Alopecia Areata

Dezi Burtenshaw

COJO 1010

May 8th, 2015

Section: 2

Speech 5: Donating to Locks of Love

General Purpose: To persuade.

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech my audience will agree to donate to the Locks of Love foundation.

Proposition of Policy: My audience should donate their hair to the Locks of Love foundation.

Organizational Pattern: Problem & Solution

Introduction:

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder, which causes the hair follicles to shut down. In addition to the loss of scalp hair, many also lose their eyelashes, eyebrows and all body hair, which is permanent in most cases. (Locks of Love 2015a).  Girls and boys suffer from this all over the world, and girls especially struggle with the unusual beauty of being bald. Fortunately, in 1997 Madonna Coffman quit her nursing job and took on the Locks of Love as a full time volunteer. For some time her garage contained bins of mail and hair donations, and after finally securing donated office space from her local hospital and locating a manufacturer of the highest quality prosthetics, Locks of Love was off and running. (Locks of Love 2015a). But there is more to her story, at the age of twenty Coffman developed alopecia areata herself after receiving a hepatitis vaccination. With medicine, she was able to recover. Fifteen years later, her four-year-old daughter developed alopecia and had lost all of her hair as well, which was harder to deal with than when it happened to Coffman herself. Thankfully her daughters full recovery inspired her to donate her time into this growing foundation, whose goal is to help every financially disadvantaged child under the age of twenty-one suffering from long-term hair loss whether it be from alopecia areata, or severe burn victims, cancer survivors and those who suffer from any number of skin disorders that cause hair loss. (Locks of Love 2015a). Being a donor myself I know the importance and the simplicity of donating to this foundation, so by the end of my speech everyone in this room will know about the difference Locks of Love wigs make, how simple to donation process is and how donating hair can relate to the men in the room as well as the ladies.

Signpost 1: Now that you are aware of this foundation and the conditions that many of these children are in, I am encouraging each and every one of you to donate your hair to the Locks of Love foundation, and here’s why.

Body:

1. First, I’ll start by telling you all the quality and difference Locks of Love wigs make.

1. Locks of Love provide the highest quality hairpieces to every child suffering from long-term or even permanent hair loss. (Locks of Love, 2015c)
2. The hair prostheses provided are custom-made from donated ponytails and would usually retail between $3,500 and $6,000. (Nonprofit Investor, 2013)
3. Locks of Love provide these hairpieces for free, or on a sliding scale, based on financial need of the family.
4. These hairpieces are different from synthetic hairpieces because they form a vacuum seal, and do not require the use of tape or glue.
5. Only the wearer of the hairpiece can remove it by breaking the vacuum seal at the temples.

Signpost 2: Being able to supply these hairpieces gives children their confidence back, and giving them that is so easy, so next I will go over the simple donation guidelines and process that you should follow when you go to donate.

1. Anyone can donate as long as they follow the guidelines given by the Locks of Love foundation.

1. You can go to a salon that you already are familiar with to make the donation a comfortable process, and what’s not comfortable about getting a new do?
2. (Locks of Love, 2015b, Get Involved) Hair that has been colored or permed is acceptable, but hair that has been bleached is not.
3. The hair must be pulled into a ponytail or braid and must be at least ten inches long before being cut.
4. Your hair must be dry when cut, if its wet it has a high possibility of getting moldy when sent to Locks of Love and can no longer be accepted.
5. Place the ponytail or braid inside of a plastic bag, and then inside of an envelope.
6. Fill out the donation form that is on the Locks of Love website and send it along with your hair to Locks of Love at: 234 Southern Blvd. West Palm Beach, FL 33405.

Signpost 3: Now that we have discussed how easy it is to donate, I’ll discuss how men can also donates and the benefits of you guys doing so, because I know you’re all probably thinking right now that “this has nothing to do with me”, well, it does.