Brave Cut
'Brave cut' is the name of the project initiated by Renaşterea Foundation
Ana-Maria Cononovici, 14.01.2025, 14:00
At a time of winter celebrations, when we are all thinking about how to become better, as the carol messages urge us, we have discovered a way of being better. A project through which those who have long hair can donate it to make wigs from natural hair for those who need them. “Brave cut” is the name of the project initiated by Renaşterea Foundation (Renaissance Foundation) and, to begin with, we spoke with a beneficiary of one of these wigs.
Beatrice Gavrila has fought cancer and is a victorious survivor. She has told us that she considers herself lucky also because she met the Renaşterea Foundation team and that she wears a wig made as part of the project: “I am very happy that I managed to meet them. Not necessarily because I wanted to have a fantastic look, but mainly because it’s winter right now, and I needed something in line with the season and my personality. Moreover, wigs help a lot in terms of self-respect, they help you feel better, they are easy to maintain, they are very well made, and one cannot tell that you are wearing a wig. At least the people around me told me that the wig looked so natural that they couldn’t tell if it was my hair or a wig. It makes me feel more feminine. It is a tremendous helping hand for cancer patients, they become more hopeful. Since it’s made of natural hair, it protects your scalp and helps the skin breathe, it does not bring additional toxicity to the body. I am grateful for the opportunity that the Foundation gave me.”
The President of Renaşterea Foundation, Mihaela Geoană, is at the microphone with details: “The project ‘Brave Cut, lives intertwined’, as we call it, started from the desire to help women, as well as the children undergoing chemotherapy. We all know that those undergoing chemotherapy lose their hair, and for women, this period of several months is very difficult, it affects them a lot. Their image is affected, they look sick and the same goes for the children. Some wigs are reimbursed in other countries, but natural hair wigs are very expensive. Natural hair wigs are the best because they don’t irritate, and don’t heat up the scalp in summer or winter. And then, in 2015, we launched the project “Brave Cut, lives intertwined”, which targeted women. We initially thought of donation of hair bunches that had to be at least 15 cm long, but ideally over 20 cm, to which we add the production cost of the wig, which is between 1,800 lei and 3,000 lei. To make a wig, five or six people need to donate hair, and it was a project that we started online, communicating only in Romanian. It was something between friends. The first to get a haircut live, on October 1, was Corina Caragea and then there were other stars who donated hair. I was absolutely impressed by the women’s willingness to help. To date we have received more than 27,000 hair donations, that is 27,000 hair bunches and many of them are accompanied by messages, they are beautifully packaged. We received hair from a mother and daughter. There are children who let their hair grow just for the purpose of donating it and once every 3-4 years they get a haircut and donate hair. There are women from 80 localities in Romania. The donated hair bunches are sent by post. We received many packages from Austria, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, Slovakia, and those who donated hair are Romanians living outside the country, because we did the campaign only in Romanian and only online.”
Our interlocutor told us that if, at the beginning, there were partner hair salons, where the people who wanted to donate hair got their hair cut, and the message was supported by online campaigns, over time, the women learned about hair donations from each other and acquired this habit of letting their hair grow more, so that they could cut 20 cm of it at a time and send it to them.
Irina Bescuca, a public speaking trainer at an acting school in Bucharest has recently cut her hair to contribute to the project and spoke to us about it: “I first heard about Brave Cut when one of the women I knew started the fight against cancer. At that time, I didn’t know much about how I could help, and it was then that the need to contribute, to do something that really mattered emerged, and I felt like passing on a piece of who I am, to turn something personal into a gift. So, I chose to cut my hair. I chose to do this not only to change my look, but also to send it to the Renaşterea Foundation where it was going to become a natural hair wig for women fighting cancer, extraordinary women who, as a result of the treatments, lost not only their hair, but perhaps also a part of their self-confidence. Thinking about them, their courage, the battles they fight, I felt I could do more than watch from a distance, and so I felt I could offer something concrete: a part of me, a ray of hope. When the scissors started to cut my hair I experienced a mix of emotions. For me it was a physical change, but for them I hope it will be a gift that will bring them a little light, a step towards finding themselves and seeing their smile again in the mirror.”
The most beautiful thing about this project is that the wigs are made especially for each patient, taking into account the hair color and hairstyle she wants. (LS)
