Ariana was 3 years old and had never had her hair cut.
That day, while waiting her turn at the hair salon, she saw a girl without hair. She asked why. Her parents explained, in the simplest words possible, that some illnesses and their treatments cause hair to fall out. Nothing more was needed. Ariana decided right then that her hair, which had never been cut, could be used for something better than staying on her head.
“She can have some of mine”, her father, Josh Smith, said, according to him, when he shared the story online. The before-and-after photos went viral within days: nearly 645.000 people saw the gesture in less than 48 hours. No one asked Ariana to be generous. At 3, she still didn’t know there was another option.