Taiwanese Mother Got Hairdresser to Shave Half of Her Son’s Hair Off to Make Him Stay Home Due to COVID-19

At this stage of the pandemic, some of us may have had to get creative to force ourselves to stay at home. 

Some of these methods may include upgrading our Netflix subscription plans, purchasing a switch to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons, or even splurging on home KTV systems to karaoke from home. 

However, one mother had to resort to something rather drastic to force her son to stay home, which included a trip to the hairdresser’s, favouring the style of deterrence rather than enticement. 

Read on to find out what happened. 

Taiwanese Mother Got Hairdresser to Shave Half of Her Son’s Hair Off to Make Him Stay Home Due to COVID-19

Taiwan, which is currently in the midst of dealing with a new wave of the pandemic, is now at its second highest alert level. 

One understandably concerned mother in Kaohsiung decided to get crafty and came up with a foolproof way to ensure that her 15-year-old son stayed home during this new outbreak. 

She brought her son to the hair salon and consulted the hairdresser for a haircut that would prevent him from going out. 

According to hairdresser Huang Ling Xiang, they had originally come up with the idea of shaving the word “COVID-19” onto his head, but this was dismissed as counterproductive as the boy would want to meet his friends even more to flaunt his unconventional yet rather edgy haircut.

I’m not sure if I’d flaunt that but… to each their own, I guess.

Huang then settled on—get this—shaving off the entire top half of the boy’s hair, giving him the appearance of a badly balding man. And that description is being generous.

Just for a comparison, here is the boy’s hair before…

… And here is his hair after.

Yikes.

Needless to say, the boy got a nasty shock when his haircut was revealed to him. According to Huang, he—very validly—appeared distressed and very self-conscious, and he scolded his mother for this seeming betrayal of hers. 

After the incident, the salon received enquiries from parents. And guess what? The salon took it to another level by launching a promotion offering complimentary “COVID-19 preventive” haircuts for all teens aged 12 to 15 who are in need of a little extra motivation to stay home. 

After all, desperate times call for equally desperate measures. 

While there were a few comments criticising the mother’s tactic as going overboard and even labelling it as child abuse, most netizens supported the mother and the hairdresser. 

One comment wisely pointed out that while one’s hair can always grow back, a pandemic might spiral out of control and lead to disastrous, irreversible consequences.

Feature Image: YouTube (東森新聞 CH51)