RICK McLoughlin reckons his new short hairstyle is much lower maintenance than the mullet he has worn for years.
Rick, who works as a safety adviser at Gorgon Construction Village on Barrow Island, sacrificed his crowning glory and in the process raised $3873 for the Leukaemia Foundation.
“It should have been more,” he said.
He was still awaiting another $500 which had been pledged by email. “I spoke to them two weeks ago and they might have deposited it direct,” he said. “I haven’t been online to check.”
He hung onto the beard, which he has had since high school, but said the number one haircut felt very different, particularly at first.
“It’s a lot colder, particularly on the back of the neck where I feel the breeze” he said.
“I’ve also had to get a wide-brimmed hat to protect the skin on my neck, something I’ve never had to worry about before.”
Rick had not decided if he would stick with the clean-cut look.
“It’s certainly low-maintenance,” he said. “It doesn’t need a lot of brushing.”
Rick, who has lived in Collie for 30 years, regularly returns home for his breaks with wife Kerry. Their children are all now away from home, attending university.
He was part of the ESS Barrow Island team which raised $30,790.50, said Leukaemia Foundation regional community relationships co-ordinator Deb Wilkins. The Barrow Island total was the third highest in Australia.
“They had a girl who shaved her head because she lost her father to leukaemia,” Deb said. “She was very strong on it.”
Collie Police Station’s First Class Constable Kellie Carder had raised a confirmed $2655 but more might come.
She still has her long auburn hair, which was publicly shaved in the Bunbury Forum. “I will sent it to a fellow in Perth and, if it can be made into a wig, I will sell it and also donate that money to the Leukaemia Foundation,” she said.
Deb Wilkins was present when Kellie was shaved and said: “I think the extra short hair suits her. She has the right-shaped face for it, but her little boy was worried about it.”
Kellie said her hair was regrowing fast but she and her young son now look very alike. He also has red hair and their face shapes are similar.
