Student to donate his 'ponytail' in memory of his brother

A Winston-Salem State student is getting a haircut, but not for the usual reasons.

James Leng, a senior sports management major from Charlotte, is planning to have his hair cut at a local Locks of Love certified salon.

Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that creates prosthetics for children, who lost their hair due to medical conditions such as chemotherapy treatments and genetic hair loss.

Leng said he will get a haircut after his hair reaches 18 inches in length.

"Someone at work just said to me ‘You should donate [your hair],'so I did some research and decided to do it."

Leng said he is donating his hair in memory of his little brother Wesley, who lost his battle with brain cancer in 2004.  Wesley underwent four months of chemotherapy and lost his hair, a common side effect of the treatment.

As a sports management major, Leng is required to get regular haircuts to look "interview-ready" at all times.

But Dennis Felder, associate professor in the Department of Human Performance and Sport Sciences, gave Leng permission to let his hair grow long.

"When he came to me last semester and told me why he was growing his hair, I thought it was a good thing," Felder said.   

Felder said that he isn't surprised by what Leng was planning to do.

"No, this is definitely within his nature," he said.

A hair stylist will wash and dry Leng's hair, make it a ponytail and cut it off.

Leng's ponytail will be put into a sealable plastic bag and shipped to Locks of Love headquarters in West Palm Beach, Fla. (See Leng at

thenewsargus.com)