Two sisters are willing to lose their locks in an effort to give back to a charity which helped them during a tough time.

Heather and Claire McAslan will be shaving their heads at 4pm, at the Moeraki Tavern on January 14, to raise money for Camp Quality. A camp that is run for children living with cancer.

Heather McAslan was four years old when a cancerous tumour was discovered in her neck. She was too young to remember the treatment she had to go through, but Claire, who was two years older, has some memories of that time.

“I don’t remember much of the treatments, because I wasn’t there, but I do remember a lot of visits when she was a wee bit, sort of, zoned out, or drugged up so she couldn’t move for her MRIs, or those, sort of, tests and stuff,” she said.

As Heather’s sibling, she attended three camps as a child, and their younger brother Harry got to go as well.

The pair had decided to volunteer as companions on this year’s South Island camp in Queenstown, which starts this Saturday (January 7), and finishes the following Friday (January 13).

“Which is when you go, and basically you work one-on-one with a camper, and your goal for that week is to make it the best week of their lives,” Claire said.

Although the 24-year-old works as a parking officer in Dunedin, and Heather (21) works as a hotel receptionist in Invercargill, the pair have long had ties to Moeraki, where the family had a holiday house while they were growing up. Their parents moved to the seaside village permanently about 18 months ago.

The women hoped people in the area would get behind them and attend the head shave, or they could follow a livestream on an event page they had set up on Facebook.

“We are inviting people to come along, and come celebrate, watch us shave our heads.” 

Claire was hoping to also donate her hair, so it could be made into a wig for cancer sufferers who lose their hair through treatment.

“We’re hoping to either auction off the opportunity to cut off the ponytail, or if that’s not an option, with hair donation, to auction off a chance to use the clippers and do the actual clipping,” Claire said.

“We’ve got a Give a Little page set up, and it’s mostly just trying to spread the word.” 

Claire was nervous about losing her hair, but excited at the same time. 

“It’s going to be a challenge as well as a thrill and something to look forward to.” 

Heather said she was “just scared”.

“I’m scared I’ll have, like, a weirdly-shaped head or, you know.”

The idea was initially Claire’s, who had decided she wanted to donate her hair, and then it developed into them both doing the full head shave.

“It was kind of just a joke, ‘oh haha, I’ll do it with you’, and then suddenly it was real,” Heather said.

The pair wanted to donate to Camp Quality, as a way of saying thank you for the opportunities it provided them with as children.

“It gave us a chance to escape the feeling and knowledge of what was happening around you,” Claire said.

“It’s just a week of fun, and basically just took your mind off everything, which was pretty good.”

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