Hair salon giant Great Clips is in full damage control mode after a box of hair donations intended for young cancer victims was spotted in the dumpster behind one of its outlets.
On Tuesday afternoon, Facebook lit up when someone posted several pictures of locks of hair in plastic bags in the dumpster behind a Great Clips in Gastonia, North Carolina. The hair was slated for donation to Wigs for Kids, an organization that provides hair for kids who have lost their natural hair to chemotherapy. The donation information was still attached. Outraged users contacted Great Clips, as well as WBTV in Charlotte, demanding an explanation. Watch WBTV’s original story here.
One of the donors, Nanette McDaniel, didn’t know anything had happened to her donated hair until a crew from WBTV knocked on her door. Needless to say, she was dumbfounded. She knows several people who have battled cancer, and it led her to donate some of her brown locks “out of the kindness of my heart.” According to the store manager, all but five of the 100 donations were saved. the employee who threw the hair in the dumpster has been reprimanded. I’d be content with this, if not for all the personal information that was attached to the donated hair.
In a statement, Great Clips said it was “appalled” and “upset” by what happened, and said that “supporting those going through hair loss is near and dear to our hearts.” It also said that all hair donations “should be cherished and treated with respect.”
To underscore this, Great Clips president Steve Hockett personally addressed the situation on YouTube.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hI5gpl8vxo&w=853&h=480]
Hockett said that Great Clips would donate $5,000 to Wigs for Kids–$1,000 for each donation that couldn’t be recovered from the dumpster. That’s all good and well, but more needs to be done to ensure there isn’t a next time for this. Somehow, the fact that the employee only got off with a reprimand doesn’t make me very comfortable. That employee needs some time off–and maybe the manager as well.
