People gathered at Horsham Plaza on Friday to watch the pair have their heads shaved.

The girls’ proud grandmother, Glenda Hince, travelled from Kinglake to assist in the hair cutting.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2011, which inspired the girls to shave their heads.

“We had been thinking about it for the past couple of years,” Ashleigh said.

When their employer, Horsham’s Cafe 22, decided to enter a team in Relay for Life this year, they decided it was time.

“We thought it could be our contribution,” Ashleigh said.

The girls have already regrown a short, stubbly crop of hair.

“It’s growing back so quickly,” Ashleigh said. “I don’t regret it at all.

“People with cancer sometimes don’t even pull through and get a chance for their hair to grow back.”

She said people stroked and kissed her bald head while she was out at the weekend.

Mrs Hince said she and her husband were immensely proud of the girls.

Cafe 22 owners Trish Haby and Greg Hurnall said the girls’ initiative had substantially boosted the team’s Relay for Life fund-raising efforts.

The business entered a team for the first time this year.

“We ran a garage sale late last year, and raised more than $1000 at that,” Miss Haby said.

Combined with Ashleigh and Shaeleigh’s efforts and collections from a fundraising tin, she believes they have raised about $3000.

They hope to raise more before Relay for Life starts on March 14.