By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Quite the crowd inside West Seattle Kids Salon in Morgan Junction this morning to watch three Sanislo Elementary School fourth-graders get their hair cut. Here’s the “before” shot:
What made their haircuts newsworthy – a KING5 photojournalist was there too – was the fact the hair’s going to Locks of Love, to make wigs for kids who need hair.
The extra twist, revealed in the “after” shot: All that shining long hair belonged to boys!
From left, that’s 9-year-old Baxter Knannlein, 9-year-old Levi Erdman, and 10-year-old Abraham Allen-White. And before we get to the haircutting, here’s the proud crowd who cheered them on (literally, as you’ll hear in the haircut clips):
The boys say they have been growing their hair since March 2008. (Abe and Baxter admit they might have had a bit of a trim along the way.) They’ve been friends since kindergarten. “Like the Three Musketeers,” noted Levi’s mom, Angie (they play soccer together, too). The lead musketeer on this project was Abe:
They know people who’ve been helped by Locks of Love, too. Baxter explained, “My great-auntie in Germany had chemotherapy.” Levi added, “My dad’s friend got alopecia.”
But finally the time for talking ended, and it was on with the haircuts; we heard one mom note she couldn’t remember the last time she saw her son’s neck. Since the whole hair-growing idea was Abe’s, he went first – that’s West Seattle Kids staffer Janet Powell with the scissors:
Then on the other side of the salon, West Seattle Kids owner Sophia Blackman carefully removed Levi’s ponytailed hair (the ponytail is important for packaging the donation):
Levi then moved on to talk with the KING photojournalist, offering a poignant explanation of how kids will be helped by this type of hair donation:
And then the action moved back to the salon chairs, where Baxter finally joined his friends in saying goodbye to the long hair (which he said he’d enjoyed having because it was “like a built-in scarf”):
Many photo-ops ensued, including Baxter with proud dad Matt Knannlein, who sent us first word of the haircutting plan last month:
So will the boys’ classmates and teachers be surprised when they go back to school Monday and show off their new hairstyles?
Probably, they acknowledge. But perhaps those classmates and teachers shouldn’t get used to it. At least two of the boys are thinking of growing their hair to donate again.
If you want to donate to Locks of Love – take note, adults can do it too, as long as you’ll have a ponytail or braid at least 10″ long when it’s cut. Lots of info here, including who LOL helps, and how to donate. Seldom does a haircut appointment turn into such a joyful occasion – we lost count of all the smiles we saw:
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