Aishwarya Potdar’s hair never stays long.
The 21-year-old grows out her thick, dark brown locks for about three years before having them chopped to be made into wigs for cancer patients.
“It’s part of my routine now,” said the UF applied physiology and kinesiology junior. “I have so much hair, and so many people don’t have any.”
Potdar, who has donated her hair three times, was one of more than 50 girls aged 18 to 22 who left the Stephen C. O’Connell Center with significantly shorter hair after Friday’s hair cutting ceremony at UF’s Relay for Life.
The relay is an overnight fundraising walk dedicated to raising awareness and fighting back against the disease.
The turnout was one of the best in the four years Beach Break Salon has been participating in the event, said 20-year-old senior stylist Caitlin Achord.
Nine stylists from the salon, located at 603 W. University Ave., helped with braiding, tying and cutting hair on stage.
“Luckily, we had the right amount of people and knowledge … to get everyone taken care of,” she said.
She said most women getting their hair cut sign up ahead of time, but for some it’s a “spur-of-the-moment thing.”
Beach Break also collects ponytails throughout the year and then donates them after relay, Achord said. This year, the salon collected more than 325 ponytails.
Where the hair is donated to depends on if it has been color treated. She said it is sent to either Locks of Love, which requires at least 10 inches of hair, or to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which requires a minimum of 8 inches and doesn’t accept treated hair.
Potdar, whose aunt and childhood best friend’s father both died from cancer, said donating every few years is one small way she can make a difference.
“If I have the resources to make someone’s life better, I might as well use them,” she said. “(Hair) doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it’s kind of like someone’s identity.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 3/31/2014 under the headline "Students donate hair at UF Relay for Life"]
Aishwarya Potdar, a 21-year-old applied physiology and kinesiology junior, gets her hair cut by her 15-year-old sister, Amruta Potdar, for Relay for Life. The event was held Friday night through Saturday morning in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
