By Jeanne Sager
CALLICOON — April 22, 2003 – Teresa Schultz will have a surprise for her friends when Easter break is over.
The Sullivan West/Delaware Valley fifth grader braved Shear Pleasure owner Kathi Zieres’ scissors Friday afternoon when she plopped down in the chair and had a full foot of her blonde locks cut off for Locks of Love.
The 10-year-old Hortonville girl has been considering cutting her hair for about a year now – ever since her other friends began going the way of shorter ‘dos. But Schultz wanted to make a difference in more lives than her own.
A friend from the neighborhood, Hannah Rettoun, had her hair cut recently for Locks of Love, and Schultz wanted to follow her lead.
So she asked her mom, Barbara, to let her grow it out just long enough to have a chunk cut off and sent to the Florida program that takes donated hair and fashions wigs for children suffering from cancer or alopecia.
“I figured I had enough hair, and I’m helping someone else,” Schultz explained.
“I wanted to get my hair cut – I want something different,” she added.
Her dad, Joe, didn’t want her to cut it, and her best friend begged her to keep it long, Schultz said, but she was determined.
And she wanted to make it a surprise, asking her mom to make the appointment right before Easter so her whole family could see her new look when they gathered for the holidays and friends at school would have a shock when classes started up again.
After Zieres worked her magic (free of charge in honor of the donation), Schultz said it felt a little weird – she hasn’t had shoulder-length hair since she was 4 years old – but it felt good.
And her mom was proud to see her daughter’s selfless act.
“I think it’s great,” Barbara Schultz said. “She came up with it all by herself.”