A woman fainted on a Turkish TV show after a hairdresser lopped off 12 inches of her long locks.
İlayda was appearing as a model on a Turkish makeover show, so you’d think she’d know she might be undergoing a transformation. However, she clearly wasn’t quite prepared for what stylist Bilal Ağın had in store.
It’s fair to say the model had really long hair to begin with, but was obviously rather attached to it, both figuratively and literally. So when Bilal chopped off a mere foot of hair, İlayda did not react well.
You can watch it all go down here:
The clip is from a reality TV show called Kuaförüm Sensin, which roughly translates to ‘You’re My Hairdresser‘. In it, various stylists, makeup artists, and hairdressers compete for a prize. So, pretty much your standard reality/competition programme.
As the video shows, it seems stylist Bilal didn’t quite communicate his plans to İlayda clearly enough. Though she willingly turns around so he can take some scissors to her hair, she is unprepared for just how much hair he was going to take off.
After the chop, the model, bursting into tears, then rips off her gown and storms off the set – or tries to at least. Seemingly overcome by the situation of a drastic haircut – it happens to us all – she faints as she’s walking off.
Luckily, the host of the show was there to catch her.
As the judging panel and other stylists watch on in disbelief, hairdresser Bilal stands with 30cm of lopped off locks in his hands, ashen-faced and unsure what to do.
It’s all for a good cause though, as the hair from the show is donated to the ‘Let My Hair Be Your Hair’ project for cancer survivors.
Still, the distraught İlayda is inconsolable, and after she faints, is carried off set by medical professionals.
Since being shared on social media, the clip has been viewed more than 12 million times. I guess because emotional haircuts are something we can all relate to. How often have we told the barber ‘yeah looks great, thanks,’ when inside we’re really crying and wishing we’d never booked an appointment at this fancy salon with faux fur on the walls, curved mirrors and Kubrickian carpet everywhere…
Aside from donating the hair to a very worthy cause, there’s always the conciliatory mantra we’ve also all told ourselves – don’t worry, it’ll grow back.
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This story has been reposted and is not contemporary news.
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.