Cathie Avenarius did brisk business at Locks of Love -- only, while other stylists were cutting hair at Wednesday's event, Avenarius took the opposite tack.

"I'm the pink-hair lady," Avenarius said, preparing to clip a strand of pink hair into a woman's hair.

The Finley Hospital, Radio Dubuque and about a dozen Dubuque-area salons hosted the sixth annual Locks of Love event at Finley's Wendt Regional Cancer Center.

As in previous years, people with at least 10 inches of hair could donate strands to the Locks of Love organization. Locks of Love provides children with custom, vacuum-fitted hair prostheses.

Available for a $10 donation to the Wendt Center, the pink hair strands offered an opportunity for shorter-haired participants. Pink is the color associated with breast cancer, and October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

"We just thought it was pretty cool," said Jennifer Avenarius -- no relation to Cathie.

Jennifer and her 4-year-old niece, Olivia Metz, sat in Cathie's chair to receive their strands.

"I

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used to cut hair for Locks of Love years ago," Jennifer said. "Of course, my hair isn't long enough (to donate)."

Cathie Avenarius used a flat iron to straighten some of the strands before applying to heads of hair.

"It's human hair," she said. "You can wash it, dry it and curl it. The only thing it doesn't do is grow."

Patti Bakey, of Hazel Green, Wis., received a strand of pink hair Wednesday, nearly a year after completing treatments for breast cancer.

"Last year, I had brown hair," Bakey said. "It came back white (after cancer treatments). I think I needed a little color."

Cathie Avenarius, of Ex Salonte' Salon, is a breast-cancer survivor and a member of the Breast of Friends dragon boat team.

Wednesday, she counseled women on how and when they could show off the pink additions to their hair.

"You can bring it out every October," she said. "I wear mine all the time."