LOVELY LOCKS

LAKEWOOD RANCH —Marie Thompson was just 10 years old the last time she had a haircut.

Her father had done it after she’d refused to care for it properly.

“(He) was the last person to cut it off,” she said.

Until last Saturday.

Twenty-three years after her last haircut, Thompson, an employee of Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, climbed into a chair at Che Bella Salon & Spa surrounded by friends and family as hairstylist Mary Taylor carefully pulled her hair into a ponytail and took the first snip.

Even cut to halfway down her back, Thompson was able to donate more than 40 inches of hair — enough to make four wigs — to Locks of Love.

“I feel good,” Thompson said after the cut was finished. “I know where it’s going. That’s what’s keeping me inspired.”

Thompson, who turned 33 on Tuesday, has wanted to donate to Locks of Love for several years but was too afraid to do so. She finally decided to make the donation after losing a friend — Kandra Crissen, the daughter of a high school friend — to leukemia in October 2008.

“She was only 15,” Thompson said. “She was my inspiration. Watching her losing her hair and have none was my inspiration that I (could) do this.

“This year, I made it up in my mind, I want to make a change,” she said. “Another friend of mine came down with breast cancer. There are so many people around me this is happening to. I can’t help much, but this is what I can do.”

Thompson also wore her hair up to work every day because wearing it down causes too many distractions when interacting with the public. But carrying the weight of her hair was causing migraine headaches, she said.

Thompson said she spoke with stylists at several local salons before selecting Taylor, who had made her feel the most comfortable and also offered to set aside time to show Thompson how to blow dry and care for her shorter hairstyle.

Thompson’s mother, who stood close by during the cut, was saddened but thrilled.

“It’s gorgeous,” she said of the new cut. “I’m so proud of her for doing this.”

Her stepsister Jamie Cataldo agreed.

“It’s (her hair) so much a part of (Marie), but now it’s going to be about her,” Cataldo said. “Sometimes people just identify you for a piece of who you are.”

Back at work Monday, Thompson said she’s adjusting to the change but already is enjoying being able to wear her hair down regularly and spend less time washing and combing it.

“I’m still getting used to it,” she said. “There are a lot of things I’m liking about it. I love to leave my hair down, and I’m glad I can do that now.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].