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Mohawks and mullets. Crew cuts and flat tops. The hair was everywhere Friday as students, teachers and friends of Landon School in Bethesda filled the lobby of the Rockville Ice Arena for a hair-shaving fundraiser to benefit cancer patients.

Junior Hank Brown had a checkerboard pattern shaved into his hair, although his friend, Sellers Garrett, also a junior, said he thought it looked like a turtle shell. Not to be outdone, Sellers had what looked like a gutter shaved down the center of his head. He explained it as a double Mohawk.

When all was said and done, three dozen men and boys with fuzzy heads filled a large trash bag with hair.

Be Brave and Shave, sponsored by the school's ice hockey team, raised more than $40,000 for Children's National Medical Center.

"It's different — a sacrifice. I know some people really like their hair," said Landon senior Paul Adkins, 18, who organized the fundraiser.

Paul is a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma when he was 13 and remembers the days of having no hair.

"The Landon community was so supportive and when I felt well enough to go back to school they welcomed me as a brother," he said.

Paul organized a head shaver for the school's lacrosse team last spring and raised more than $3,000, he said.

"In the future we are thinking we will move it to another sport," he said. "Sport to sport, season to season."

Paul spent two hours Friday shaving the heads of friends and schoolmates with Dr. Max Coppes, senior vice president of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's. They were joined by Montgomery County police Officer Petr Speight, whose daughter, Alexis, died of liver cancer at age 8 last year.

"I'm here to support these guys, support Children's and support research for children's cancer," said Speight, who organized a Be Brave and Shave for Montgomery County police and firefighters in November.

Started in 2009, Be Brave and Shave hosts events throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area. The group has raised more than $900,000 for the cancer programs at Children's National Medical Center, according to its website, bebraveandshave.org.

The idea of giving up hair is appropriate for raising cancer awareness, according to Dr. Coppes.

"One of the worst things when going through cancer therapy is being bald, people look and look away," he said. "These students and going to look different, they will see."

And different they were.

Senior Teddy Wellington, 18, was one of the first to be shaved. When it was over he stood and ran his hands across his head and looked for his reflection in the plastic of a poster hanging nearby.

"I've always had long hair," Teddy said. "This is a nice change and I'm happy to do it — it's for a good cause."

Teddy's brother Matt, an eighth-grader at Landon, had a brain tumor and was treated at Children's.

"We do all we can to give back to Children's," Teddy's mother, Kathy Wellington of Chevy Chase, said. "I am grateful for the generosity of the people who donated and proud of all the boys who worked so hard to raise the money."

pmcewan@gazette.net