The day finally came...

Banden has been faithfully growing out his hair for quite a while now. But I could tell that the time had come, and he was ready. One day while I was cleaning he started sharing with me how he liked having long hair because he could teach other people about why he was growing his hair and also that boys could have long hair too. He told me that when people stared at him, or made comments, he just told himself that he was who he was and it didn't matter what other people thought. He told me that he liked having long hair, it felt comfortable to him. To me it sounded like he was almost trying to talk himself into why he liked having long hair… And then he told me that at school a boy told him he couldn't use the boys bathroom and tried to block his way, and that he had to tell him that he was a boy too. When he said this I could tell he was really bothered by it. Understandably. It made my mommy heart hurt. He's been so determined not to let other peoples opinion define his choices, and it has been such a wonderful learning experience for him… But I felt that his following me around the house insisting that he liked having long hair went a little deeper. In a way he was starting to cling to the long hair as identifying who he was. So we talked about how he is who he is because of what is inside, and long hair or short hair he will always be uniquely him. That cutting his hair is not giving up, or letting other people get to him. That it is his choice when he wants to cut his hair, and if he is ready, for whatever reason, then he has the right to make that choice for himself. I gently asked him if he would like me to measure his hair to see if it was ready to donate. He got super excited about that idea, for the first time, so I could tell he was more than ready. Before when we talked about it he told me he wanted to grow it out even longer than needed so that he wouldn't have to cut his hair so sort, but when I measured it he had almost exactly 10 inches. He decided to go for it anyways. :) He was definitely ready.

 His amazing golden locks. Some kid is going to have an awesome wig. :)

 I love his excited/freaked out face in this picture. 

And with that one hair cut he grew much, much older, sigh. So handsome!

Oh and the tough kid in that picture is mine as well, although sometimes I wonder. ;)

I'll admit that both Banden and I already miss his hair, and he is planning on growing it out a bit again… just not quite as long. :)

Also I did some research and found a different place to donate his hair to. I kept hearing things about Locks of Love that I didn't really like, so I looked into it and decided to find a different place. I found Children With Hair Loss and really liked what I read. So that is where we are sending his hair. Check them out, what they are doing is pretty awesome. 

www.ChildrenWithHairLoss.us