About two years ago, a very very good friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer. When she was going through chemo, she experienced a very common side effect: total hair loss. Sometimes, people want to do something to support their friend with cancer, so they may shave off their hair as well. My friend requested that people NOT do this.
I wanted to do something though, so I decided to donate my hair to an organization that makes wigs for women with cancer. After reading about a few organizations, I settled on donating to Pantene beautiful lengths. You can donate as little as 8 inches of hair, which is then made into a wig and provided to a woman with cancer, free of charge.
I already had long-ish hair at the time I decided to make the donation, but I decided to let it grow out for about 4 more months so that I could donate a good amount and not have to cut my hair too short. Finally, my hair was about waist length (you can see this in my before picture below), and I decided to go for it!
I divided my hair into two ponytails, and put a rubber band about 10 or 12 (I forget exactly how much) inches from the bottom of my hair. Then....I cut it!
When I do this again, I will divide my hair into 4 ponytails instead of 2. I had a hard time cutting through my hair, and it ended up fairly uneven. I went to the salon the next day to get it touched up, and I was pleased with the results! I have heard of people going to the salon to have them cut the hair for donation, but I wanted full control of that part, so I could cut off exactly the amount I wanted.
Then, I put my hair into a plastic bag, and sent it off to Pantene. You can learn more about this process here: https://pantene.com/en-us/brandexperience/make-the-cut
After about 6 weeks, I got a letter in the mail from Pantene acknowledging my donation. I plan to donate again as soon as my hair is long enough!