While some give to charities through monetary donations, Cody Callahan of Pell City recently gave through his hair.

While attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Pell City alumni heard about Locks of Love through a brother in his fraternity. The charity takes hair people donate and makes wigs for cancer patients who have lost their hair.

“I also figured it would be a good chance to grow my hair out and experience long hair,” Callahan said. The last trim he had was in the fall of 2008.

Locks of love needs 10-12” of hair per donation and it often takes several donors to make a full wig. When Callahan cut his hair this spring, it was around 14” long.

“I’m hoping — more or less — that it helps kids,” he said. It is likely Callahan has helped kids before as a regular blood donor. He has the O Negative blood type, the preferred type for accident victims and babies needing transfusions, according to the Red Cross.

Callahan is an active member of UAB’s Leadership and Service Council, a student outreach and service organization.

Being a guy who has grown his hair out, Callahan said he has gone thorough the stages of dealing with the stigma of having long locks. “You go through stages. First it’s shaggy, then you get the mullet look going; that’s when you really get picked at,” he said. “My dad, every morning, is always saying, ‘When area you going to cut that. He’s joking, I know, but you get the typical things you’d expect from people. People can say what they want.”

Hoping to soon be working in information systems, his major in school, Callahan said the experience is something he is glad to have taken part in. “They look at long hair as being bad in the business world. I had an internship [last] June and was told by my interview supervisor, ‘You can’t have long hair.’”

Callahan expects to graduate from UAB next spring.