HAIR TODAY – GONE TOMORROW!

Richie Reed holding his hair in his hands!

James Dukes Student Donates Hair to Good Cause

by Jim Evans

To many people, Richie Read III looked like a girl because of his long mane of hair that reached all the way to the middle of his back.

Richie, 9, didn’t care what people thought. That was their problem, not his — and after all, he had been letting his hair grow since he was 6.

But besides the fact that he happened to like long hair, Richie had an ulterior motive.

On Monday, June 14, Richie had his hair shorn at the Bella Mia Salon & Spa at 1140 Main Street in Ramona, so he could donate it to Wigs for Kids. The not-for-profit organization provides hair-replacement solutions for children affected by hair loss due to chemotherapy, alopecia, burns,
and other medical conditions.

Qualified recipients must be under age 18, unable to fully finance a hairpiece after checking all possible resources, and referred by a medical professional.

Cheree Lovell, a hair stylist at Bella Mia, had the privilege of wielding the scissors for Richie’s self-imposed scalping. She has performed similar cuttings for other young people who have donated their hair in the past, but Richie was the first boy that she has sheared for Wigs for Kids — and by far the youngest.

"I just do the cutting," Lovell said, chuckling. "That’s the easy part. It’s all for a good cause; we have a lot of fun with it."

Richie’s mother and stepfather, Erin and Art Robertson, and his sister Maureen are all proud of Richie’s act of unselfishness — especially at such a young age.

"He decided to let his hair grow longer when he was 6," Erin Robertson said, "but when he read about Wigs for Kids, his reason for growing his hair long had much more focus and meaning. We are so proud of him."

Undaunted by what his fellow classmates might say about his shorn locks, Richie elected to have his new hairdo in the form of a modified red "punk style" Mohawk haircut. Now his friends can really have something to talk about!

The Mohawk Indians, of course, believed that a warrior’s soul was contained in his hair, which led to the practice of scalping, so that when a warrior scalped his enemy, he inherited the bravery of his enemy’s soul. By his self-imposed scalping, Richie proved to be one brave little dude with a big heart.