Raising Maine

Music teacher and South Portland mom Karina Babcock was ready to take the weight off her shoulders – literally. Her plans to donate 15 inches of hair to the Locks of Love program had been foiled several times because of scheduling snafus and snowstorms.

The mother of two girls, she was thrilled to get the call that she was the recipient of this month’s Raising Maine and Bei Capelli complimentary makeover.

"It’s been 2 1/2 years since I’ve had a professional haircut," she said. "My hair is down to my lower back, and I no longer can turn over in my sleep and must keep my hair in a 'Little House on the Prairie’-style bun for sleeping."

Karina, a full-time music teacher of fifth-graders at four schools in MSAD6, said her students had only ever seen her hair in a bun. But last year, a group begged to see how long her hair was, and she told them they couldn’t until they finished a certain exercise. They did it, and down came her long locks. But just that once.

As soon as stylist Savannah Getchius snipped the 15-inch ponytails, Karina let out a giant sigh. "There’s not this weight on the back of my head. It’s amazing you get used to carrying that weight."
This was Karina’s third donation to Locks of Love, the nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged kids who are suffering from medical hair loss.

SAVANNAH’S THOUGHTS
"Karina has the ideal face shape – it’s oval. Anytime we try to cut hair, we try to frame the face so that it looks oval. I was trying to style Karina’s hair to give lots of framing around the face. For the color, I wanted to do a demi-permanent, for easy maintenance, and give her a rich, chocolatey color and some subtle highlights."

KARINA’S THOUGHTS
Karina was happy with her stylish cut. "I like it. It was very nice to have dry hair within half an hour of showering. I could toss and turn in my sleep last night without getting stuck!"
Her next challenge will be finding a new place to store her pencils, she said, as she was recognized regularly at the elementary schools as the one with the pencils tucked into her bun.

HER FAMILY’S THOUGHTS
Daughter Kira, who is 10 1/2, said: "I like it! It’s not as short as I expected, but I really like it better." Daughter Erika, 2 1/2, said through her pacifier: "Mommy beautiful haircut."

Husband Bruce Babcock said to her: "It looks great! You look 20 years younger."

- BETSY RING