At 43 inches long, Ella-Rose Kitching’s hair was all the way down past her knees.
The eight-year-old, from County Durham, had been growing her hair for her whole life and recently, she decided to get it chopped for the very first time.
However, this real life Rapunzel wasn’t just after a regular hair cut and decided that she wanted to give her locks to charity – all three and a half feet of it.
Ella’s long tresses were her pride and joy. But now, she’s undergone a dramatic transformation after donating her hair to the Little Princess Trust.
The charity will use Ella-Rose’s hair to make real hair wigs for children who have lost their own through cancer.
But the schoolgirl had some work to do in persuading her mum, Louise Clark, to let her get it cut off.
Ella’s mum, Louise, 34, said: ‘This has been bittersweet for me as I love her hair. I kept trying to make her wait until she finished junior school, but she really wanted it done now.’
The kind hearted family decided to go for it – and Ella-Rosefinally had the chop on February 19th at Hair by Adele in Sherburn, County Durham.
Ella-Rose said: ‘I look very different, but I like it a lot. My head feels so light without so much hair. I am really happy to have had it cut off.’
As well as donating her hair to be made into wigs for other children, Ella-Rose has also raised £1000 for the Bradley Lowry Foundation, named after the six-year-old Sunderland fan who touched the hearts of the nation when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
‘I knew she was going to do this so I decided to make it as extravagant as I could and raise money for charity,’ explained Louise.
‘We chose the Bradley Lowery foundation because we’re big Sunderland fans and followed Bradley’s story at the time. We set up a gofundme and have people sponsoring us. We’ve raised over £1,000.’
But it was Ella’s idea to donate to the Princess Trust.
‘I don’t know how she heard of the Princess Trust but I guess they have TikTok and Youtube so they know a lot more than we did at that age,’ Louise said.
Ella says she is excited about her new hair and believes it’s important that her tresses go towards a good cause.
She said: I was very excited to get it cut, and so were all my friends.
‘I wanted to get it done for a long time. There are a lot of people who have cancer and need it because they have no hair.’
Mum-of-three Louise says life will be easier now her daughter has shorter locks.
She explained that Ella-Rose’s natural curls were extremely high maintenance, and that full bottle of conditioner needed to wash it – otherwise a brush wouldn’t go through her hair.
‘She had to wear it in a plait because it’s so long. It took ages to wash and dry it as well,’ she said.
It will also mean less of a fuss when the family go about and about.
‘Everywhere we went people would compliment her and call her Rapunzel. She
didn’t like the attention, though.’
‘I’m really proud of her. She’s always been really sweet and wanted to help
others so this speaks to her character.’
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