Real-Life Rapunzel Plans to Donate Long Locks to Hair Loss Charity

A Russian woman dubbed the 'real-life Rapunzel' due to her incredibly long, shin-length hair has confirmed her charitable intentions.

Dashik Freckle has been growing her hair for 13 years and after posting over 200 photos of her incredible mane on instagram, many asked her if she could consider donating even some of her hair to charity in order to help make wigs for children with hair loss.

Donating hair to make wigs for children

Finally addressing these comments, Ms Freckle responded by confirming that she plans to donate her long locks to a hair loss charity next year after she has been growing it for 14 years. Her aim is to grow her hair down to her toes first.

'This post is for those who say that I should donate their hair for wigs ... In 14 years, I cut a scythe And donate hair for wigs,' she wrote to her 104k followers on instagram, 'Today, I grow hair. My goal is to grow them to toe. (Sorry for my English).'

She will follow in the footsteps of a six year old 'mini Rapunzel' who donated the hair from her first ever haircut to the Little Princess Trust last year. Mila Johnson, who is half British and half Russian, grew her hair in order to donate it to help children with hair loss. Despite the charity's name, it does provide free real hair wigs to both boys and girls and has a 'Hair 4 Boys' arm that specialises in boys' wigs.

Her donation provided enough hair to make two wigs for kids suffering from baldness caused by cancer treatment or the autoimmune condition Alopecia Areata.

Each wig costs £350 to produce so, in addition to sending her hair, Mila also raised money with the young girl bringing in over £1,000 to date, with hopefully more to come as her fundraising page is still open for contributions.

High profile donations

The charity Mila chose is currently celebrating its 10 year anniversary and has recently been the subject of mass media coverage after pop star Harry Styles donated his long hair to the Little Princess Trust. He is far from the only celebrity to do so, however. Jessie J famously shaved her head for Comic Relief and donated her discarded locks to the Hove-based charity.

American stars have a history of donating their hair too, with actors Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried both giving their chopped ponytails to the US-equivalent charity, Locks of Love.

Justin Bieber took a different approach when he removed his dreadlocks, and sold them on eBay to raise money for an animal rescue charity. The winning bid came in at a reported $40,000.

The great majority of donations - both of hair and of money - do however come from people from all walks of life and of all ages, who aren't famous. Children as young as two years of age through to kind-hearted pensioners have braved the chop in aid of charity. Even some of Belgravia's hair loss treatment clients have donated their locks after regrowing their hair. If you are interested in donating your hair, make sure you find out about the basic requirements - including length, hair type, colour and condition - first.