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Carrollwood Day students come up with hair-raising idea

 
Shreya Thakkar gets her long hair trimmed at Salon Inga in Carrollwood as part of donation to Children with Hair Loss. Photo courtesy of Salon Inga
Shreya Thakkar gets her long hair trimmed at Salon Inga in Carrollwood as part of donation to Children with Hair Loss. Photo courtesy of Salon Inga
Published Nov. 4, 2018

They walked in with long locks and walked out with warm hearts.

On Oct. 23, Salon Inga donated 105 inches of hair to Children with Hair Loss thanks to the efforts of Aidan Gonzalez and her fellow Carrollwood Day School students.

Aidan generated the idea for a "cut-a-thon" as part of a school project.

"Choosing this campaign for my personal project really came as I was watching my cousin who is 15 months older receiving chemo on her 16th birthday," Aidan said. "The timing of the springboard meetings for personal project and her diagnosis came around the same time. This seemed like a natural choice and a way for me to help since I knew no other way to do so."

Aidan didn't stop with her own sacrifice. She committed to gathering friends who would all cut and donate their hair.

They asked Salon Ingá to do the cuts, and the Cut-A-Thon was born.

"When I approached Salon Inga for guidance with this, they sprang into action and directed me to Children With Hair Loss organization," Aidan said."They also graciously offered to hold a cut a thon. Seeing this all come together from just being an idea to an actual event was amazing. I felt so proud of what we were doing as a group of friends and strangers all for the goal of helping kids who for whatever reason have to suffer from hair loss."

Salon Ingá opened the event up to the public, offering free cuts to customers interested in donating at least 8 inches. They also launched a Wig Drive, accepting wigs that are no longer being used. They will clean and refurbish and add these to their collection of complimentary wigs that they provide for women undergoing cancer treatment and experiencing hair loss.

Salon Ingá is going to continue offering half-priced cuts for donation, and plans to hold another Cut-A-Thon event in January.