2017 Aug 6
Ah the Sri Lankan people, ever selfless, ever giving and ever supportive of a good cause. Rally, all ye long-haired Kumarihamis to support another great cause that’s spreading across the nation.
Cancer Care Trust, alongside Ramani Fernando Salons has officially launched their year-long hair donation program as of the 20th of July 2017. We decided our readers could use a first-hand report of how it all goes down. So if you’re willing and excited to donate your luscious locks “to the manufacture of high quality medical wigs” for “Kids and Women with Cancer”, do read on!
Eligibility
All you need is hair that is more than 8 inches long!
Tie your hair at the nape of your neck and measure to the end. More than 8 inches? Voila, you can now donate!
They prefer virgin, unlayered hair, but tinted, cut and straightened hair also gets a pass. Just swing by your closest Ramani Fernando Salon and show them your tresses for a stamp of approval
The Procedure
The procedure is pretty simple. Once you make sure that your hair is donation-worthy, call up your closest Ramani Fernando Salon and ask them if they’re busy. Get the green light and swing by for a feel-good haircut.
Here are the branches, numbers and opening times of the Ramani Fernando Salons:
What you get
Ramani Fernando Salons are not only taking your hair, they’re offering each donator a free wash, cut and blow-dry alongside it as well. You also get a certificate of appreciation for your donation, some love and care from a Ramani representative and the purpose of life that you’ve been looking for.
Our experience
What you have to understand is that alongside yourself, there are hundreds of other selfless Sri Lankans looking to donate their hair too. Ramani’s also has their own regular (PAYING) clients to look after so this hair donation business can become a little tedious.
But if you, like I, are stubborn and persistent, you can succeed after a couple tries. We called the Mount Lavinia Ramani’s on the 21st of July and they said we could come in. So after much excitement and a few tears from my mother’s eyes, we swung by only to be told that everyone is really busy so can we come back another day.
Heart in hand, we walked out of there and called a couple of the other branches only to be told the same thing. They said they’re less busy Sundays through Wednesday so to give them a ring and come sometime then.
Come Sunday, my request was yet again rejected as they had bookings from their regular clientele and didn’t have the manpower for donations on that day. At this point, my nerves and my mother and the rejection was annoying me a little. So on Monday, when they said I could come in, I was mad excited! Half an hour later, I was standing at the counter with the lady there asking me to come back again another day. My intent is not to be messed with and my passion is not to be taken for granted so I firmly told her this was my third visit and then almost cried. Feeling guilty, probably, the lady told me to hold on a sec and I was escorted to a chair a few minutes later.
The gentleman who cut my hair was lovely and did a great job with it. We were talking during the cut and he told me how mine was the salon’s 40th donation for the day and for the 4 days that the program had been running, they have had up to 400 donations already. Ergo, my turn to feel guilty for making a fuss.
End scene
So the hair turned out mighty short but great – which is wonderful seeing as to how a lot of people don’t know how to tame my frizzes. Getting to that chair was a little tiresome, but once I was there, the experience was top class. And my father remains conflicted between yelling at me for all my lost hair and loving me for contributing to a good cause.
The program is to run up until July of 2018 so there’s no hurry to dash off to the salon straight away. But if you were to encounter the troubles I did, try to understand where the staff is coming from. We are all trying to do our best, after all.
