The Big Chop (Before & After) – Little Princess Trust

Well we did it! We survived the Big Chop! Nope, I am not talking about the other half having a vasectomy (that’s enough to make him run away in horror!), I am talking about the big HAIR chop – the cutting of 7 inches of my hair to donate to The Little Princess Trust.

If you read my previous post, you will know that I have pretty much always had long hair, but after seeing how hard it was for my Mum losing her hair when she had cancer, I saw first hand the impact a high quality wig can have. I hate the thought of any child going through cancer at all, let alone the anxiety and personal confidence issues that can result with the associated hair loss. When I was invited to attend a Little Princess Trust event in London and donate my hair, I decided it simply had to be done.

Here’s my experience from start to finish – including before and after pics! 🙂

We set off early, leaving the house at around 7am. With a nearly 4 year old and an 8 month old, even this was somewhat of a challenge, but we made it to the station on time, and boarded the train to The Big Smoke.

The event was being hosted by Merlin’s Shrek’s Adventure, and Erin was super excited to meet some of the characters from the movie. We had never been to Shrek’s Adventure before, and despite the film being almost 15 years old now (!) it still holds as much appeal as it ever did.

We were greeted by the friendly representatives of The Little Princess Trust who treated us to a lovely Starbucks breakfast before we set off on the Shrek’s Adventure tour, meeting Princess Fiona who quickly became my daughter’s super new best friend.

We then returned to the main room where a lot of nervous women (aged between 5 and 73 years of age!!) were waiting to donate their hair. The Little Princess Trust had run a competition to find their #realliferapunzel, and some of the ladies made my 7 inch donation seem positively measly, with the winner Susan Mannings, donating a huge 78 cm of her super long locks, opting for a cute crop instead.

Mario from TOWIE came along to support the initiative, having donated his own hair earlier in the year. He was really friendly, and super nervous to do some of the chopping!

When my turn came, my hair was plaited into lots of individual plaits, before each one was chopped off and handed to Erin to hold. Erin looked a little concerned by this despite me explaining what I was doing before hand, and held my plaits like they were some kind of creepy crawly / snake!

I then made my way back to the main room to have my new hair styled and blow dried, before setting eyes on my new look!

Do I like it? It’s (quite literally) growing on me! I treated myself to a child free couple of hours when I got back to have my highlights redone, and am feeling a little more comfortable now I have some blonde again (with most of the old ombre colour being cut away!). I am feeling super proud of donating to a great charity, and am excited to see images of the wigs we made when The Little Princess Trust share them with me in due course.

We made the most of our day in London by heading for a trip on the London Eye, something which I was keen to experience on a bright and sunny day. Mike had mentioned the night before that he was a little scared of heights (how I didn’t know this after 10 years is beyond me!), but it moves so slowly that the scale didn’t bother him at all. Erin loved having a birdseye view over London, pointing out a merry go round that she wanted to go on when we got back down to ground (of all the things she could see, trust her to notice something so boring!).

Overall, a great day was had by all, and I am so proud of all the ladies who took part on the day. If you have long hair and can donate a minimum of 7 inches to the Little Princess Trust, you can learn more about how to get involved here.

BEFORE…..

AFTER….