Georgia boy grows his hair out for 2 years to donate it to a friend

Tyler Boone and Gabby Ruiz.
(Image credit: YouTube.com/ABCActionNews)

After letting his hair grow long for two years, it was finally time for Tyler Boone, 10, to chop it all off for a good cause.

Boone's friend, 12-year-old Gabby Ruiz, was diagnosed at age four with Alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. Boone decided that he wanted to forego haircuts and let his hair grow long enough where it could be turned into a wig for Ruiz. On Dec. 29, Boone, visiting from Georgia, accompanied Ruiz to a salon in Brandon, Florida, and she was handed a pair of scissors and given the honor of cutting off his 12-inch ponytail (the hair will be turned into a wig by the nonprofit Children with Hair Loss). Boone — who now sports a buzzcut — said he shrugged off people asking him if he was a girl, because all he wanted to do was "make [Gabby] happy." Catherine Garcia

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.