Austintown girl makes Locks of Love donation

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Neighbors | Submitted.Hair stylist at Casal's de Spa and Salon, Jami Profusek (left), gets ready to cut India Gatts' (right) hair for Locks of Love.

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Neighbors | Submitted.India Gatts (front) grew her hair for two years in order for it to be long enough to donate to Locks of Love. Jami Profusek (back) cut the 10 inches necessary to donate off Gatts hair and styled it for her.

It has taken 8-year-old India Gatts two years to grow her hair long enough to donate the 10 inches needed for Locks of Love, but she finally did it. The program makes wigs for children who lose their hair to cancer.

She got the idea when she saw children with the disease on TV and wanted to help them. According to Casal’s d Spa and Salon stylist Jami Profusek, who cut India’s golden locks, it takes the donations of eight people to make one wig for a child. Gatts is the daughter of James and Michele Gatts, of Austintown.

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The prostheses helps to restore their self-esteem and their confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers.