TWO sisters have made the ultimate girls' sacrifice to help others - having their hair chopped off for charity.

Eliya Trevorrow, 11, and her ten-year old sister Shemiya from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, have been growing their hair since they were five, only going for an occasional trim.

But after watching a television feature about a girl who lost her hair after undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia and sadly later died, they decided to do the one thing they could to help.

Shemiya said: "The little girl said she didn't feel pretty any more without her hair. Then she died and it was really upsetting. We wanted to help other girls who were the same as her."

The girls heard about the Little Princess Trust, a charity which provides real-hair wigs free to boys and girls who have suffered hair loss and supported by singer Jessie J, and decided to cut their hair so they could donate it.

Mother Tamsin said: "I wanted to be certain it was something they definitely wanted to do, even though I thought it sounded amazing. They were only eight and nine at the time so I had to make sure it wasn't just an emotional response to what they'd seen on TV.

"To their credit, they were really determined to do it so, finally, I said they could go ahead."

Lindsey Maughan, hairstylist at Shine Hair and Beauty, in Northallerton, offered to cut the girls’ hair for free when she found out their motivation.

"I was so moved by what the girls wanted to do that I thought the least we could do to support them was to give them a special cut and style," she said.

"I was nearly crying, but the girls weren't phased at all, they were really brave."

Both girls are planning to grow their hair so they can cut and donate it again.