1/5 Oscar with the hair he donated (photo: Imke van de Laar)
Oscar Verplak from Eindhoven is very proud of his long gray hair. Yet it comes off. He will donate it to have a hairpiece made for people who have lost their own hair due to illness. “It feels good to make someone else happy with it.”
Oscar Verplak enters the barbershop with long wavy gray hair. He doesn’t know exactly how long it is. But when he last went to the hairdresser. “That was at the end of 2019,” he says, laughing. During corona times he let his hair grow because he was simply not allowed to go to the hairdresser. Then a colleague suddenly became ill. Oscar fills up. “He got cancer and lost his hair due to chemotherapy. I then said that I would let my hair grow for him.”
“I didn’t save for nothing, take it off.”
But of course Oscar’s hair didn’t grow that fast. So he couldn’t help his colleague with it. But someone else does. That’s why he turned to hairdresser Jos Vogels from Studio Tonny. Here they have hairpieces made from donated hair. He is overjoyed when he sees Oscar’s hair. “What beautiful hair!” he exclaims. “We don’t often have someone in the chair who donates gray hair. While there are of course plenty of people with gray hair who need a hair piece.”
Jos immediately grabs a measuring tape. It measures 45 centimeters, from the crown of his head to the tip of Oscar’s hair. And that’s more than enough, because the minimum length for a hair donation is 30 centimeters. “Are you absolutely sure?” he asks Oscar. He nods resolutely. “I didn’t save for nothing, it’s okay. Take it off.”
“I’ll be back in four years!”
Jos doesn’t let himself be told that twice. Within a minute, Oscar’s long hair is gone. He looks in the mirror with satisfaction. “Nice! It feels good because I make someone else happy with it. And it will grow back.”
Jos shows the cut tail. “We are now going to dry it and comb it out, so that only the long hair that can be knotted remains. We will send it to the Philippines, where they will make a rough piece of hair out of it. And we will then cut it into shape here and blow-dry it nicely for someone we can make very happy with.”
In about twelve weeks the hairpiece will be completely ready and someone might be walking down the street with Oscar’s hair. And he thinks that’s a nice thought. When he walks out, Oscar makes a promise to the hairdresser. “I’m going to let it grow again and I’ll come back in four years!”