A THIRTEEN-year-old girl from Bude is willing to lose her long locks so that she can donate them to charity and help others — just like her idol Jessie J did.

Laurie-Mai Butler will be donating her hair to the Little Princess Trust once she has it cut by her Aunty Wendy in the Cotswolds on Saturday, March 12, and she is also raising money for the charity.

Laurie-Mai originally set herself the target of raising £100 on her ‘JustGiving’ page but she has already surpassed that by almost double — a figure she hopes will keep building.

Together with the donations are some lovely comments of support for Laurie-Mai, such as ‘A true inspiration’, ‘You are an incredible lady Laurie-Mai’, ‘We’re sure that your beautiful hair will grow back just as beautiful — good for you, and what a lovely cause’, and ‘What a good cause Laurie-Mai. I am sure one child will be delighted to have your beautiful hair’.

Little Princess Trust provides real-hair wigs, free of charge, to boys and girls who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment and other illnesses.

The charity has been helping children with hair loss for ten years now, and over that time has given away more than 4,000 real hair wigs to children across the UK and Ireland.

Speaking about why she has chosen to give up her own hair for the cause, Laurie-Mai said: “I would like to donate my hair to this charity because I have so much of it that I feel as if another child could also benefit from it.

“It will be made into a wig for a child with cancer for Little Princess Trust because no child deserves to feel insecure.”

Susie Butler, Laurie-Mai’s mother, said: “This is something she’s wanted to do for about three years after being inspired by her idol Jessie J, who did the same.

“Laurie-Mai makes us incredibly proud as she’s always looking for ways to help others with illnesses by raising funds for different charities.”

Anyone wishing to donate can do so by visiting Laurie-Mai’s JustGiving page on www.justgiving.com/laurie-mai

Monica Glass, charity manager at the Little Princess Trust, said: “What a fantastic young girl Laurie-Mai is! Along with her donation, the charity has received so many hair donations from this area — we are very grateful for this indeed!

“This kind of support is wonderful and we thank Laurie-Mai. After all, she might inspire someone else to do the same!”