Students cut hair for kids at Riley

Student residents of the Collins Living-Learning Center hosted the second annual "Shave Off" Friday, raising money for the Riley Hospital for Children and collecting hair for Locks of Love in the Collins courtyard.\nCollins students stood armed with scissors and razors, ready to collect hair for the sake of young cancer patients. The usable hair was sent to Locks of Love to make wigs for children that have lost hair due to chemotherapy. Some participants could not donate their hair since it wasn't long enough, but still shaved their head, "just for devotion of the cause," said Sarah Patterson, a sophomore involved in "Shave Off" for the second year.\nEach participant raised money before going bald, yet some were interested in giving more than just financial support. They wanted to give the children emotional and psychological support as well.\n"(We wanted to show them that) even though you're bald, you're still beautiful," Patterson said.\nThis event "brings out the altruism in people," said Jason Wallace, another Collins resident. The "Shave Off" characterizes what members of the Collins community are devoted to -- giving up their time in order to help others, Wallace said. \nCollins resident Dayna Cronin had a personal interest in the event. She underwent chemotherapy when she was 6-years-old and had to shave her head then. Cronin said because she was so young, being bald didn't really affect her. But she thinks it can be traumatic, especially for young adolescent girls.\n"Now people are self-conscious, there are different variables for everyone," Cronin said. "Due to socialization, we have grown up with the social norms that girls are not supposed to be bald."\nIt's an ugly process of losing hair through chemo, she said.\n"You scratch your head, and hair falls out," Cronin said. "You wake up in the morning to balls of hair on your pillow."\nBara Bandera, a student and former Collins resident, shaved her head for the second year in a row. She teaches at a local elementary school and decided it would make a good lesson for the kids at the school to explain why she is bald.\nShe had to get permission from the teachers prior to sacrificing her locks. \n"Where I work they don't even let me wear jeans," Bandera said.\nEach individual shavee raised money from businesses and people in the community to benefit Riley Hospital for Children, which treats young cancer patients.\nThe emotional support for chemo patients was obvious in the participants.\n"Why do we care so much about our hair?" Bandera said. "I just want to show people that I don't care what I look like."\nThe mission of the event is to not only raise money but to comfort children. Seeing a female college student with a bald head might make a young chemo patient feel like it's OK, said senior Kim Davis, who founded the event last year.\n"Hair is not who you are or what makes up your personality or your characteristics," Davis said.