Brandon Stanek bit his lower lip and squeezed his eyes shut. The sound of scissors slicing through his long golden hair echoed through his ears.

Just three more snips to go.

Stanek, 21, has been growing his hair since June 2008. Now it falls 10 inches below his shoulders. He had grown accustomed to the life of a long-haired man - stealing ponytail holders from his sister and girlfriend, being mistaken for a woman by the little kids at work and the excessive amounts of shampoo needed.

But it was time to part from it.

Besides, there are people who need it more than him. Which is why Stanek donated 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love on Wednesday.

"As long as mine is still growing and there are people out there without any hair," he said, "I'm going to keep doing it."

A group of Fantastic Sams employees stopped cutting their customers' hair just as Roberta Ells snipped off the last of Stanek's hair. A couple of the customers clapped. Some joked about never seeing a man donate hair before.

And Amy Stanek, Brandon's mother, smiled and snapped some photos.

"I thought he would never make it," she said with a chuckle. "But the only way I would let him grow it out is if he donated it."

The chunks of hair sat in front of Brandon Stanek as Ells finished weeding out stray hairs from his newly formed head of hair. His eyes wandered to the golden pile every once in a while, but he quickly turned his eyes away.

Ells has been cutting the Staneks' hair for about eight years. Brandon Stanek won't let anyone else do it. So when he called to schedule an appointment with her before Thanksgiving, Ells came in on her day off to get the job done.

In three years, Fantastic Sams has had 214 Locks of Love donations. Only a handful were from men. Ells herself has only done about six.

"It's rare," Ells said. "And it doesn't go unnoticed."

Brandon Stanek's hair won't stay this short for long - he plans to donate it at least one more time.

"I looked pretty good with long hair," he said glancing back at the hair pile. "But whoever gets it is going to look better than me."