HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

With her mother and sister standing by and her grandmother snapping photographs, Kelly Kuehn got her first haircut on Saturday. Angela Woodfin, who has cut hair for three and a half years, said Kelly was better about it than other children getting their first haircuts. But the others weren't in seventh grade.

Kelly, who lives in Brewer, has had her hair trimmed up, but never cut short, said her mother, Carla Kuehn. It has always been around her waistline or lower, she said.

What motivated Kelly to hand her hair over to a stylist's scissors was a report she saw last year on television about Wigs for Kids. Wigs for Kids is a non-profit organization based in Ohio that assists children who have lost their hair from accidents or for various medical reasons. It was created 20 years ago by a man trying to help out his best friend, whose daughter had cancer and lost all her hair."He found out that no one made suitable wigs for children and decided to do something about it," said Christine Kett, a spokeswoman for Wigs for Kids.

Now Wigs for Kids receives about 100 ponytails a week from donors, Kett said. Few requirements are made for the donations, other than the hair must be clean and dry, at least 12 inches long and sent in a plastic bag.

When Kelly saw she could donate it, she had a reason to get a haircut, Carla Kuehn said.

Kelly comes from a long line of long hair. Her grandmother, Meva Jackson of Cape Girardeau, didn't get her own hair cut until she was 10. Carla Kuehn's sister, Myra, got her last haircut 17 years ago, she said. Kelly's 8-year-old sister, Stephanie, has even longer hair, but she stayed away from the stylist on Saturday."Her hair hasn't even been trimmed yet," Carla Kuehn said. "Now that her sister has a haircut, she'll probably want one, too. But she's a little too young."Kelly's hair would have been another six inches longer on Saturday if she hadn't allowed her 14-year-old sister, Michelle, to experiment. While their mom was away at a craft show, Michelle cut a bit off, Kelly said. Mom wasn't happy with what she found when she got home, so she got the scissors back out to attempt to make repairs, Kelly said.

As she sheared away Kelly's lifetime achievement, Woodbin reminisced about her once-long hair. "I used to have long hair until I was 25 years old," she told Kelly. "Afterwards, it took a couple of months before I could look in the mirror."Sitting in the barber chair, Kelly had no trouble looking into the mirror. "I like it," she said, starring, with a radiant smile.

Another child will like Kelly's thick, red hair, too, Kett said.

For more information about Wigs for Kids, write them at 21330 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River, Ohio 44116.