I Was Forced to Cut My Hair Short in 9th Grade—And It Changed My Life in Ways I Never Expected

That summer, Nura and I started a school club: Locks of Hope, collecting hair donations for children with cancer. Dozens of students joined. We raised money, baked cookies, made posters.

We weren’t just healing ourselves. We were helping others heal too.

Finding Strength in the Mirror

One day, while fitting a donated wig on a little girl, she looked into the mirror and cried happy tears. Her mother hugged me and said, “You have no idea what this means.”

But I did.

Because once, I had looked into a mirror and cried for a very different reason.

A Message to Anyone Who’s Been Hurt

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