Elizabeth Bailey
Greensburg Daily News
Greensburg —
For three years, eight-year-old Olivia Vanderbur, daughter of Bruce and Becky Vanderbur, has refused to allow her hair to be cut, but she wasn't just being a precocious child - she was growing it for a cause.
On Thursday, Vanderbur climbed into a chair at Main Attractions and had eight inches snipped off to be given to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program, which constructs free wigs for cancer patients from donated locks. The young philanthropist doesn't recall what inspired her to make the donation, and her mother isn't sure either. She just knew at the age of 5 that she wanted to grow her hair to give to someone in need, the youngster explained before her appointment.
Becky Vanderbur began researching organizations that could best use her daughter's donation, and determined that Pantene Beautiful Lengths would be the best fit for the quantity of hair Olivia Vanderbur wanted to donate - leaving her enough for braids - and the causes the family wanted to aid. For her sister, Grace Vanderbur, the haircut was long-awaited.
"I have waited for this moment," she exclaimed as she snipped off the first of six, eight-inch ponytails.
Once the cut was finished, Olivia Vanderbur declared she was going to grow it out again before saying that it needed to be braided - now in two short braids rather than the long ones to which she has become accustomed.
"It feels weird," she said, "but I'm glad I did it."
