Sooners shave heads to help find a cure for cancer

Top 40 hits and the sound of clippers buzzing filled the north end of the south oval Thursday as men and women gathered to raise money to find a cure for cancer by shaving their heads.

Seventeen people signed up to get their heads shaved Thursday, 10 of which were men and seven were women, including herself, event chairwomen Kitty Raadschelders said.

The head-shaving event was sponsored by the Alpha Phi Omega to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s foundation, a national nonprofit charity that raises money for children’s cancer research.

Raadschelders has been planning to shave her head since the event last year but decided to wait so she could put more effort into planning and raising money for the foundation, she said.

Prior to the event, Raadschelders said she was feeling slightly anxious but was ready to get it over.

“I’m not nervous,” she said. “I’ve had so much time to prepare for it. I’ve looked at the benefits of it and I’m just kind of ready.”

Raadschelders was the first person to get her head shaved at the event. They decided to open the event with women getting their head shaved because it is more meaningful, chemical biosciences sophomore Amanda Tran said.

Raadschelders sat down on a chair with a nervous smile as the barber put her long, blonde hair into small pony tails and cut them off one by one. Then the clippers started buzzing and the first chunk of bald skin was revealed.

As the shaving progressed she shouted out, “Is it cute?” and the crowd began to clap and whoop wildly.

Once her head was completely shaved, she said the experience was really satisfying.

“I had a lot of time to prepare for being bald … but there’s not really anything you can do to [prepare you],” Raadschelders said. “It was just really rewarding and I just felt really good.”

A lot of the people volunteering to have their heads shaved are doing it either because they’ve had family members affected by cancer or they think it’s a good cause, Tran said.

In addition to the head-shaving event, to raise money the group also had a table of baked goods with cookies and brownies as well as an auction on items like an autographed football signed by Bob Stoops and Barry Switzer.

As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, $7,500 had been raised for the foundation, just $500 short of the $8,000 goal, Raadschelders said.

However, Raadschelders said she was confident the group would meet their goal because in past events they’ve received about $1,000 the day of the event, she said.

Paighten Harkins

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