LYNN – Trisha Rex Caritte knew she needed a haircut. “It?s ridiculous,” she said of the long brown and blonde braids running down her back from the chair at Breeze Hair Studio. “I had another baby and I let it go.”She also knew that someone out there needed all the hair she was so desperate to shed. After speaking with salon owner Brianna LeBlanc, Caritte decided to donate her mane to Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that makes hairpieces out of donated hair for children who experience hair loss as a result of any long-term medical diagnosis.?I?m glad they can use it,” said Carrite. “People think long hair is easy to take care of, but not when you have children.”LeBlanc said she has been seeing a recent increase of customers hoping to shed inches of hair in order to contribute to the organization in her salon?s six years of being a donation center. “There?s a lot of kids who like to do it, which is great,” said LeBlanc, as she got ready to chop Caritte?s four sections of thick hair.LeBlanc guessed the rise in donations is a result of the organization accepting shorter pieces of hair in addition to the mandatory 10 inches from tip to tip. According to the organization?s website, the shorter hair is sold to offset the manufacturing costs. “Now you can use different lengths for different reasons,” said LeBlanc.Carrite was donating her hair last Thursday for more than just her taste for shorter hairstyles. Her twin brother had died from Non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma 15 years ago at the age of 20. Carritte said he had lost his hair in the fight to stay alive, but not his looks. “Boys can swing the bald and the fuzz,” laughed Carrite.LeBlanc took the inches she needed for the organization and gave Carrite a swingy, sleek bob. “It?s so weird, it feels much lighter,” she said, shaking her new ?do around in front of the mirror.For more information or to make a donation to Locks of Love, go to www.locksoflove.org.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].