A Swanage woman has raised more than £900 for charity after making the bold decision to shave off most of her long hair in support of children living with cancer.
Megan Johnson, assistant manager at Chococo’s chocolate shop and café in Commercial Road, Swanage, donated her long locks to the Little Princess Trust, which provides real-hair wigs for children and young people who have lost their hair through cancer treatment and other medical conditions.
Megan Johnson (left) goes for a dramatic new look!
Providing real wigs to children
After spending several years growing her hair, Megan decided it was time for a change, admitting that her exceptionally long hair had become increasingly time-consuming to care for. So her solution was to chop off her locks and help the Little Princess Trust at the same time.
Megan decided that not only would she donate her own hair to the charity, but also raise at least the £700 it costs for the making, fitting, and styling of the new wig, a service that’s free to any young person with hair loss.
So on Friday 24th July 2026, Megan said goodbye to her locks and had a buzzcut at Hair Studio, right next door to Chococo, with dozens of friends, family and customers gathering in Commercial Road to lend their support.
Megan first had her hair plaited, then cut off close to her head before Hair Studio stylist Erika used clippers to give a close shave – which onlookers pronounced perfect.
Megan’s hair was plaited before she cut off the first lock of hair
Megan with her new buzz cut look
“I like my new look very much indeed!”
Megan Johnson said:
“I thought it was time to change my hair, and what better charity to choose than the Little Princess Trust, it’s such a good cause.
“I first had the idea a few months ago and when I started asking people what they thought about me shaving my head they were so supportive.
“I was nervous about when I woke up on Friday morning, and it felt really weird cutting the first plait off, it was like a little animal!
“But I do actually like the look of my new short hair very much indeed – Erika has done a wonderful job and I’ve now beaten my target of £700 to get a wig made up, it’s now at £900 and still going up!”
Megan’s dad Scott, mum Dinah, and brother Michael were on hand to lend moral support
In the salon chair – there’s no going back now!
“Incredibly generous thing to do”
A spokesperson for the Little Princess Trust said:
“We are very grateful to Megan, donating your long locks to help children and young people experiencing the devastating effects of hair loss is an incredibly generous thing to do.
“Providing free real hair wigs is at the heart of our mission, and we currently help around 2,000 children a year, but we also want to support the development of less aggressive and less toxic cancer treatments.
“As part of our Hair and Hope mission, the Little Princess Trust also funds childhood cancer research aiming to find kinder and more effective treatments.
“Since we began funding research into childhood cancers, we have provided grants to 158 research projects, which will ultimately benefit children going through a very difficult time.”
Further information
- More about the Little Princess Trust
- Donate to Megan’s appeal on her Just Giving Page
