A HAIR stylist at a Basingstoke salon is going for a brand new look in the name of charity.

Rhiannon Taylor, who works at the Supercuts branch in Festival Place, will be having her turn in the chair as she is having her head shaved for charity this weekend.

Money raised from the event will be going to Cancer Research UK, and the lopped off locks will be going to the Little Princess Trust to make wigs for children who have lost their hair because of cancer treatment.

The hair stylist said: “I’ll be bunching up my hair into long ponytails, and then anyone who comes along and donates can cut one off, and then one of my colleagues will be shaving the rest of my hair. It’s something that I have always wanted to do.

“People keep telling me that I’m brave for doing this, but I don’t see myself as brave just for doing this. Other people aren’t able to do this, and it is those people that I want to be able to help with the donations.”

The subject of cancer is something that the 21-year-old has experienced in her family. Her grandmother is currently being treated for stage three breast cancer, and her godmother has beaten the disease previously.

Rhiannon added: “My granny is one of those people who identified by her hair, and given the chemotherapy and radiotherapy that she is having, she has lost her hair.

“I know how much it meant to her, so I thought I would try and support her as best I could. She lives in Wales so can’t make it to the actual event, but we’ll be filming it so that she can see it.”

Rhiannon had set a target of raising £300, but hopes to beat that for an entirely different reason.

Rhiannon said: “My older brother said that if I raise £450, then he’d let me do whatever I liked to his hair, so there’s another reason to do the best I can.”

The event is taking place at Supercuts in Festival Place on Sunday from 1130am with people invited to take part.

To donate, go to fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/rhiannons-giving-page-7.