please contact them direct if you would like to know more www.littleprincesses.org.uk

The charity is in memory of Hannah Tarplee, a 'little princess' who lost her battle in June 2005.

Originally set up by Hannah's parents, her school and friends, The Little Princess Trust helps parents of children with cancer and other illnesses which cause hair loss to source and pay for real hair, realistic looking wigs.

We supply and fully fund the best wigs available from all over the world, especially designed for children.  We also provide personal fitting and styling to ensure the wig is as close as possible to the original hair.

For any parent, discovering your child has a serious illness like cancer or leukaemia is devastating. The trauma for both parent and child can be increased by worrying about the side effects of the treatment, particularly hair loss.

Most children cope remarkably well when their hair falls out. For some children however, this can be very upsetting. This is particularly true of young girls, hence the name, Little Princesses.

 Hair donations    -    TRELOGGAN HAIR BANK!

Little Princess trust are delighted to be able to accept hair donations from anyone wishing their hair to be used to help children suffering hair loss due to cancer treatment and other causes. If you have long hair and are thinking about getting it cut, then please read our frequently asked questions below then follow these steps; Ensure you have at least 10”-12” of clean, good condition hair. Hold the hair tightly whilst cutting it and securely tie the follicle end of the hair ensuring all the hair is lying in the same direction. Package the hair in such away that it cannot become tangled. Send it to Treloggan so we can forward it on your behalf.

Frequently asked questions.

Who does the hair get sent to?
The hair gets sent to The Princess Trust whom send it to their principle partner, Optima Hair Specialists in Birmingham. They send it on to the wig makers in the USA and China.

What is the minimum length of hair you accept?
10” (25cm) , unfortunately all hair must be at least 10" in order for the wig makers to be able to work with it.  We will not be able shorter hair.

Do you accept hair from the USA / Other countries?
Yes, we accept hair from anyone although we can only help children in the UK.  Please just add UK to the end of the address.

Where are your wigs made?
Our wigs are custom made, mostly in the USA and China using the hair we supply.

Will my donated hair only be used for children?
Yes, all the hair we provide to the wig makers is allocated for our use only.

Do you ever sell hair?
No. We never have and never will.

How much hair does it take to make a wig for a child?
Typically around 12oz of hair is required to make one wig. That’s about 10 average sized pony tails.

Do you need specific colours and hair from specific ethinic minorites?
We need all hair from all ethnic groups and of all colours.

Do you accept coloured / bleached hair?
Yes.

My child is already receiving chemotherapy and I’m cutting their hair before it falls out. Do you accept hair from children undergoing chemotherapy / radiotherapy.
Yes.

Will you be able to give me any details of the child who eventually benefits from my hair?
Unfortunately we cannot give any details about ultimately who receives donated hair.

Why can’t you tell who will receive my hair?
The hair is sent to factories all over the world, hair we send is marked for our purposes only but there are no processes in place to inform us where the hair came from that made the wigs we supply. It is likely that hair from a large number of people will be used to make one wig.

Additionally, we are very sensitive about the children we help, we never give out any of their details without express permission from them and their parents.

You didn’t used to accept hair, why not?
We have in the past received a lot of hair which at that time was more than we needed, however as the charity is growing, we have greater demand for hair and also, we have changed our procurement process so that nearly all our wigs come from the same source.

What about layered hair?
Please ensure the shortest layers are at least 10".  We will not be able to use hair shorter than this.

Will I get a receipt when you receive my hair?
Please ensure you include your name and address with your hair and we will try to ensure everyone gets an acknowledgement letter.  If you don't get one, please be assured we are grateful but due to the high quantity of hair we receive, the odd one does slip through the net.

 

Information for parents - from the trust

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As a parent, being told your child has cancer is truly devastating. What you tell your child is a personal decision and will obviously depend on their age.

Whatever you tell your child about the disease, the hair loss which is a side effect of most (but not all) treatments is an unavoidable truth.

A common question is how quickly will the child lose their hair? The answer to this depends largely on the treatment being prescribed. Your oncologist will be able to advise on this matter, but typically hair loss starts within 3-6 weeks following the first chemotherapy treatment. Hair loss will then be gradual over time, and often not all the hair will be lost.

The Little Princess Trust is aware of these timescales and when we have a child who has just been diagnosed, we can often provide wigs very quickly so that the wig is available before the original hair has been lost.

Our very best quality wigs however, often take 6-8 weeks to make because each one is hand made to exactly fit the child’s head and matched in colour and texture to the original hair. The decision to obtain a wig quickly verses waiting for the best quality available is something we can discuss with you and we may be able to provide a wig as an interim measure until the bespoke hairpiece has been completed.

Little Princesses work closely with suppliers around the UK. We will always try to ensure that you won’t need to travel too far for the measurement and can often arrange local hairdressers to assist in the fit and initial cut. We can sometimes arrange for new wigs to be cut by celebrity hairdressers at their salons for older children who may appreciate being pampered.

We always pay 100% of the costs, sometimes parents ask to make a contribution so in these cases we just ask that you make a one-off donation to the charity. Once we have referred you to one of our suppliers, you will make arrangements with them directly but do not need to mention costs – we pay the supplier directly.