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Melvin Louis on donating his tresses to cancer cause: I could’ve bought wigs and donated, but I wanted to spread awareness, drive home a message
Choreographer Melvin Louis says he could have easily bought a few wigs and donated them but he wanted to grow his hair and get involved in the process directly.
Melvin Louis’ drastic haircut photos that he shared on social media grabbed attention. Interestingly, the choreographer has been growing his hair “to donate it to cancer” cause after years ago he was made “to realise that hair donations help make a wig for a cancer victim”. Now finally he is happy to have been able to do that.
“These two kids who’re my friend’s nieces donated their hair at a young age of 12 and 8. I was touched by their gesture... I always had shoulder length hair and this time I thought why not I grow it a little longer for this cause,” he says adding that it took him eight years to grow his later to the desired length.
Louis shares how every time his stylist would tell him that his hair is of good quality and if he decides to chop it off he can give it her and she would make wigs out of it. And every time he would reply that he has something else in mind.
The idea was to give out a message. “Whatever little popularity I have, I wanted to use that to make my fans and followers aware of this cause. I could have easily bought wigs and donated but I wanted to set an example. I thought my efforts might trigger a positive response… And I’m happy with the reaction I’ve been getting,” he adds
In fact, not many would know that for his bun, Louis lost out on work but he neither cut his hair no lose heart losing out on opportunities.
“Every time I would get offers for music videos, etc, the casting director would tell me that it’s not really conventional to show a man with a bun romancing a girl. And I had to let go of those offers as somewhere I knew I’ll be able to do all of that later and even make up for the lost money,” he says adding that hairstylist Aalim Hakim, who gave him his new look, is coordinating regarding the hair donation.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Louis has been making most of social media to earn and survive during these tough pandemic times.
“We all are going through a lot these days, these times have been really difficult for all of us. I’m trying to be consistent with my videos and whatever work I’m being able to generate. This year is all about hanging in there and letting this time pass,” he concludes.
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Author tweets @Shreya_MJ
