A schoolboy who grew his hair for 18 months was teased for ‘looking like a girl’ but has finally revealed that he went through it all because of a secret pledge for The Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides wigs for children who lost their hair while undergoing cancer treatment.
Nine-year-old Kit Porritt had refused to cut his hair since May last year and his mother, Ellen Widdup, 39, had no idea why until he made his revelation. Because he kept his promise secret, he was often mistaken for a girl and a modeling agency looking for fresh female faces even approached him for a project.
Watch to meet this inspiring boy below.
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Video credit: Rumble
But despite being mistaken for a girl and all the playground jokes, he kept the secret because he knew it was all going to be worthwhile.
Finally, on November 8 Kit finally had his hair snipped and told his mom about his plan to donate 10 inches of hair.
Ellen said: “Kit has never been the kind of child who conforms.
“At the start of last year Kit had asked about children who battling cancer after seeing something on TV.
“He was upset at the thought of another child losing their hair so I explained that people can donate if their hair if it’s long enough.
“We didn’t speak about it again but it was after this conversation that Kit began to refuse to have his hair cut and said that he wanted it long.
“We lost track of how often he was mistaken for a girl – we even gave up correcting people – but when he was asked to do some modeling for a girls’ clothing brand he thought that was utterly hysterical.
“He is brave and bold and stubborn and determined. But he is also exceptionally empathetic and sensitive so this kind of endeavor is right up his street.
“I am very proud of him – and I’m very relieved that I do not have to try and get a brush through it every morning.”
Kit went to Evelyn Jacks salon on Market Hill, Woodbridge, for his haircut. Ellen then shared a video of Kit’s makeover on social media and over 12k people have already commented and shared his story.
Friends and family also donated to the charity upon Kit’s request.
Kit said: “I wasn’t really bothered by the jokes. Lots of people thought I looked like a girl but maybe they just haven’t ever seen a picture of Kurt Cobain.
“When I first started growing it, it was because I wanted to look like him but then I read a story about a girl who had chemotherapy and all her hair had fallen out and it made me feel sad.
“My mom told me if I carried on growing my hair I could donate it to be made into a wig and that sounded like a really cool thing to do.
“I’ve pretty much kept it a secret because I wanted my friends to get a shock when I walked into school looking completely different.”
After keeping such an important secret for 18 months, Kit was excited to come back to school on November 11 to surprise his classmates with his new look.
Replaced!