Bega High student shaves head to raise money for Leukaemia Foundation, donates hair for wigs

Seated in front of quite a crowd at lunchtime on Friday, March 18, hairdresser Russell Holdway from Studio 157 Hair Salon gave Taylor a buzzcut after she pledged to shave her head for the Leukaemia Foundation.

The 16-year-old has already managed to raise $4180 for the foundation and was hoping to still raise more before closing the donation link on March 30.

"I had always wanted to shave my hair, just as an experience, and then one of my teachers told us about the World's Greatest Shave and I thought it would be a really great cause.

"I had also spoken to another teacher who had shaved her head for the same cause and she said she raised a lot of money, so she was a big help in convincing me to do it," she said.

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She described the shave as an, "amazing experience" and said it was a real highlight having so many people clapping and cheering her on.

"I'm not completely bald but it's still pretty crazy and I just really felt the love and support, which was a really massive thing for me," said Taylor.

Two other students at the school named Sam and Selina also decided to shave their heads on the day as a sign of solidarity with Taylor who had raised the funds.

After the shave, her family members also told her that her grandfather had died from leukaemia when her mother was very young. She said her family was very proud of her efforts.

"My parents loved it, they were really supportive the whole way through, my mum was able to come to the school and watch, and my dad was there on the livestream that I did on Facebook," she said.

The donations had mainly come from her friends and family, with the link to her donation page shared far and wide across the community on social media.

Taylor said it had been "pretty weird" waking up over the weekend without her usual locks.

"Sometimes I forget about it and I wake up in the morning and forget about it and go oh yeah, gee I forgot about that."

She also had some friends stay with her over the weekend and so they decided to take it one step further and bleach and colour her remaining hair.

"Now it's bleached and I have some bright pink love hearts on the side."

She said she "wasn't loving it as much" as her natural hair colour, but thought of it as just another experience in life and "a bit of fun".

Her hair has been put to good use and was donated to the Cancer Council in Canberra to create wigs for people who have lost lost their hair to cancer.

Mr Holdway from Studio 157 said he had posted the hair off and said it would likely be able to create two short wigs.