Mom-to-be goes bald for St. Baldrick’s

Niccole Foster smiled as a barber turned her curly brunette locks into a chrome dome Saturday at Urban Coffee in Greenlawn. She was one of 25 people who volunteered to have their heads shaved as part of a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation -- but the only one who was pregnant.

Foster, 23, of Centerport, helped organize the group known as Team Urban Coffee, and together they raised more than $20,000 -- twice its original goal.

Foster got the trim at her family’s business to support the St. Baldrick’s crusade against childhood cancers -- something that hits close to home for the mom-to-be.

"I guess I'm feeling extremely emotional," said Foster, who is three months along in her pregnancy. "Doing this for childhood cancer makes me feel even more proud just because I'm having a child, and that makes it more special."

Foster, a self-proclaimed free spirit, initially asked her husband Joe, 26, to shave her head. He politely declined the offer, made prior to Saturday, but he was a good enough sport to get the cue ball treatment himself just before his wife’s buzz cut.

Photo: Niccole Foster gets her hair shaved off during a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick's Foundation.