Charity Head Shave
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19 year old Holistic Therapy student from Northbrook College has bravely had her head shaved to raise money for the charity MIND, a leading mental health charity. Christina Maguire had her head shaved in the College training salon. Christina suffers from the condition Trichotillomania,a type of psychological condition that involves strong urges to pull hair. So far she has raised £500 for the charity.
Christina, who is enrolled on a full time Holistic Therapy course at Northbrook, has suffered with the condition for several years. It was her tutor who suggested a fund raising head shave to bring awareness to the condition and also maybe to stop Christina pulling out her hair for a while. Christina was keen to do the head shave and said, “I have always had it in my mind that I wanted to shave my hair off but lacked confidence and support”.
With encouragement from her friends, Christina went ahead with the chop in the hairdressing department at Northbrook’s Broadwater Campus. Student hairdresser, Adele Robinson, took on the challenge and in front of 30 spectators, including Christina’s boyfriend Matt, separated Christina’s hair into ponytails before shaving her entire head.
Christina admitted that she was very scared to look in the mirror afterwards, but with Matt holding her hand and everyone clapping, she braved her reflection. Although in a bit of shock, Christina decided against wearing the wig she had brought along to the event as everyone said that she looked better without it on.
Christina said, “I feel so much more comfortable and adored than I thought I would. This is the bravest thing I have ever done and my boyfriend thinks it looks amazing.”
The event raised over £500 for ‘MIND’ and the total is still rising.
“I feel really good about everything and would like to thank everyone at Northbrook College, my friends, the staff and my family for giving me the courage to face my fears and bring this condition out into the open. If I can bring awareness to one person who has the condition and get them to face their fears like I have, then this would have definitely been worth while.”
Trichotillomania (TTM) is a medical illness and belongs to a group of disorders called body focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs). Pulling can be from the scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic hair or other areas and affects 2-4% of the general population, that is one or two out of every 50 people.
PHOTOS:
Above photo: Christina after the shave
Photo (left): Christina before the chop
Photo (middle) Adele Robinson shaves Christina's head
Photo (right): Christine with boyfriend Matt