Molly and Sophie Pritchett show off the hair they donated to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients.
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July 9, 2009
Some good deeds are done on impulse; others take planning and a lot of self-control. Young as they are, the latter kind caught the imagination of Scotch Plains sisters Molly and Sophie Pritchett, ages nine and six respectively.
They decided over a year ago to donate their hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, an organization that creates wigs out of real hair for women who have lost their own hair to cancer treatment. On June 24 — just after school ended — they took the plunge, or rather their locks did, and off came the required eight inches.
The two girls — together with their parents, Stacy and Jim — belong to Temple Sholom, the Reform congregation in Fanwood. In their religious school classes there, they had been discussing tikun olam, the Jewish ideal of fixing the world and making it a better place.
When the girls, who attend J.A. Coles Elementary School, heard about a school friend donating her hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, they knew that was just the right act of tikun olam for them. Molly is going into fourth grade in the fall, and Sophie into second.
“People with cancer can’t grow their own hair so I gave them mine, because I wanted to do a mitzva,” Molly explained.
Sophie said: “I donated my hair to people who don’t have hair and have cancer because I thought it would be sweet, and I would want someone to do something nice like that for me.”
Their mom said it was very hard to resist cutting their hair. “I had to brush it each morning and it was becoming increasingly knotty, so it became a whole, dramatic process,” she said. “Washing it regularly also became a real chore. I promised myself I would cut it before summer.”
But she and the girls hung in. Finally, it was time to do the deed. Molly had a few minutes of hesitation. Her mother said she had become very attached to her long locks. But then she decided to go through with it anyway “because she knew it was a mitzva. Once we were there, there was no turning back,” Stacey said, “especially with camp starting the next Monday.” Stacey promised to let her grow her hair long again — though not quite that long.
“My husband is very proud of both girls for doing this,” she said. “I am too.”
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