Five-year-old Cassandra Delgado frowned ever so slightly Thursday afternoon as she said goodbye to almost all of the hair she has ever had.

Her loss will be the gain of a child somewhere who has lost all of his or her hair for medical reasons. Through the efforts of Locks of Love, such children receive vacuum-fitted hairpieces, which help restore their self-esteem and confidence.

"It's because sometimes people are very, very sick and they have to have strong, strong medicine and then their hair falls off," Cassandra said of her donation. "I miss my hair."

Cassandra has never had a haircut, only an occasional trim, said her hairdresser, Rita Brooks of Simply Gorgeous at 1175 Price Road. Thursday afternoon Brooks cut off 14 inches of Cassandra's hair, which had been carefully braided according to Locks of Love requirements.

Locks of Love is an organization that provides prosthetic hairpieces made from human hair to children 6-18 who suffer from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Each hairpiece requires six-10 ponytails of the type Cassandra donated.

Her mother Melissa Delgado said she and Cassandra got the idea of donating her hair to Locks of Love after state District Judge Janet Leal, a family friend, donated hers several months ago. Actually the two were going to have their locks shorn off at the same time, but Cassandra had a ballet recital "and we decided to wait until after the recital," Melissa Delgado said.