How Duchess Kate's Locks are Helping the Little Princess Trust!

Good afternoon! I'm in the midst of pre-tour research here and thought I would pop in with a quick post regarding a story in today's Sunday Express.

The Duchess of Cambridge's enviably glossy brunette locks have been the subject of many a column inch since she began dating Prince William all the way back to their St Andrews University days.

Over the past couple of years, Kate has experimented with different hair lengths, opting for a shorter do since last summer. As you all know, I think Kate's hair is her crowing glory and suits her beautifully longer. According to the Sunday Express, last year a hairdresser named Joey Wheeler at Richard Ward "persuaded her it was time to take off some of her hair, it was just getting too long".

Meet Joey Wheeler, Kate's other hairdresser (along with Amanda Cook Tucker). According to his bio on the Richard Ward website he is a 'Premier Stylist/Barber & Senior Educator' with eleven years service at the salon. "Joey spent 4 years commuting from his home town of Brighton (hence his Joey Sussex nick-name within the team!) to undertake the Richard Ward in-house training programme, completing his training in 2010. Personally working with Richard for much of that time, Joey has gleaned a wealth of experience assisting in TV and session work such as shoots for Vogue magazine. Joey is the master of the precision cut with attention to detail that is second to none. He really prides himself on clean sections and working with the natural lay of the hair to produce his consistent sharp finish that has become a trademark look for his work. Think classic French or graduated bob or any variation along this theme."

Whilst Joey was snipping away, Kate reportedly came up with the idea of doing something good with her hair rather than just throwing it away. More from the article:

'The Duchess of Cambridge has come up with a very personal way to support a child cancer charity – by donating her hair to make wigs for young patients. When her hairdresser Joey Wheeler cut off seven inches from her usual length, Kate asked an aide to collect the locks and send them to a charity, thought to be the Little Princess Trust.

“She mentioned it to Joey, who thought it was a brilliant idea. It was sent using someone else’s name, so that the trust didn’t know it was from a royal source – they just thought it was from a female donor in the Kensington area.”

Kate is not the first high-profile figure to have donated hair to the Trust. In 2016 singer Harry Styles cut off his ponytail and sent it to the charity. The One Direction star’s snap of the hank of hair attracted over a million hits on social media.
The source added: “It’s lovely to think somewhere a little girl is happily wearing a wig made from a real princess’s hair. It’s a very heartwarming thing for Kate to have done, and very thoughtful to use hair that would have otherwise just been thrown away.”

The Little Princess Trust was launched in 2006 by the parents of Hannah Tarplee, along with help from friends in Hannah’s school, Hereford Cathedral Junior School. Hannah was the original Little Princess. Sadly she was diagnosed with a Wilms tumour and after a brave battle, died in 2005. "At that time, finding high quality wigs for children was very difficult and only after a long search was a suitable company eventually found which made a wig for Hannah. She very much enjoyed wearing her wig, particularly on special occasions. After Hannah passed away, so many kind people offered help, financial and practical. Hannah’s parents, Wendy and Simon decided that the most fitting way to use this help was to launch a charity dedicated to providing specialist real-hair children’s wigs. Like so many Little Princesses, Hannah loved her hair and losing it was very traumatic."

Since its inception, the charity has now helped thousands of children, and recently extended its mission to include, when funds allow, the provision of financial assistance for research into the causes of childhood cancers and into minimising the effects of chemotherapy in children. The trust received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (the MBE for volunteer groups) in Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee year, June 2012.

Speaking about the news, a representative of the Trust said: "Late on Friday 26 January, LPT HQ received a rather exciting telephone call. We were told that the latest hair donor to join our ever-growing list of wonderful supporters was none other than the Duchess of Cambridge!  When we heard the news we were absolutely delighted! Monica Glass, Charity Manager said, ‘We are so very grateful to every single person who kindly supports the charity in this way. As the Duchess of Cambridge is so much in the public eye, we hope the message that the charity can help children and young people with hair loss will reach everyone who might need our assistance. Receiving a free, real hair wig has a very positive impact on a child or young adult at such a difficult time.  We hope that this donation will encourage others to consider supporting the charity in the same way.'"

On their website, images from donors are shared. Below, we see Emily who gave 11 inches of her tresses to the Trust.

It can take up to ten hair donations to make one wig.

I think it was a very kind and thoughtful thing for Kate to do. An act of generosity that costs nothing. If you're planning to try a new style and have at least seven inches cut, I would highly recommend considering the Little Princess Trust, or a similar organisation wherever you live. It can make an enormous difference to a child's confidence. You can find all relevant information on donating hair here. For those in the US, a friend suggested Locks of Love.

I imagine William and Kate are in the middle of packing and making last minute preparations before they fly to Sweden tomorrow. We'll see you Tuesday morning when the tour kicks off; for a look at a detailed itinerary please visit the Kate's Calendar page.