Lilly, Queen of the Universe, is 8 years old and recently donated 10" of her long, beautiful, blonde hair to LoL. We went to a high end salon here in town and they did the styling for free. Everybody won - LoL got the hair and Lilly got a special treat for her birthday that would have cost me nearly $100. She told me “Daddy, I think I look chic.”
Can’t wait 'til she hits 16.
I donated about 18 months ago, when I got tired of my hair. I’m at about a 9" ponytail now, so I may do it again this fall. To me, it’s almost more of an afterthought. The only real sacrific, for me, is that I let my hair grow a couple of inchs longer between getting it all cut off. It’s more of a trash or recycle choice then a sacrifice.
Show off. 
Ah, now that makes sense. Yes, my hair grows quickly, and it’s thick and healthy. Less than two years ago I cut it for *two *donations to LoL, it was so long. It was cut to just brushing my shoulders - very short for me. Now I’m back to sitting on it and considering repeating the process.
You may have thighs that don’t touch, you gorgeous sexy gal, but I have awesome fast-growing hair!
One person’s “not terribly expensive” is another person’s “unaffordable”. AFAICT, wefts and bulks of quality human hair seem to run around $30–$100 retail. That’s more than many people are willing or able to spend for a charitable donation.
Last time I cut my hair, it was long enough that the stylists cutting it asked/told me almost as an afterthought it would be donated. It cost me nothing, and otherwise it’d just go in the trash, so why not?
On the other hand I get my hair cut about every two years or so, and typically wind up with 16-20 inches in the cut off braid. I could just throw it away, but if someone else has a use for it why not give it to them?
(Yes, my hair really does grow about an inch a month)
Yes, mine grows that fast too. All I have to do is ignore it for a year or so, and then decide that I want it short again. I got a free haircut out of it, too.
Ack! Not that again.
My hair doesn’t grow very fast, but it is fairly long these days and I amplify it with clip in extensions. Two or three of those wefts and it looks as if I have a lusterous head of hair. And when I don’t use those a curly wig does the trick, but only if it’s night or at work. Cheap wigs ($10.99!!!) don’t necessarily look great in the light, but they sure do fool everyone at work. And they last a long time if you take care of them.
I am all about improvising with my hair. It’s taken a lifetime to get it past my shoulders. And I still always want to cut it off for a shorter 'do and put blonde in it and stuff. My hair stylist says I’m hell bent on destroying it, lol.
I get packages of human hair for maybe $15-$30 or so. I guess that might be expensive to some people, but IMO it’s very affordable and there is a ton of it in a bag.
All this hair talk makes me want to make some new extensions.
Can someone donating hair to make a $3500 wig legally take a $3500 tax deduction? 
(Please, it’s replacing a body part lost due to illness or accident, and it’s a lot higher tech than grandma’s scary purple wig - it’s a prosthetic!) Monetary donations are tax-deductible, but hair is considered a body part by the IRS, so you can’t take off for that. cite (scroll all the way to the second-to-last paragraph).
Every year I participate in the St. Baldrick’s charity events. I get people to sponsor me and then have my head shaved. This year we had three women and one 12 year old girl join in. They didn’t get shaved bald but had their hair cut very short and the chopped off locks were sent to LoL. It was a double event for them.
I could be wrong about this, but I believe I have read before that Locks of Love takes all of the hair from one donor and makes it into one prosthetic. This is why the hair must be bundled in a ponytail or braid when sent to them, and also why they say that hair that has been swept up off of the floor is ineligible. Therefore, I would think that hair which you can buy in bulk is also not acceptable for the methods they use. I guess I can see the argument that they should take what they can get. But when you are trying to make high-quality hairpieces where your number one donor group is children who are permanently bald, then I guess you really want the best you can find. And I’ll chime in on the other, wigs made from synthetic hair really do look awful on little girls. Been there, done that.
Sez in their FAQ that one child’s hairpiece takes six to ten donated “ponytails”, i.e., 10"-or-longer bundles of cut-off hair from individual donors.
So maybe all the hair from any one donated ponytail goes into one prosthetic, but there’s not a one-to-one ratio between donors and hairpieces. I’m not sure which of those was what you meant.
Actually, it does (I’m told). I never tested it personally, but I was assured more than once that all you need to do is get your doctor to write a prescription - for a “cranial hair prosthesis”.
Here we are: Wiki to the rescue.
Not saying anything against LoL, mind. I think they do great work. Mostly I just wanted to share some trivia.
I donated my hair to Locks of Love. I was cutting the hair anyway and it seemed like a good cause. I got a nice certificate to hang on the frig
There is still a market for human hair. I was recently offered 2k to shave my head and I probably could’ve gotten more if I worked for it. You just have to know where to look and who to ask.