Four-year-old Brinna Carlson poses prior to her “Locks of Love” haircut and after, holding it where it used to hang down over her shoulders. Photos by Jeff B. Flinn

Brinna Carlson is a typical 4-year-old. She plays with her toys, watches TV with her mom and enjoys watching her favorite DVDs. There is was always one thing, however, that set her apart from her 4-year-old friends — the length of her hair.

“She was born with long hair,” says mom Kari Carlson. “By the time she was 2 years old we called her ‘Cousin It’ because she was literally all hair with some feet sticking out of the bottom.”

However on Oct. 24, all that changed. Brinna sacrificed all that hair when she had it cut at Amy’s Hair Salon on Pat Booker Road. Her hair was not swept up and disposed of as normal; instead, Brinna decided to donate her long hair to Locks of Love.

What got a 4-year-old thinking about Locks of Love?

“She watched ‘Extreme Makeover’ with me one evening,” Carlson explained, “and the family featured on the show had a young daughter with cancer. The family received a wig from Locks of Love and Brinna was intrigued.

“Being only 4 she had never heard of Locks of Love before; she didn’t even know kids could lose their hair. We went on the Locks Web site and discovered her hair was long enough to donate.”

Four-year-old Brinna Carlson reacts as stylist Young Yi clips her hair, which is being donated to the Locks of Love Foundation. The Oct. 24 donation was Brinna’s first-ever haircut.

When Brinna arrived at the hair salon in Universal City, stylist Young Yi separated her long locks — measured at 15-16 inches before being cut — into four ponytails, all of which exceeded 10 inches in length, the minimum required for use in making a good wig for another child.

Carlson brought her video camera with her, the footage possibly to be included in a new documentary Locks of Love is creating on “children donating hair to children.” Many adults have, over the years, donated to the cause, but now more children are contributing, especially when their siblings or friends are the ones affected by hair loss.

Carlson said her daughter doesn’t know anyone who has lost their hair, but that didn’t matter to this determined preschooler. “She wanted make a difference in someone’s life,” her mother said.

“It’s weird to see Brinna without all that hair cascading down her back,” confessed Kari. “But it was certainly worth it all. I am so proud of her. I never would have thought my 4-year-old would be so mature and want to do something so grown-up.”

Brinna, running her fingers through her new look, said she’ll be back for “round two” of donating to Locks of Love when her long, luscious hair grows back to its original foot-long length.