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Kind girl can finally donate her hair to charity after it starts accepting afros

"I want to do it because of the people that won't have hair. I want to be generous and help.''

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Poppy Lee-Burrowes has wanted to donate her hair for six years (Jessica Lee-Burrows via SWNS)

By Lauren Beavis via SWNS

An 11-year-old girl who has waited half her life to donate her hair to charity can now do so - after it finally started accepting afros.

Poppy Lee-Burrowes had hoped to give away her locks to make wigs when she was five.

But at the time the Little Princess Trust said it was unable to make wigs from afro hair.

It provides real hair wigs to children who have lost their own through cancer treatment or other reasons.

Undeterred Poppy spent the next six years growing it in case this changed - and this year it did.

In April the charity announced it was now able to make wigs using afro hair.

Poppy Lee-Burrowes has wanted to cut her hair for charity for a number of years. (Jessica Lee-Burrows via SWNS)

Poppy plans to cut off about eight inches of her hair on January 29 - and will raise money for charity at the same time.

Despite knowing she will miss her "big hair, don't care" look, she is looking forward to bringing joy to someone else.

"Other people will be able to love my hair too," she said.

Poppy, from Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, said: "I want to do it because of the people that won't have hair. I want to be generous and help.''

Poppy with her parents Jessica (left) and Beki. (Jessica Lee-Burrows via SWNS)

On Poppy's fundraising page, she wrote: "It's taken me since I was about five, I have only ever had small trims in my life, never a big cut, so this is a big deal to me.

"It costs £550 ($750 USD) to make just one wig for a child."

Even though Poppy loves her hair "so much," she is excited about a new bobbed look.

Poppy has waited 6 years to donate her afro hair to charity and is now only weeks away from doing so. (Jessica Lee-Burrows via SWNS)

Poppy's mom Jessica said her daughter asked if she could cut her hair for charity after hearing about her friends doing the same over the years.

She told the BBC: "It was last year a friend sent me an article to say they were now able to accept afro hair.

"We showed it to Poppy and she was ecstatic, over the moon. She was more than happy to have it cut and share her hair.

"We are so proud of her."

Donations can be made via the Just Giving site (Lee-Burrowes via SWNS)

Mrs. Lee-Burrowes said it was "disappointing" to hear the charity did not take afro hair but understood "because of the extensive work they put into making these wigs and how important they are."

It can take 30 to 60 hours to make a hand-tied individual wig, according to Little Princess Trust's chief executive Phil Brace.

The charity said it has always offered afro-style wigs using straight hair which was later curled into the requested style.

But it was unable to find a wig manufacturer able to use hair donations from black and mixed-race people in wigs.

Afro hair can easily break in the wig-making process but after working with 120-year-old London company Raoul to develop a wefting method, "any child or young person who wants a wig now really does have a wonderful choice," Mr Brace said.

Poppy's other mom, Beki, said: "I think it's really important that they're now accepting afro hair to help all children and I think it will help children to keep their identity as well.

"I think that's really important and it's a really big step."

Poppy's fundraising can be found here.

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