Care home worker chops 14 inches off her hair to make children's wigs for cancer patients

A kitchen assistant at Ashwood Court Nursing Home has had 14 inches of her hair cut off to help make wigs for children who may have lost their hair due to cancer treatments. 

Rachel Phillips, 37, had her locks removed last week to donate to the the Little Princess Trust who “give hair and hope” to children with cancer.

The charity use donated hair to create wigs for children suffering from cancer as well as funding research into the disease.

Rachel said: “I had been growing my hair and I needed to get it cut. It was pretty long and so I thought why not donate it to a great cause.

“In the end I got about 14 inches of hair cut off.

“I’ve got kids myself and I thought, God forbid, if one of them ever needed to use the charity then hopefully this service would be there for us to use.

“I first cut my hair for the Little Princess Trust about five years ago and it’s a brilliant charity.”

Rachel has posted her hair to the charity and also raised money through sponsorship.

She added: “I got sponsorship from other members of staff and the residents’ families.

“It’s a long time since I had short hair and so I’m just starting to get used to it.”

The removal of Rachel’s locks drew quite a crowd with staff and residents gathering to witness the chop.

The event was organised by the care home’s activities coordinator Natalie Rogers.

She said: “I posted about the cut on our Facebook page and we’ve had a great response. We raised £450 which we are going to split between the charity and providing some fun activities for the residents.

“On December 20, we are going to have a Chinese night as a lot of the residents like a Chinese takeaway.

“We are also going to use the money to run a trip to Beamish Museum.”