A Plaistow woman has lopped her locks and shaved her head for charity.
Charlotte Huggett, 27, decided to brave the shave and raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support and donate her hair to The Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for children going through cancer treatment.
She cut off more than 40cm of hair to donate.
Ms Huggett, a human resources advisor for global investment firm Franklin Templeton, said: “Not only is it a fantastic way to raise money and awareness for Macmillan, but it’s also a way of showing some solidarity with people who suffer hair loss as a result of chemotherapy.
“Like many others, I have had family members go through cancer and know how distressing hair loss can be.
“Supporting the Little Princess Trust is also particularly poignant - their wig donations can make a highly stressful event in a child’s life a little more ‘normal’.”
Franklin Templeton’s London office chose Macmillan as its charity of the year, pledging to raise £25,000 from employees' various fundraising activities.
Ms Huggett’s haircut, which took place on June 11 at the firm's Cannon Street office, will be part of these activities as lockdown eases and employees start to return from home working.
As co-chair of the London committee for Franklin Templeton's charity programme Involved, Ms Huggett said: “I thought this would be a great opportunity to lead by example to show how impactful individual fundraising efforts can be - particularly when they grab people’s attention like this.”
Macmillian arranged for Bertrand Augustin from a Bromley barber shop, House of Bertrand, to shave Ms Huggett’s head.
He and others have been working with Macmillan over the last couple of years on a project to encourage more black men to discuss signs and symptoms of cancer, or their experiences of treatment, in a place they feel comfortable - the barbers.
Ms Huggett has raised more than £4,300 so far on her JustGiving page.
Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/charlotteshave to donate.
Macmillan is funded almost entirely by donations and has been hugely impacted by the Covid pandemic, which led to thousands of crucial fundraising events being cancelled.
Visit www.macmillan.org.uk/getinvolved to find fundraising ideas, challenges or ways you can donate.
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