The University of Oklahoma’s Relay for Life event is in just a few short days.

For those of you who do not know what Relay is, it is a philanthropic event partnered with the American Cancer Society. The funds raised by Relay are provided not only to cancer patients but also to their families and loved ones, so they have one less thing to worry about as they endure this terrible pain. Nobody should have to suffer through this disease, and so Relay aims to raise the financial means to assist families in travel expenses to treatment facilities, medical payments, etc.

I relay for my sweet grandmothers; one of which passed away in March of 2010 from stage 4 colon cancer and the other who lives victoriously through breast cancer. Seeing these two women endure the effects and repercussions of the disease opened my eyes to the pain hundreds of women affected by cancer live with today. The fluctuating weight loss and gain, the fatigue, the physical pain, the chemo treatments, and the hair loss.

I am blessed with long, thick, healthy hair. When my mom carried me, she had to make a doctor’s appointment for this heartburn that wouldn’t go away. The doctors did an ultrasound only to reveal she was not suffering from heartburn, but my hair was so long, it tickled her esophagus.

So yes, my hair has always been this long. It has been my main identification for the past 18 years. When people describe me to others, it always starts (and ends) with, “You know, the girl with the long hair?” I haven’t cut my hair more than six inches since third grade. It’s my identification, but if we’re being honest, it’s my safety blanket, too.

I never had a healthy amount of self-confidence, but when people compliment my hair, it makes me feel confident. When people compliment me, it’s usually, “You have such beautiful hair!” and I didn’t want to lose that affirmation. I never cut my hair as short as I did in the third grade because I thought people wouldn’t think I was pretty anymore. I thought no one would notice me anymore, and I would be just another unknown person in my social realm. I thought people would notice, even more so, the flaws I notice on a daily basis.

In some capacity, I still fear losing that source of confidence. Women like me are led to believe that their hair is part of what makes them beautiful. As much as I hate to say this, I am not the only one who finds her security in her hair. Others may find their confidence in other features, but as a whole, women are assumed to associate their beauty with their physical appearances.

In four days, I will cut nine inches of my hair off for the University of Oklahoma’s Relay for Life.

I never want any woman effected by cancer to have to lose her hair, her sense of security and femininity, or feel any less beautiful. I may lose a substantial amount of the one identifier making me feel validated and beautiful in society’s eyes, but I know mine will grow back, and this lack of a sense of security is only temporary.

Whatever discomfort I have in my shorter-then-I-would-like hair does not even come close to the feeling of complete nakedness and societal rejection these beautiful women feel. Society tells us women without long, luxurious hair are less feminine, less beautiful. I never want a woman suffering with a disease like cancer to have to be concerned with her looks or her confidence just because she lost her hair. You are more than your hair - we all are.

Those of us blessed enough to have as much hair as I do are given the privilege to share a part of ourselves with our loved ones who lost their's. I watched my sweet grandmother cry too many tears because during her battle with colon cancer, she began to lose her hair. She believed she would no longer be seen as feminine, as beautiful. She searched for the perfect wig to hide the balding spots on her head, to make sure no one could tell she had cancer. She spent hundreds of dollars on one wig because we, as a society and as a culture, never told her she was every bit as valued, loved, and beautiful without her hair as she was with it.

I never want to see another woman cry for hours because she feels ugly, and neither should you. I never want a 12-year-old girl to be ashamed of going to school because she lost her hair to cancer. I never want a girl to question whether or not a boy will ask her out on a date because she has no hair. We need to empower women, especially those enduring the pain brought by cancer.

Relay for Life not only provides financial means for these cancer patients but, also, the needs they have we so often take for granted (like hair). I will donate my hair, alongside some other brave and selfless girls, to Pantene’s "Locks of Length". Pantene partners with the American Cancer Association, and it is one of the ONLY organizations providing 100% free wigs to cancer patients, and I believe no girl, no woman, should ever have to pay for something to make her feel beautiful and worthy of praise and compliments.

For those of us who can donate our security strands, I so encourage you to do so. Imagine how you would feel with eight inches less of your hair, and then imagine how you would feel with no hair at all. Hundreds of women do feel that way, every single day, and it’s in our hands to make sure they don’t have to anymore. Let’s reward these women for their fight, and give the hair we will grow back to someone whose hair might never grow back.

Every woman deserves to feel comfortable in her own skin. You are more than your hair. I know that making the big cut is scary, but imagine the joy it will bring someone who might find it more and more impossible to find joy.