This Hyderabadi hair stylist makes wigs out of donated hair for cancer patients

Under the banner of Hyderabad Hair Donation for Cancer Patients, Shiva takes hair donations, gets wigs made out of them, and sends them to patients in need

Hyderabad: Perhaps for its beauty and its inherent ability to enhance a person’s appearance, hair is one of the most loved and cared for parts of our face. However, for various medical reasons, many experience extreme hair fall and lose out on this special feature.

In an attempt to ease the agony of such individuals, Hyderabad-based hair stylist Shiva Kumar does everything in his capacity to give them back, possibly, the best gift of their lives.

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Under the banner of Hyderabad Hair Donation for Cancer Patients, which started amidst the pandemic in 2020, Shiva takes hair donations, gets wigs made out of them, and sends them to patients in need.

“I worked at some of the best salons in the city, and regularly saw long tresses go into the dustbin when I knew there were many who would have done anything to have that kind of hair. So, I began encouraging my customers to donate their hair,” he says, adding that after a few months he felt responsible to start something of his own where he could work towards hair donation more efficiently.

Initially, he would send donated hair to Mumbai to a welfare organisation. Later, when a patient from Kakinada approached him personally, he was compelled to do something.

That is when he discovered a vendor in Punjagutta who stitches wigs and got his first wig made out of the hair his customers donated. As of today, he has donated more than 260 wigs to patients suffering from not just cancer, but even from other diseases like alopecia and ectodermal dysplasia.

“Once when a patient whom I’d given a wig passed away due to illness, their close ones after posting their condolences made another post thanking me for the wig. That day I realised what my work truly means for the patients and their families,” says Shiva, adding that he hopes to continue being a bridge between customers who donate hair and patients who receive the wigs.