For many of us, leaving our children in the loving arms of their grandparents is the next best thing to holding them ourselves. We trust those sweet grandmas and grandpas to love and protect our children with the same kind of fierceness that we ourselves show. They may be slightly more spoiled when they return them to us, but otherwise, they should be in the same condition.
That is undoubtedly what TikToker Tawana T.R. expected when she left her toddler, River, with her mother for the weekend. Instead, she got a big surprise. In a massively viral video, we see a before and after of River's trip to Granny's, and let's just say it is shocking.
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River was a picture-perfect doll baby when she got to her grandmother's.
Don't get this twisted; she was darling when her mom picked her up, too, but she definitely looked different. Tawana posted the video on her TikTok, @tawanatr, where it's been viewed 10.3 million times. We see little River in red tights, a white dress, and perfectly styled hair. But that "Oh no" music is playing, which we all know by now means bad news ahead.
The second clip shows the same smiling baby, but this time, she's sporting a shaved head. We would've thought this baby had been switched at naptime if it weren't for her giant smile.
That tiny clip blew up.
People went crazy and couldn't understand what Tawana's mom could have possibly been thinking. Nearly 24,000 comments later, no one was defending her.
Some people wanted retaliation.
"Nope, grandma would be sporting that same hairstyle the very next day," one person wrote.
This person agreed commenting, "Grandma would have seen the red gates."
"grandma will not be watching her solo again that's for sure," another comment reads.
Others with similar experiences say they've cut off grandparents.
"my son's grandma isn't allowed to have him without me there because she cut off his curls and cut his hair again after I went off. it's a respect thing," someone wrote.
The shock encouraged Tawana to share a bit more.
People wanted the story, and Tawana delivered. A few commenters thought they knew what was going on. As this person who wrote, "Is her grandma Zimbabwean cause ."
Tawana concurred that what her mom did wasn't necessarily malicious but cultural. She was trying to help River's hair grow back a bit thicker.
She explained that if you are from Zimbabwe, "They have this thing that the hair that a child's been born with from the womb is like dirty and is not clean."
She added that some people believe shaving a baby's hair will improve its quality, but when the family shaved Tawana's hair as a child, it came back worse.
People still weren't OK, despite the explanation.
Even though Tawana shared that her mother's intentions were probably good, to a lot of TikTokers, it still wasn't OK for her to shave the baby's head without permission.
Someone wrote, "You too happy for me .. they would never see my child again."
"They need to let that myth go … I'm sorry she did that! Beautiful baby regardless ," another person commented.
And this person had jokes: "Excuse me???? I like honeybuns and koolaide, please put $$ on my books cause I'm going to jail THAT day!"
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But what can this mom do?
Tawana actually had a much better attitude about the whole thing than many people probably would have. She said she and her mother had words over text, but in the end, the hair was already gone and there was no bringing it back.
"I'm just in disbelief," she said. Tawana admitted she was pretty emotional, but what is done is done and now she will just have to move on. "Even if I fight my mom, the hair's not coming back," she pointed out.
Wow, Tawana. You are amazing. We aren't sure we could have handled that kind of shock with such grace. But River is a doll baby no matter what her hair looks like, and that smile is sure to brighten even the cloudiest days.
