Scott Williams’ strong lecture voice wavered as he tried to explain nearly three years of grief.

“I realized in a way, it’s how I’m holding on to my mom and dad,” the architecture professor said in his office, eyes flushing and puffy. “By cutting my hair, I have to let go — in a way, it’ll be like a final goodbye.”

Despite yearly examinations, Williams said doctors missed the cancerous tumor that had reached Stage IV in 2004, progressing beyond his mother’s breast and into her body, including her liver.

“It really pissed me off,” he said. “How can you not see something that spreads throughout your whole body before that terminal point?”

Williams’ father died in 2009 after a 12-year bout with prostate cancer, but the professor resolved not to resort to anger and despair. Instead, he grew out his hair for three years before cutting it Monday afternoon.

“I thought it was a cool idea to do something in my own way to help,” Williams said of his donation to Locks of Love.

Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides wigs to children who have medical hair loss.

“I mean, it’s not going to cure cancer, it’s not going to alleviate anybody’s physical pain, but it might be a little bit of something to help somebody,” he said.

Years of chemotherapy treatments left Williams’ mother bald, though she opted “to wear a weird little Medusa cap, like those fortune tellers,” Williams said with a little laugh at the memory. “She wore those things and was comfortable with that and not with the wig.”

Williams said after witnessing his mother’s experiences, he imagined the social pressure of medical hair loss must be terrible for a child. So, he decided to risk a little bit of that himself in hopes of sparing it for someone else.

“I was hesitant about [growing my hair] because of school,” Williams said. “You know, ‘How would that be seen?’ ‘That wouldn’t look so good’ and so forth. The first year, until I could put it back in a ponytail, was an absolute mess but the students liked it, even though I thought it was horrible.”

Williams’ teaching assistant said his hair was not a good look in the beginning.

“It got a little ridiculous at first, when it was a little shorter,” said Jessica Underwood. “But when it got longer, ’60s rock band definitely fit him.”

Underwood had Williams as a professor in 2007, and she said she learned about Williams’ parents as she spent more time in his class, though she said it wasn’t something he bragged about.

“I can’t imagine losing both my parents so close together,” she said. “I think this is a really good way to give back and deal with that.”

College of Architecture Dean Charles Graham said he knew Williams was growing his hair out for a good purpose.

“I think it makes a powerful statement to others around them that they care and they want to do something positive,” Graham said.

Williams said he hopes his hair donation encourages others to do the same or donate financially. He also said he hopes to increase public awareness about Locks of Love and its mission to help under-privileged children across the U.S. and Canada.

“If people could look up the website and consider a financial donation, I’d be thrilled with that,” he said.

Guidelines for hair donations
» Hair that is colored or permed is acceptable.
» Hair cut stored in a ponytail or braid is usable.
» Hair that has been bleached is not usable.
» 10 inches tip to tip is the minimum length accepted.
» Curly hair may be pulled straight to measure 10 inches.
» Hair that is shaved off and not in a ponytail or braid is not usable. If shaving your head, first divide hair into multiple ponytails to cut off.
» Dreadlocks cannot be accepted. The manufacturer is not able to use them in children’s hairpieces.
— Source: locksoflove.org