Would you cut eight inches off your hair? What if it benefited someone with cancer?
At the fourth-annual Beautiful Lengths event on Tuesday night, 11 volunteers came to the Columbia Academy of Cosmetology to do exactly that.
Alicia McDaniel, a graduate assistant who works with Campus Wellness, said not as many participants came out this year, but that may have been because the event was held off-campus.
“This event will definitely grow once students realize they can come off campus and get out into the Carolina community,” McDaniel said.
Beautiful Lengths is a partnership with Pantene, which sponsors similar events nationwide. It has been held for four years at USC as part of Carolina Beautiful week.
Danielle Koonce, a health educator for Campus Wellness, said she was “super pumped” about the event and all of the hair that was donated. She said one woman had cut 14 inches off, six inches more than the minimum.
Going beyond just hair-cutting, four licensed instructors also helped the six cosmetology students cut, style, wash and color the participants’ hair, McDaniel said.
McDaniel said friends of the donors also came out to the event to act as “a support system” and cheer on the volunteers. Pictures of each haircut were taken and will be posted to the Campus Wellnes’
Facebook page.
Koonce said she hopes the event will continue to grow over the next few years and that students should come out to other Carolina Beautiful events throughout the week, including the Body Positive Workshop on Thursday and the “Body Hater to Body Celebrator” event held by Amber Krzys on Wednesday night.