An Army recruit recently got his hair cut for the first time in 15 years, chopping off an impressive 150 inches so he could enlist in the military.
Reynaldo Arroyo, 23, from Riverside, California, donated all 150 inches of his hair to charity to help provide wigs for children recovering from alopecia or cancer treatment.
The Salt Lake City Army Recruiting Battalion shared a video of the moment Reynaldo took the plunge on their Facebook page, congratulating the new recruit on his achievement.
You can watch the video below:
The 23-year-old can be seen in the video saying he is ‘really excited to be enlisting in the Army’, before he turns his back to the camera and shows off his ponytail which extends down the entire length of his back.
The footage then cuts to Reynaldo sitting in a chair with his long, dark hair separated in bunches as a woman makes quick work of cutting off each section individually.
As the woman places each strand of hair in the new recruit’s lap, he can be seen grimacing and laughing along as the chopped hair piles up and his hair becomes gradually shorter.
As per the Salt Lake City Army Recruiting Battalion’s Facebook post, Arroyo enlisted as an 11X infantryman with airborne option.
Before doing so though, Reynaldo had to comply with the Army’s strict code with regards to his hairstyle, which requires soldiers to have a ‘neat and conservative’ cut to ‘maintain uniformity within a military population’.
As per their guidelines:
The hair must… conform to the shape of the head, curving inward to the natural termination point at the base of the neck. When the hair is combed, it will not fall over the ears or eyebrows, or touch the collar, except for the closely cut hair at the back of the neck.
The video ends with Reynaldo getting the sides of his head shaved, before he reveals his brand new hairdo while holding a bag full of his hair.
The Facebook post went on to reveal the recruit would be donating his hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit charity which collects donated hair to make hair pieces and wigs for children (up to the age of 21) with alopecia areata, as well as those who have undergone radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and those who have experienced hair loss from severe burns or trauma.
When asked about donating his locks of hair, Reynaldo simply said: ‘Hopefully some lucky little girl is going to get it’.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).