OREM -- Between 100 to 150 Utah Valley women, and a few men for that matter, let go of an emotional attachment to hair Wednesday.

Two Orem women organized an all-day benefit for Locks of Love, a national organization that provides free wigs to children experiencing medical hair loss.

"I was trying not to cry and I didn't. I was proud," said Kimberly Blackham of Orem, a Utah Valley Regional Medical Center nurse who parted with 10 inches of dark-brown tresses.

The benefit got its beginnings when Dee Gordon, Orem, was watching a Maury Povich show one day in November. She said the show included a beauty pageant winner who shaved her head to provide a wig for a child with alopecia, a condition causing hair loss. "Pregnant women are hormonal," she said, but Gordon was moved beyond tears.

She started calling friends and urging them to cut their hair. One of those friends, Krystal Reed, was like many at first, saying she wouldn't cut the hair she'd been growing for 12 years, but eventually relented.

Reed and Gordon then got together, found the Locks of Love Web site and decided to hold the Wednesday benefit.

Stylists donated time, area companies donated equipment, UVSC donated space.

Among those who could be recipients of all that donated time and hair are two West Jordan twins.

Alex and Dustin Ochoa, both nearing their 14th birthday, first showed signs of alopecia when they were in third grade. By fifth grade their hair was all gone. Now seventh graders, the pair has had years to endure the looks and the teasing from their peers.

"Some of the kids bother us, but most of the kids are cool. When it first happened they teased us quite a bit," Dustin said.

Barbara Ochoa, the boys' mother, said the first time she heard of the genetic disorder was when Dustin began losing patches of hair.

At first, other parents were concerned the disorder was contagious. Genetically, people who have asthma and certain allergies are more predisposed to alopecia, but about 1 percent of the population gets it, and about 1 percent of them get alopecia universalis, total hair loss.

Barbara Ochoa visits teachers before school starts each year and gives a classroom presentation to assure others the disorder is not contagious.

Gordon and Reed said they may hold another benefit later on. Anyone wishing to donate hair can contact Locks of Love at www.locksoflove.com or toll free at 1-888-896-1588.

Steven Gardner can be reached at 344-2554 or at sgardner@heraldextra.com.

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This Story appeared in The Daily Herald on Thursday, May 11, 2000 12:00:00 AM