A British schoolboy endured 18 months getting teased and mistaken for a girl due to his long-flowing blonde locks.
But all, including his mother, were proud of him after he revealed he was going to donate his hair to a charity that creates wigs for children receiving cancer treatment.
Kit Porritt, aged 9 at that time, put up with the teasing and even an offer of a modeling career without a word. But he stunned classmates at Kyson Primary School and adults alike by donating 10 inches of his blond hair to the UK charity The Little Princesses Trust.
“I wasn’t really bothered by the jokes,” Kit told Caters News. “Lots of people thought I looked like a girl, but maybe they just haven’t ever seen a picture of Kurt Cobain (the late singer of the rock band, Nirvana).”
“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.”
Kit said that he first started growing his hair long because he wanted to look like Cobain. However, a story about a cancer-stricken girl undergoing chemotherapy with her hair falling out made him “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,” Kit said.
Almost after 1.5 years, Kit, from Hollesley, Suffolk, gave up his secret, telling his mom, Ellen Widdup, about his dream pledge to donate his long locks.
Kit had his 10-inch-long hair cut at a local hair salon, Evelyn Jacks, in November last year. Kit’s new look shocked his friends when he showed up at school with a short back and sides. And the big reveal did not only shock his classmates.
Mom Widdup turned to social media to post the video of Kit’s dramatic haircut at Evelyn Jacks salon in Woodbridge and his new look; the post went viral, amassing over a million views on Twitter alone, and raising hundreds of pounds for the Little Princess Trust charity.
Widdup was proud of her young son, and especially because of Kit’s perseverance in the face of jibes and regularly being mistaken for a girl due to his long hair.
“Kit has never been the kind of child who conforms,” Widdup said. “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,” the mom added.
Given his age, Kit’s determination and ability to keep a secret to fulfill a far nobler cause is admirable; it meant he could ignore the playground taunts, bullying, and mistaken-identity moments.
“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.”
Although Kit's long ponytail made him the subject of a lot of jokes, the brave child merely ignored the barbs. Kit was clear about his greater mission and stayed firm on his path; this little boy’s story indeed stands out as an inspiration with the biggest heart of all.
