Looking Ahead - Locks of Love

I'm waffling on my hairstyle right now, as it seems a lot of my nearest and dearest are. My hair grows very quickly and I wanted to keep it long through the "wedding season" so I could do fun updos, but for my daily life a stacked bob is really more practical. That would mean taking off around 5" from where I'm at right now, but I'm wondering if I should just stick it out until I get enough to do #51 on my bucketlist, donate a chunk of hair to Locks of Love.

Locks of Love makes custom hair pieces for kids with alopecia, cancer, and other diseases. These hair pieces would retail upwards of $3500, so you can imagine how difficult that might be for a family to try and provide them as their child grows, or how heartbreaking it might be for a child not to be able to afford a hair piece if that is what they need to feel confident about their appearance.

Donating to Locks of Love requires a little planning and forethought - some interesting points I picked up from their FAQ website:

1. Most of their recipients are little girls, and most of them want long hair. The manufacturing process takes up 2" right off the bat, and the minimum donation of 10" only ends up about chin length in a hair piece. Clearly longer donations are harder to come by, but most in demand.

2. It takes 6-10 donated ponytails to make a single hair piece.

3. Hair can be colored, but not bleached. "The bleach causes the hair to dissolve as it goes through the manufacturing process. Note: Many times highlights are done with bleach." Wow, that's something to think about well in advance if you want to donate.

So what should I do? Right now my hair is about 18" and very thick. I rarely blow dry it or style it, and would much prefer a "wash & go" lifestyle. It's fun to have long hair when I DO style it for special events, but that isn't very often. Supposedly average hair grows 6" a year - mine seems to grow a little faster, but then you'd lose a little on trims for upkeep. Should I stick it out for another year and cross one more thing off my bucket list (while helping a good cause)? Or should I just make my daily life a lot easier.

Conundrum.