“It was certainly colder in the morning while I was waiting for the bus,” reported 9-year-old Otto Watt who went to school this week with a short buzz cut after two years of long, bright red hair keeping his head, neck and back warm.
Otto heard about the possibility of growing out his hair and donating it to kids suffering from hair loss due to cancer and other illnesses at the Moretown Elementary School where he was in third grade. He told his mom Maryanne Watt about it and she suggested his red hair might make a beautiful wig for a child in need. He took that advice to heart and didn’t cut his hair for the next two years before it was cut on September 29 and donated to the Children With Hair Loss organization (https://childrenwithhairloss.org).
Otto normally keeps his hair clipped very short and while his hair was growing out, never tied it back or restrained it.
“I only used my hand to push it away while it was growing,” he said.
On Sunday, his dad Jeff Watt, banded up his hair in ponytails because that allowed the locks to be cut close to the scalp and yielded longer strands for wig-making. A second batch of ponytail holders secured the hair further down, keeping it from getting tangled. His dad initially cut it with scissors, then used a trimmer to buzz it short again.
Asked why he wanted to grow out his hair and donate it and why it was important to him, he said “I think a kid would really like my orange hair and like the ways it’s automatically bleached from the sun.”
And now that he has a buzz cut again, Otto said he’s going to grow it out and donate it again and his younger sister is also interested in donating but doesn’t want to go to a buzz cut so will be growing her hair out a bit longer.
