Bald is even more beautiful when someone is willing to sacrifice their hair for a good cause.
To draw more attention to and bring money in for Special Olympics Indiana Jackson County, Mary Carlson of Seymour encouraged people to donate to an online fundraiser.
Since county programs haven’t been able to do fundraising in recent months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Special Olympics Indiana created First Giving accounts for them to earn money to benefit their athletes.
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Seeing donations trickle in, Carlson issued a challenge on Facebook: If the county program’s fundraiser hit $1,000 by Tuesday, she would have her head shaved.
People accepted the challenge and helped her reach her goal, so at noon Tuesday, Carlson walked into Revel Salon in downtown Seymour with hair and left without it.
“My whole idea is I love our athletes, and our daughter is an athlete,” Carlson said of her and her husband Dennis’ daughter, Claire. “They are why I’m doing it.”
Once Carlson saw the fundraiser reach $1,000 on Monday, she said she realized it was getting real.
“’I better not chicken out’ pretty much is what I was thinking,” she said, smiling. “Seriously, I did. I was like, ‘I can’t chicken out now.’”
When she took a seat in a chair inside the salon Tuesday, hairstylist Katrina Haney asked if she was sure she wanted to go through with it.
“I said, ‘I promised people. I can’t not do it. That wouldn’t be right,’” Carlson said.
Haney said she occasionally has customers want part of their hair cut to donate to Locks of Love or similar causes, but it’s not often somebody requests a complete shave. It’s so rare that she had to borrow an electric razor for Carlson’s buzz.
“This is the funnest haircut I’ve done today,” Haney said as clumps of Carlson’s hair fell to the floor.
When Carlson sent a text message to Haney about shaving her head, it didn’t surprise Haney.
“I said she could pull it off,” Haney said.
“It’s not that surprising that it comes from you,” she said to Carlson.
“She’s a wild woman,” fellow hairstylist Stacy Christie said.
After Haney turned off the razor, she handed a mirror to Carlson so she could see her new ‘do.
“It does feel good,” Carlson said. “It’s weird. It’s going to take me awhile to get used to it.”
When she gets up each morning for a while, she won’t need shampoo, hairspray or a brush.
“Now, I’ll be noticing all of the shampoo commercials,” she joked.
Haney estimated Carlson’s hair will grow about half an inch a month, so it will be awhile until she needs to go back to the salon.
This marks the second time Carlson has shaved her head. The first time was for a totally different reason.
In December 2008, she was diagnosed with lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma. She had a head-shaving party the next month before she started chemotherapy in February 2009.
“I decided to have a head-shaving party because I didn’t want to find clumps (of hair) on the pillow and in the shower,” Carlson said. “I didn’t mind my hair being short. It was more of what was to come after. I was more nervous about chemotherapy and everything else like that.”
After her last chemo treatment in August 2009, she didn’t go to the salon for a haircut until December.
“So it will be a few months, but it won’t be too long,” she said of her next haircut this year.
The Special Olympics fundraiser runs through July 20. The more Jackson County athletes participating in the Sports and Fitness Challenge, the higher percentage of money raised will come back to the local program.
Carlson appreciates everyone who has donated so far.
“I was very proud and excited that they think enough to support Special Olympics,” she said.
She encourages people to keep donating and also to think of ways to help causes close to their heart.
While it may not be as extreme as shaving your head, it’s the thinking of others that matters.
“The more something is done that people wouldn’t do, I think it makes people more interested in donating because most people probably wouldn’t shave their head for no reason,” Carlson said.
But she’s not most people.
“I’m a wild one,” she said, smiling.
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Since local Special Olympics athletes and volunteers couldn’t attend the Indiana Summer Games earlier this month because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are participating in the Sports and Fitness Challenge now through July 20.
Along with that, an online fundraiser will bring money back to the Jackson County program. The more local athletes participating in the Sports and Fitness Challenge, the higher the shared fundraising percentage will be, so the fundraiser will be big for the program since it hasn’t been able to do fundraising since March.
To donate, visit www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jacksoncounty-specialolympics/2020-Summer-Games.
For information about Special Olympics Indiana Jackson County, visit facebook.com/jacksoncountyspecialolympics.
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