Dudley girl, 7, donates hair to help poorly children

After learning from a friend at dance class that there are children her age and younger who become very ill and lose their hair due to medical treatment, Shelby Rudge decided she wanted to help.

She discovered a charity, the Little Princess Trust, that makes real-hair wigs for poorly children using donated hair from children just like herself.

Shelby made the decision to donate her own hair, and to raise the money needed to help pay for a wig to be made.

Shelby initially set herself a fundraising target of £170 to cover the cost of a wig fitting.

She reached that target in no time.

She then raised her goal to £550, the amount needed to make a wig, and once again quickly surpassed it.

Not stopping there, Shelby decided on a final target of £700 to fully cover both the fitting and the making of the wig.

On Thursday, January 15, Shelby visited Billie-Mayys Professional Hair Stylist, where stylist Emma plaited Shelby’s hair into five sections before cutting off 30cm from each plait.

Shelby had always been proud of her long blonde hair, but she knew that someone else needed it more than she did.

When the sponsorship total was last counted, £1,062 had been donated, with more contributions still coming in.

Thanks to Shelby’s determination and generosity, she has not only helped support a child who has lost their hair, but she has also supported the Little Princess Trust in its funding of childhood cancer research which, since 2016, has supported 158 projects searching for kinder and more effective treatments. 

For more details, visit the Little Princess Trust website.