You might have seen this touching viral video on social media. In May 2023, Brazilian barber Guilherme Magalhaes shaved off his mother Claudia’s hair as she prepared for chemotherapy for laryngeal cancer.
As she watched her locks fall to the ground, she teared up… then her eyes widened as a smiling Magalhaes took the razor to his own head.
Two male colleagues saw them and stuck their heads out for a shave in solidarity. Those skinheads must have been the coolest haircuts in that barbershop that day, and the 4.3 million likes for Magalhaes’ Instagram post attest to that.
Closer to home, Singapore’s Hair for Hope, a flagship fundraiser by the Children’s Cancer Foundation, held its 20th edition in 2022 and raised over S$3.8million. Every year, volunteers shave their heads or donate money to help raise funds and increase childhood cancer awareness.
Then, there is a ground-up initiative called Project Haircatchers, started in 2017 by a group of Nanyang Girls’ High School students to collect hair and donations to make wigs. In 2022, the girls gave out 136 wigs to beneficiaries including the Breast Cancer Foundation Singapore and the Cancer Society of Maldives.
This year, joining forces with Hwa Chong Institution (College), they are collaborating with youths in the SportCares Champions Leadership Programme to mount Project Haircatchers’ inaugural public carnival to raise awareness, funds and hair donations.
Their 2023 campaign on Giving.sg aims to raise S$30,000 to fund the carnival costs and the making of 100 wigs for overseas beneficiaries, as well as raise S$10,000 for the Singapore Cancer Society.