FASHION-conscious teenagers are known for sporting some quirky hairstyles but when Brooke Harford decided to shave her head it was all for a good cause.

The 14-year-old decided she would donate her locks to the Little Princess Trust, a charity which provides wigs for children undergoing chemo-therapy, while also raising sponsor-ship money for a cancer charity.

After clearing her unusual crop with her school, and more importantly her mum and dad, Brooke went under the scissors at His and Kids in Castle Street, Christchurch.

They collected her hair in bunches and snipped it off to a grade two, before bagging it up to be sent to the trust. So far she has raised more than £2,000 in sponsorship for Cancer Research UK, in memory of her grandparents who both died of cancer.

She said: “It still feels a bit weird but I feel a lot lighter.

“I made sure I asked the school first and they have been very supportive. My friends have said they are proud of me, and they keep touching it.

“My grandparents died of cancer so I wanted to do something for them.”

Proud dad Nick said Brooke had come up with the idea as she felt a lot of fundraising activities were undertaken as much for the benefit of the participants as the charity.

“We were having a chat a few weeks ago and she said that people were asking for sponsorship for doing things that they would probably do anyway,” he said.

“I agreed with her that it was potentially a bit of misrepresentation, but, if the charity itself actually benefited, did it really matter?

“I didn’t think too much of it until she told me three weeks ago that she’d decided to shave her head completely, and she’d talked to her teachers, and headmaster and cleared it with them.

“I thought it was a bit extreme at first, but I think she wanted to put herself in the shoes of someone who has actually had chemotherapy.

“I think this is something quite brave and altruistic, and I’m hugely proud.”