PEABODY — Jean Ahearn has set an ambitious goal for herself.
The 47-year-old Peabody mom wants to inspire enough people to donate their hair to make 50 wigs for children who have lost theirs, either due to a battle with cancer or from living with alopecia, a common skin disease. She has given herself until her 50th birthday, Nov. 6, 2012, to get the job done.
It's a cause Ahearn seems born to champion.
"Most people don't have my hair," she said. "The hairdressers are always commenting on how strangely thick it is."
When she was younger, her hairdresser would cut her hair for free.
"He would actually sell my hair," Ahearn said. "He would get $60 for it."
It takes between eight and 10 donations to produce enough hair for a single wig. Ahearn's hair is so thick that, when she cuts it on or close to her 50th birthday, it will count as two donations.
She will need hundreds more, an estimated 450, to donate to hit her target. A donation is at least 8 inches of clean, healthy hair.
Ahearn has set up a website, www.50wigs.com, so people can document their pledges. By late last week, eight people had signed up.
The donations will benefit Children With Hairloss, a Michigan-based charity that provides free hair replacement for children under 21. So far this year, the group has given out 273 wigs.
"It is a great thing that she is doing," Jim Beri, president of Children With Hairloss, said of Ahearn's mission. "She is going to help out a lot of kids."
About a decade ago, Ahearn read a newspaper article about someone donating her hair. It prompted her to do the same, and she has donated once more since then.
She is motivated now only by an altruistic desire to give what she can. She doesn't have "tons of money" to give away, she notes.
But she will have plenty of hair. It should be waist-length by the time she cuts it. On average, hair grows half an inch a month.
"There has to be a point to your life," Ahearn said. "For me, it's kind of a little way of making life better here."
Growing up is hard enough. Doing it without hair is an extra burden kids shouldn't have to bear, she said.
"You're helping kids get more confidence," she said. "It helps kids feel like they're more normal."
Ahearn's campaign will culminate on the same day, Election Day, that the next presidential campaign does. Just as the outcome of that race is, so far out, difficult to predict, whether Ahearn will succeed is also up in the air.
She is definitely determined.
"When you give to a charity, you do have to give either your money or your time, and I know a lot of people don't have much of either, especially in the current economy," Ahearn said.
"The thing that is great about this is you don't have to spend your money or your time. All you really have to do is get a haircut."
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