CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Fifth graders Allison Black and Maya Kauffman are feeling noticeably lighter.
They each started the day Monday with long, thick hair stretching all the way down their backs, and ended it with a whole new look.
"I'm like where's my hair?” Maya said.
This isn’t Allison’s first time chopping it all off.
"It feels really weird for the first week or so, and then you kind of get used to it,” she said.
She donated her hair to Locks of Love in honor of her mother, a cancer survivor, almost two years ago.
"I wasn't there to see it, but I know it must have been hard for her because cancer is not an easy thing to go through,” Allison said.
This time, she’s doing it with a friend.
Maya donated her locks in honor of her grandmother, who’s also a survivor.
The non-profit Locks of Love takes the donated hair and makes it into wigs for underprivileged cancer patients who’ve lost their hair during treatment.
"It must feel weird for them to have to walk around and feel like they're different than everyone,” Maya said.
But thanks to these two fifth graders, at least one person won’t feel so “weird.”
"It's a really good feeling to know that you helped someone out, even if you don't get a reward for it,” Allison said.
Both girls say they did it to raise awareness about the high cancer rate. According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide.