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After Bullying His Schoolmate With Cancer, Boy Gets “Haircut Shamed” And Sent Into A Frenzy
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After Bullying His Schoolmate With Cancer, Boy Gets “Haircut Shamed” And Sent Into A Frenzy

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Last year, a video saw a young boy sitting in a barber’s chair screaming in total panic as his dreadlocks were being shaved off. Apparently, this was forced as a punishment for bullying his schoolmate with cancer. The video has resurfaced this week, prompting debates on parenting and appropriate punishment.

In 2023, people on social media were stunned to see an out-of-control boy forced to see his hair being cut. Nevertheless, many viewers seemed to support the punishment upon learning that the boy had bullied a sick peer at his school.

Highlights
  • A video of a parent shaving their son's head as punishment for bullying a cancer patient resurfaced online.
  • Millions viewed the video, prompting debates on parenting and appropriate punishment.
  • Some social media users supported the punishment, seeing it as a lesson in compassion.

While some have said the father penalized his son, others have said it was the mother who punished the boy. Either way, it was clear that this wasn’t the schoolboy’s decision.

Since the video began circulating last year, there has been no update on the kid or his parents. As a result, it has been difficult to track down the identity of those involved.

In February, Uchendi Nwani, who runs the popular Millionaire Barber Instagram page, uploaded the viral clip.

He wrote in the caption: “This dad cut his son’s locs because he bullied a kid with cancer at school.”

Last year, a video saw a young boy sitting in a barber’s chair screaming in total panic as his dreadlocks were shaved off

Image credits: WavebreakMediaMicro/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)

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After asking his followers, “What would you have done?” a person replied: “Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes. Good Job Dad.”

A viewer commented: “A haircut isn’t humiliating, the Kid humiliated himself by screaming like that.”

Someone penned: “I agree this is reasonable punishment. I see comments about his dad publicly humiliating him, it’s a barbershop…lol.”

The video resurfaced this week, as the X user (formerly known as Twitter) Alphafox78 also shared the video showcasing the little boy whose haircut sent him into a frenzy.

Image credits: millionairebarber

Millions of people have seen the clip, sparking heated debates on parenting.

An X user noted: “That father is teaching his son a valuable life lesson…not to bully but have compassion for others.

“His hair will grow back and hopefully, he will think and have some compassion before he bullies someone else.”

FadeHubb also shared the clip on X, asking their followers for their “thoughts.”

Apparently, this was forced as a punishment for bullying a schoolmate with cancer

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Image credits: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)

“The father did the right thing. Stop bullying,” a netizen responded.

A separate individual chimed in: “Life is about learning from your mistakes. I hope he did.”

However, other observers questioned the punishment, as a person wrote: “I don’t understand why the father is just letting him squeal. 

“Sit him down and talk to him. 

“Then cut his hair. 

“The kid has to accept that what he did was wrong.”

Image credits: millionairebarber

An additional viewer stated: “I think humiliating and bullying your child to teach them not to humiliate and bully other people makes no sense.”

A viewer added: “That’s one parent method. 

“Mine would be for him to apologize to the cancer kid and then spend the week helping him so that he could see what the kid was going through. 

“Understanding not resentment.”

The video resurfaced this week, prompting debates on parenting and appropriate punishment

Assuming the context given for the video is accurate, it is possible that the boy bullied a kid with cancer who suffered from hair loss during his chemotherapy treatment.

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Chemotherapy rapidly targets growing cells, which damages hair follicles and makes hair fall out, MD Anderson Cancer Center explains.

But radiation therapy can also sometimes cause hair loss when it’s used to treat head and neck cancers.

Cutting a child’s hair as a form of punishment is generally considered inappropriate and potentially harmful, according to Hair Care Addiction.

Image credits: A-1 Kutz

Experts have argued that such actions can lead to emotional distress and a sense of humiliation for the child. 

Hair is often closely tied to an individual’s identity and self-esteem, and forcibly altering it can cause significant psychological damage.

Moreover, using humiliation as a disciplinary tactic is not recommended, as it can damage the child’s trust and respect for their parents, leading to long-term negative effects on their mental health and the parent-child relationship. 

Despite experts advising against it, hair-cutting punishments have become a growing parenting trend, so much so that some have made a business out of it.

Russell Fredrick ran the A-1 Kutz barbershop in Atlanta, USA, which specialized in haircut shaming.

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In a 2015 interview with ABC 7, Russell said his team asked parents to bring in their misbehaving children to receive the free “Benjamin Button Special.”

The cut reportedly involved shaving hair off the child’s crown until they began to resemble a balding senior citizen, inviting that unique brand of adolescent humiliation that can only come from teasing classmates and unwanted attention.

Hair-shaming punishments continue to ignite divided opinions

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Andréa Oldereide

Andréa Oldereide

Writer, BoredPanda staff

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I’m a journalist who works as Bored Panda’s News Team's Senior Writer. The news team produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”. You've got a tip? email me: andrea.o@boredpanda.com

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Andréa Oldereide

Andréa Oldereide

Writer, BoredPanda staff

I’m a journalist who works as Bored Panda’s News Team's Senior Writer. The news team produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”. You've got a tip? email me: andrea.o@boredpanda.com

Karina Babenok

Karina Babenok

Author, BoredPanda staff

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As a visual editor in the News team, I look for the most interesting pictures and comments to make each post interesting and informative through images, so that you aren't reading only blocks of text. I joined Bored Panda not that long ago, but in this short amount of time I have covered a wide range of topics: from true crime to Taylor Swift memes (my search history is very questionable because of that).In my freetime, I enjoy spending time at the gym, gaming, binging Great British Bake Off and adding yet another tattoo artist that I would love to get a tattoo from to my pinterest board.

Read less »

Karina Babenok

Karina Babenok

Author, BoredPanda staff

As a visual editor in the News team, I look for the most interesting pictures and comments to make each post interesting and informative through images, so that you aren't reading only blocks of text. I joined Bored Panda not that long ago, but in this short amount of time I have covered a wide range of topics: from true crime to Taylor Swift memes (my search history is very questionable because of that).In my freetime, I enjoy spending time at the gym, gaming, binging Great British Bake Off and adding yet another tattoo artist that I would love to get a tattoo from to my pinterest board.

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Jennifer Clayton
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stop posting your kids on the internet. That punishment will be online forever.

Kabuki Kitsune
Community Member
5 months ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Honestly? Good. That way the kid will have a constant reminder of the consequences he suffered for his actions. Bullies will keep bullying others if there is no active reminder that actions have consequences. If, later down the road, this kid pulls something similar, all Dad has to do is pull up the video and remind his kid of the previous example of a severe consequence. You can bet that the humiliation he suffered there, if relived through the video's presence, is going to do a hell of a lot of good in keeping this boy on the straight and narrow path.

Load More Replies...
ConstantlyJon
Community Member
5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't agree with the premise the this is hair shaming. He's not saying you should be ashamed of your hair. Dad is saying "I know your hair is valuable, you need to learn how valuable it is by losing it since you think it's okay to make fun of those who don't have it." The idea behind the consequence is solid. Dad obviously cannot give his son a disease, which would be an insane consequence anyway, but forcing him to walk in the other kid's shoes in this manner is good for the kid. What is NOT good for the kid is video taping the consequence. There are zero good reasons to do so. If you want clicks, find another way to get clicks. Whatever good could have come from this consequence will be upended by posting it online. Your kids don't need to feel shame. Shame is believing the lie that "I am who I am as a failure and I cannot grow." I never want my kids to feel that way. Consequences should push them toward growth, not away from it.

PeepPeep the duck
Community Member
5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It a sound punishment for a certain type of kid, it would of been something that would of been used on me too if I was a boy, some kids just don’t care at all and still only care about their own punishment and not really what they’ve done, I was a s****y kid 😂 I just had 0 empathy and didn’t care about people and their feelings etc (like Eric cartman), I’d even fake it as I got older so the puncihwment was less and adults thought I’d ’learned something ‘ but it was all an act, nothing to do with parenting either, it was just me . Some kids just suck. I’m the total opposite as an adult

Load More Replies...
Jack Burton
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Humiliating your son online because he had a bad behavior... Hmm i can see a pattern here but not sure...

Load More Comments
Jennifer Clayton
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stop posting your kids on the internet. That punishment will be online forever.

Kabuki Kitsune
Community Member
5 months ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Honestly? Good. That way the kid will have a constant reminder of the consequences he suffered for his actions. Bullies will keep bullying others if there is no active reminder that actions have consequences. If, later down the road, this kid pulls something similar, all Dad has to do is pull up the video and remind his kid of the previous example of a severe consequence. You can bet that the humiliation he suffered there, if relived through the video's presence, is going to do a hell of a lot of good in keeping this boy on the straight and narrow path.

Load More Replies...
ConstantlyJon
Community Member
5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't agree with the premise the this is hair shaming. He's not saying you should be ashamed of your hair. Dad is saying "I know your hair is valuable, you need to learn how valuable it is by losing it since you think it's okay to make fun of those who don't have it." The idea behind the consequence is solid. Dad obviously cannot give his son a disease, which would be an insane consequence anyway, but forcing him to walk in the other kid's shoes in this manner is good for the kid. What is NOT good for the kid is video taping the consequence. There are zero good reasons to do so. If you want clicks, find another way to get clicks. Whatever good could have come from this consequence will be upended by posting it online. Your kids don't need to feel shame. Shame is believing the lie that "I am who I am as a failure and I cannot grow." I never want my kids to feel that way. Consequences should push them toward growth, not away from it.

PeepPeep the duck
Community Member
5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It a sound punishment for a certain type of kid, it would of been something that would of been used on me too if I was a boy, some kids just don’t care at all and still only care about their own punishment and not really what they’ve done, I was a s****y kid 😂 I just had 0 empathy and didn’t care about people and their feelings etc (like Eric cartman), I’d even fake it as I got older so the puncihwment was less and adults thought I’d ’learned something ‘ but it was all an act, nothing to do with parenting either, it was just me . Some kids just suck. I’m the total opposite as an adult

Load More Replies...
Jack Burton
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Humiliating your son online because he had a bad behavior... Hmm i can see a pattern here but not sure...

Load More Comments
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