Gasparilla Pageant Lets Contestants Donate Hair To Charity

At 4 years old, Rylie Vasquez is already a veteran of the Gasparilla Pageant as she posed, smiled and twirled for the judges today in her second year as a contestant.

The pageant, in its third year, was open to infants, children, teens and adults of both sexes at the Tampa Convention Center. Prizes were to be awarded in 18 age and gender categories, said organizer Stephanie Sims.

But the real beneficiary of the events may be Locks of Love, a charity adopted by pageant organizers last year.

The charity uses donated hair to weave hair pieces for children who lose their hair to cancer treatment or other causes. Last year, 18 women who attended the pageant donated their ponytails for the charity.

Sims is hoping to top that total this year and anyone who wishes to donate hair can come to the convention center until about 7 p.m. today. Stylists from Paul Mitchell are scheduled to be on hand to help with styling and make-up.

Donated hair must be at least 10 inches long. The charity uses four to six ponytails for each hairpiece that would cost from $3,500 to $6,000 retail and take three months to make, said Sylvia Huddleston, lifetime queen of the pageant and hair donor.

"Every fourth year, I cut my hair," she said.

In addition to getting donated ponytails, the pageant is aimed at making more people aware of Locks of Love.

"If these children have hair, they have more self confidence. Maybe one could be in a pageant like this," Huddleston said.

She has helped organize three Locks of Love days since August. The first yielded 51 ponytails, the 2008 event got 186.

It takes Huddleston three or four years to grow enough hair to harvest and the first time she had hers cut she almost cried. Some women can form an emotional attachment to their hair, she said.

"I got tears in my eyes."

The second time was much easier.

"If you can find the courage to do it once, you'll do it again," she said. "It's about the beauty in your heart. It's about giving."