Jack Langner’s Undercover Mission: Donating His Hair to Those in Need

Jacqueline Hochheiser, Corporate Communications

Many of you may have known Jack Langner, LTCC Product Engineer 1, when he had long hair, and you may have been surprised when he turned up at work suddenly sporting drastically shorter locks. In fact, he had been very low-kay about his real motives, fueled by the desire to make a positive difference in the lives of others. The journey began one fateful day in March, 2021 when Langner came across a video on social media of a guy who had grown out his hair for the sole purpose of donating it. After seeing the video, Langner was inspired by the kind gesture and the difference that donating hair can make for people in need and he realized it was something he could easily do too.

Having worn his hair short for most of his life, Langner knew it would be a time-consuming task to grow his hair long enough to donate, but he was up for the challenge. As he had never grown out his hair before, Langner quickly learned that his original idea of growing his hair for the duration of a year was quite an underestimation of just how long it would take to accumulate enough length for donation.

“I knew that the process would be a lot longer than I expected when I measured my hair after six months of growth and it only came out to three inches,” says Langer. “I used to measure my hair every month to track my progress, but after eight months I finally resigned to just let it be.”

Langner chose to donate his hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that uses the donations it receives to make wigs for children who have lost their hair due to medical treatments including chemo-therapy. The organization accepts a minimum of ten inches of hair in order to make its wigs to help these children regain a sense of normalcy in a time of uncertainty.

Ultimately, it took Langner over 2 years to grow his hair long enough to donate 11 inches, but it was worth the wait. “I’m hoping to improve the life of at least one other person,” says Langner. “As I grew out my hair, it’s strange but you build an attachment to it. Your hair provides a level of comfort in your life and restoring that for a kid in need is worth the long process.

“Just like that video inspired me, I hope that maybe I can inspire someone else to donate their hair too, or to do something kind for other people.”