Author:Courtesy of the Great Lakes Advocate Date: 16/03/2011 12:00:00 AM

THEIR screams could be heard from the street as their silky locks were cut away.

For some of the girls they were cutting years of growth, overwhelming for 11-year-olds, but it was a chop that will give other children a life without ridicule.

Six girls from Forster Primary School cut 35 centimetres of hair from their heads for the Princess Charlotte Alopecia Foundation – a charity with local links that aims to provide wigs and support for sufferers of Alopecia, a health condition that causes hair loss usually from the scalp.

The foundation was established four years ago after former local girl Charlotte Anderson was diagnosed with the condition.

Now 11, Charlotte’s foundation has raised tens of thousands, selling hair to wig manufacturers and using the funds to purchase wigs.

Locks sold to a New Zealand wig maker from a group hair donation at Forster Primary last year raised around $10,000.

“This is a very generous gift that these girls are giving,” Charlotte’s grandmother Christine Newman said.

“The hair will definitely not be wasted. I have seen the suffering of these children and the wigs make a great difference to their lives.”

Priceless expressions, some of fear and others of excitement, were reflected off the mirrors at Forster’s Hair Kreations salon as hairdressers Mandy Mooney and Leshia Davies donated their time and skill to the cause.

“It’s for a good cause for the Princess Charlotte Alopecia Foundation,” ten-year-old Georgia Lowry said full of nervous excitement before jumping in the chair.

“I’m a little bit nervous but I think it will be ok,” friend Kylar Duffy agreed.

“I think it’s a very good idea.”