In order to get women to donate their hair for wigs, we invented a new haircut which we called BraveCut. All the hair we cut goes into wigmaking. So donation doesn’t feel like donation. It feels like fashion. We helped it become popular when Romania’s most popular TV presenter, Andreea Marin cut her live on TV and got a BraveCut with its signature element: the hair is left longer on one side and shorter on the other. The haircut was covered by fashion magazines and shows until it became the latest trend out there: doing good was back in style.

We designed the first statement-haircut together with the most awarded hairstylist in the country, Sorin Stratulat, to make it both wearable and recognizable. We launched it when one of the most well-known TV presenters in Romania, Andreea Marin, cut her hair live on TV and got a BraveCut. Fashion magazines covered the news of the new haircut and soon, everybody wanted one, from local celebrities to regular women. Hair salons started to offer it for free, and they all received a special BraveCut promotion kit: posters, hair collection bags, stickers, and so on. BraveCut became a national sensation as the trend in hairstyling: if you would wear it, you would not only be in fashion, but have donated for a good cause. You could see it everywhere from fashion catwalks, to TV shows and news, to other brands commercials. Pop up hair salons were requested by major universities

So far more than 2400 women donated with a Bravecut. That amounts to 92 kg of hair that can be turned into 750 wigs. We had over 40 partner salons where the cut was free. BraveCut appered in 47 media coverages, on 7 different tv channels.

People were already declaring their support for women with cancer by wearing a pink ribbon. And while very noble, sadly, wearing a pink ribbon didn’t actually do anything. Fundatia Renasterea wanted to give Romanians a chance to actually do something that could support cancer patients for real and so we decided to start a donation program that would raise hair for wigs that women who lost their hair during chemo would receive for free.

We knew how attached women were to their long locks- it’s part of their image. Especially with celebrities that have a personal brand to keep. So we decided to stop asking to give something up- instead, we asked them to be in fashion. Our mission? Ask a woman to be a trendsetter and help for all the right reasons.

In Romania, 137 women find out they have cancer every day. During chemotherapy, they lose they hair and with it, their dignity. That’s because a natural hair wig costs three times the medium income in Romania- which, for a woman already having to pay for treatment and special food, if completely unaffordable. Hair donations would help, but don’t happen in our country: There is no official collection center and hair salons aren’t instructed to collect it. Moreover, it’s hard to make women give up their long hair.