Young people go to great lengths donating hair for wigs

When teenager Suri Friesel lost her hair whilst being treated for cancer, she felt shocked.

On her thirteenth birthday in 2017, she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma. As part of her treatment she was upset to learn that she would lose her long blonde hair.

She says: “I loved my hair, I would play around and style it. When I was told that I was going to lose it, I was shocked. I couldn’t move. It was enough going through chemotherapy but I didn’t want to lose my hair on top of that.

“I didn’t want to go out.”

But Friesel, from Stamford Hill, started to feel like herself again after receiving a wig from Zichron Menachem, a charity that supports children affected by cancer and their families.

“I didn’t want to go out without it. I would see all the girls in school playing with their hair and I thought: ‘At least I have my wig’. It was a very similar colour to my own hair,” says the former Yesodey Hatorah student.

Now aged 17, the Beis Yaakov Seminary student says she wanted to help the organisation.

Last Sunday, she was among around 50 women and children who donated at least 30cm of their hair to the charity at a north-west London event.

“After I was given the all clear in 2018, my hair started to grow back really nicely. It grew back thick, darker and curly. I know it will grow back so I wanted to give it to someone,” adds Friesel.

“I would definitely do it again.”

Miriam Gefen, from Whitefield in Manchester, drove to London for the event. Her daughter Leah, 10, spent the past two years growing her hair down her back, to donate it to someone in need.

Gefen, who is Orthodox, says she was “really proud” of her daughter, whose hair was braided into three plaits before being cut to shoulder-length.

“The atmosphere was so positive, it was really incredible” she says. “There was such a diverse group of people from across the religious spectrum, and everyone was there to give.”

She added: “People need to feel good and hair is a big part of that. For someone who loses it because of an illness, being given the gift of hair is really special.”

Shoshi Vittori, a mum from north-west London, echoed the sentiment.

After donating her hair to the charity in 2019, she decided to again take part last Sunday – but this time, with her three-year-old daughter, the event’s youngest participant.

The first time she donated her hair, she prepared by avoiding bleach and only applying heat to her hair on special occasions. It grew below her back before she donated the braids.

This time, she was helping prepare her daughter too. Now Vittori’s hair is cut to her chin, whilst her daughter’s has been cut to the shoulder-length.

“It was her first haircut and I wanted it to be a positive experience, as overwhelming as it is,” she says. “My daughter was very excited too and she loves her new haircut.

“It is special to help people who are suffering. I feel very humbled by it. It is also a very special bonding experience for us.”

This year, the charity has made at least 23 wigs for children in the UK and 1,100 in Israel.