Razor's Hair Design stylist Sonni Burris cut off Damien Solomon's ponytail recently so that he could donate the hair to Locks of Love. [Click to enlarge]

It took Burris a couple of snips before the dark red bunch of hair was cut off.

"It was really thick," Burris said, handing Solomon the ponytail. "You still have a lot of hair left over, but you definitely don't have long hair anymore. How's it feel?"

Damien Solomon Before his donation [Click to enlarge]

"Cool," Solomon said. "It's OK, someone else will have it now."

Although it was for a good cause, the North Clay Middle School seventh-grader has endured quite a bit of chiding about growing his long hair over the past two years.

"Everyone, and I mean everyone, had something to say about it," Solomon said. "They kept telling me, even today, that I needed to get it cut. But no one ever asked why I was growing my hair long."

Solomon wishes people would have at least asked or listened to the reason why he let his hair grow so long.

Although he doesn't personally know of a child suffering from hair loss, Solomon said he wanted to help them after learning about the charitable organization Locks of Love.

Locks of Love provides high quality wigs for free or at affordable costs to needy children (18 or younger) who are suffering from a long-term medical condition that causes hair loss.

The organization's mission is to help restore self-esteem and confidence, enabling the children a way to face the world and their peers.

"I think it is great that someone else will be able to wear my hair," Solomon said. "It took more than two years to grow my hair long enough for today, but I don't think it will take that long to do it again."

Although his mother, Kristina McVay, is proud of her son's participation in the program, she thinks people shouldn't have passed such quick judgment on her son based solely on the length of his hair.

"Damien is a good boy. He gets good grades. He's on the wrestling team at school, but there have been incidents when people said he wasn't setting a good example for the school," McVay said. "What better example of a good kid can you ask for than this? I thought as a society we had gone past judging the character of a person on their looks, especially someone with long hair. It really doesn't matter in the end what other people think, because Damien was doing the right thing. He was helping other children."

When asked if he was going to let his hair grow again, Solomon ran his hands through what was left of his hair and smiled.

"Sure," he said. "If it helps keep someone else from being teased about not having hair, they can have mine."

For more information regarding Locks of Love, go to www.locksoflove.org.