Boyfriend shaves girlfriend's head, then surprises her by shaving his own in solidarity

There aren't many viral TikToks that evoke such emotion you may actually cry. But this is one of them. Eva Barilaro has alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. For the first time in 10 years, she had to ask her boyfriend to shave her head. This was after months of growing out her hair.

The TikTok shows Eva in the mirror, getting emotional while her boyfriend shaves her hair. But then, she completely breaks down when he takes the clippers to his own head and shaves his hair off without hesitation in solidarity with the woman he loves.

Eva's video has been viewed over a million times on TikTok and has also gone viral on Twitter, where many shared messages of love and support as well as similar stories. 

One Twitter user who also has alopecia posted a picture of herself and wrote, "Been living with it for 16 years. Women don't have to have hair to be beautiful."

A dad shared that when his 6-year-old daughter had cancer, they both shaved their heads to help her through it. Eva's boyfriend's act is a symbol of his love and commitment to helping her through this tough time in her life.

Comedian Kathy Griffin wrote, "More tissues please. More." Actor Seth Green wrote, "Humans' capacity for love and compassion is unrivaled."

One Twitter user wrote, "As someone whose immune system decided to attack my hair, I feel this in my bones. My wife was ready to shave her head too, but I wouldn't let her so she keeps growing it out and donating it to Locks of Love."

Your hair can be an integral part of your identity, and that makes it so tough if you lose it because of a medical condition. Women are often judged based on their hairstyles and their look in general, and so women (and men too! and people of all genders!) might not feel like themselves if they can't have the hair they want.

But female pattern hair loss is fairly common, and more and more people are becoming aware of the type of hair loss that can be caused by alopecia. Recently, Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressly announced that she had alopecia and showed her bald head for the first time in a moving video.

In the video, she talks about being on a journey of acceptance with her new look. For a long time she kept her condition a secret because she associated it with shame. But now, she said, "I am making peace with having alopecia. I have not arrived there. I am very early in my alopecia journey, but I'm making progress every day. And that's why I'm doing this today. It's about self agency. It's about power. It's about acceptance."

Coming to terms with a condition like alopecia and feeling comfortable with your baldness is not an easy thing. But it's a little easier when you have people in your corner, there next to you every step of the way. 

This article was originally published in August 20, 2020. It has since been updated.