Life can sometimes feel like a scam: We’re born and brought into this world without any say in the matter, only to be doomed to someday die. One could argue that there’s no way to “win” at life because no matter what, the outcome is the same.
However, on the flip side, one could consider this inevitable fate as a part of the rule set and that the way to “win” at life is to fully embrace the fights we engage in to squeeze the best possible feelings out of the few dozen years we have on this planet.
And there are a lot of people who believe that barber Guilherme Magalhaes (IG: @guido.magalhaes) has done a pretty darn good job of doing just that after a video of him shaving his mother’s head went viral.
Magalhaes’ mother learned she had cancer and began undergoing chemotherapy in order to treat her illness. It’s understandable why anyone would be upset tackling the devastating disease head-on, and it appears that all of those emotions came to a head for the barber’s mom when she sat in his shop, Entre Amigos, and started having her hair shaved.
In the viral clip, she could be seen fighting back tears as her son can be seen talking to her and offering up words of reassurance. He can be seen attempting to keep the mood light until finally, in what looks like an attempt to make her feel better about the fact that her hair was being cut off, he starts shaving his own head, still smiling.
She can be seen protesting, as the other barbers working besides Magalhaes see what’s happening. They step up to Magalhaes to have their own heads shaved. The men smile and continue to talk to Magalhaes’ mother as she wipes away tears in the chair.
Footage of the kind gesture went viral on Reddit, where several users on the platform applauded the actions of her son and his co-workers: “Actions speak better than words. Showing support is the biggest thing,” one commenter wrote.
Another was touched by the immediacy in which the men had their heads shaved in an attempt to make the woman feel better: “Bros didn’t even hesitate.”
Someone else said that their friends group did a similar gesture in order to make a mutual friend of theirs undergoing chemotherapy feel better about her cancer diagnosis: “A friend of mine is currently undergoing chemo, and when she had to buzz her hair off, several other people joined in. I would have, but I’m already bald, so all I could do was offer support.”
Magalhaes posted a tribute post to his mother, professing his love for her, writing: “You brought me into the world, from that day forward my world became you.”
She smiles in the shared selfie with her son, who puts his hand on top of his head: it appears that his hair is already growing back.
The Society of Behavioral Medicine stresses the positive impact folks undergoing chemotherapy can have from interacting and engaging with supportive friends, family members, and loved ones.
The National Institutes of Health also noted that there seems to be an established positive correlation between cancer survivors’ long-term health and interacting with fellow patients who’ve survived treatment.
And then there are studies referenced by the National Cancer Institute that have extolled the benefits of joining support groups or having social circles during and following cancer treatments that could potentially lead folks to having a higher rate of survival.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Magalahaes via Instagram DM for further comment.
