Hair today, gone tomorrow: Gaylord brothers donate long locks to Wigs 4 Kids

GAYLORD — What started as a simple request to skip regular haircuts turned into a selfless act of kindness.

Zarian and Lennox Aldrich have spent the last two years growing their hair to donate it to Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan, which creates wigs for children experiencing hair loss.

Amanda Aldrich, the boys’ mother, said when they asked her to grow out their hair, she came up with an idea to make the decision more meaningful.

“The only way we’re going to do that is if we donate it,” Aldrich told her sons.

She explained to them that it would be a commitment, and it would have to be something they decided on their own.

“If you guys decide to do this, you actually have to stick to it,” Aldrich told her sons at the time. “There is no going back halfway through.”

The boys, who attend St. Mary Cathedral School, considered the offer and committed to the estimated two years it would take to grow their hair long enough to donate.

What the boys didn’t anticipate is the hard work that came with maintaining long hair.

Aldrich laughed as she relays the difficulty of brushing, washing and trying to keep her sons’ hair pulled back during soccer games. She said they often wore it in the popular “man-bun” or as they called it, “The Thor.”

Zarian, 12, said there were times when he wasn’t so sure he had made the right choice.

“It was pretty fun, but it was sometimes really hard,” he said. “I would think, ‘Why did I make this choice?’”

He said there were some uncomfortable moments when people would mistake him and his brother for girls or one awkward time when a stranger saw him entering the men’s restroom and tried to redirect him to the women’s restroom.

Lennox, 7, also encountered a classmate that often said his long hair made him look like a girl, but Lennox stayed strong and reiterated his purpose. Amanda Aldrich said anytime the classmate said anything about his hair, Lennox would remind him that he was growing it to help kids that didn’t have any.

The boys even got permission from their school principal as not to break any dress code rules.

Despite the difficulty and occasional confusion, the boys stuck to their commitment. For two years they managed to stay focused on the end goal, even when it seemed like it would never arrive.

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, they were finally ready for a haircut. The boys had grown their hair long enough to have nearly 10 inches cut off and made ready to donate.

Aldrich said she chose Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan because it is local, and it provides wigs to children experiencing hair loss for a variety of reasons from alopecia to cancer. The nonprofit’s website details the service it provides, stating that it gives kids wigs that are custom-fitted and styled as the children wish. Each wig is given at no cost to the family.

The mission statement attracted Aldrich, and she said it aligned with the ideals she wanted to teach her sons about giving back. In school, Aldrich said her sons have learned about virtues, but actually turning intentions into actions was a different lesson.

“What can you truly give of yourself?” Aldrich asked of her sons as they went through the experience.

With their hair freshly cut, Zarian and Lennox proudly held up their ponytails. They will be mailed to Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan where they will be turned into an opportunity for kids without hair — opportunity for normalcy, confidence and the chance to just be a kid.