Local teen trims
hair for good cause

     It took Katie Tipton about seven years to grow her hair long and in minutes Wednesday morning with the snip of metal scissors, 12 inches of it was gone.

     Tipton, 19, is donating her hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that makes wigs for children that have suffered hair loss due to an illness.

     "It took 5 minutes and it was gone," said with a laugh.

     Tipton made an appointment to get her hair cut at The Carriage House Day Spa on Wednesday and when owner Teri Rendon heard what she wanted to do, she decided not to charge Tipton for the hair-cut.

     "If she is going to donate her hair, the least we could do is donate the haircut... no charge," Rendon said, adding the haircut would have cost $55.00.

     Tipton, a sophomore at Sweet Briar College, had heard about Locks of Love and had seen pictures of the children that were ill on a Web site.

     Tipton said she didn't give it much thought; she just knew it was something that she wanted to do.

     "It's hair... it's going to grow back," Tipton said, as she stroked her above shoulder-length hair, which earlier was nearly down to her waist. "I would be grateful if someone would do that for me."

     Tipton knows what illnesses such as cancer, from which many children suffer, can do. Her own aunt, Debbie Varenhorst, 47, died in 2003 of breast cancer.

     "I always have that it may head and I just think it's a good thing to do, to give back" to people in need, Tipton said.

     Tipton heads back to her Virginia-based college on Saturday and isn't quite sure what her friends will think of her new look, but if she has her way, Tipton said she will get her friends to donate their hair, too.

     "It's a great cause. ... I don't see a reason why not to" donate, Tipton said.