Man putting mullet where his mouth is

Like many others, Ryan Port of Tindalls Bay decided to do without a DIY haircut during lockdown, and has been growing his auburn mullet ever since.

“I don’t like haircuts, so it just went on, after lockdown was over,” he says.

Someone told him, ‘your hair would make a cool wig’, and that got him thinking.

The 44-year-old sales team manager looked into what could be done with his hair for charity, and decided to donate his locks as a fundraiser for the Child Cancer Foundation.

“It’s a charity that makes a real difference, doing practical stuff like helping families get to treatment from out of town with petrol vouchers and accommodation,” Ryan says. 

The first local hair salon he went to, Rodney Wayne Whangaparāoa, was keen to help and one of their stylists will prepare and cut his hair on Saturday, September 9 at Beer Spot in Coast Plaza at 11:45am.

The hair needs to be around 30cm long, so it has been a mission for Ryan but he’s ready.

He says his two girls, aged 15 and 11, will miss having ‘a hair theme park’ to play with, once the hair is gone.

“I don’t really care what it looks like when it’s cut – I’m happy to leave that to the professionals,” he says.

He has already raised $2200 and the company he works for, Mars NZ, ran a quiz night and put in an additional $1500. A work colleague baked scones and added another $150.

“It’s been great to see that support,” Ryan says. “It’s easy to think you can’t do anything about things like child cancer, but every little bit helps and as a bonus at least one kid out there will get to live the dream of being a ginger!”

The page, https://childcancer-fundraising.org.nz/ryan-port remains open for donations.