming a participating salon, or if you live in the area of Palm Beach County, Florida you can donate your time in their office.

So please check out their website at http://www.locksoflove.org