VivoCity’s weekend hum fell into a hush as the clippers touched his head. Under the mall’s bright lights, Dr. Amit Jain sat still while long curls slid from his scalp, spiralling toward the stage floor. For the medical oncologist, it wasn’t a gesture of fashion or convenience. It was personal, symbolic, quietly defiant.

“It makes an attempt to destigmatise something that may be a stigma,” he says. “Kids sometimes have to face the stigma of having lost their hair. And this just goes straight at, ‘Look, this is fine, this is normal.’”

He was one among more than 1,800 Singaporeans who, on 26-27 July 2025, stepped forward at Hair for Hope’s return to shave their heads in solidarity with children battling cancer. The Children’s Cancer Foundation’s signature movement, themed “Together, We Can”, had transformed the city’s largest shopping mall into a living statement of empathy. Strangers united in stripping away stigma, replacing it with pride.

Since its first shave in 2003, Hair for Hope has swelled into Singapore’s largest head-shaving movement, a community of over 75,000 “shavees” who have together raised $54 million. But for Amit, this moment in the chair was not about numbers. It was about stripping away what the world sees first, so that what remains—the child, the life, the possibility—could be seen more clearly.

Table of Contents

The Stories That Came Home

The Full Life Every Child Deserves

What We Choose to See

Breaking the Silence Around Hair Loss

The Village That Carries Them

The Invitation to Parents

Leaving the Stigma on the Floor

The Stories That Came Home

Photo from Dr. Amit

Amit’s decision to become a Hair for Hope ambassador didn’t start in a clinic. It started in his own home, in conversations with his wife, Ridhi.

“My wife and I love kids—my wife much more than I do—and that draws her to try to volunteer with kids, the most vulnerable kids,” he says.

Ridhi has been with the Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF) for years, spending time at KK Hospital, where the weight of reality is unmissable. “It’s very stark,” Amit says. “The reality that she sees firsthand and brings back home with her stories is still very… sometimes heavy for us to hear.”

Photo from Dr. Amit

He pauses before continuing. “As a parent, I feel for children more than when I was not a parent. That’s for sure. You start asking yourself, what’s more important than your kids? It’s hard to say it’s anything else.”

The Full Life Every Child Deserves

In his work, Amit has seen the way cancer bends the trajectory of a life. For elderly patients, there can be a bittersweet acceptance. “I have my fair share of patients who are in their 80s who tell me, ‘It’s okay… we all die, calm down.’”

But when it comes to children, his voice changes—slows, deepens.

“Children are supposed to live a full life,” he says. “They are supposed to go through all that life has to offer them. Even when cured, cancer can hold back their growth, interrupt their childhood, and leave scars that may never be unraveled or recognized by children.”

Source: National Cancer Centre Singapore

It’s not just about survival. It’s about the invisible interruptions—the school years fractured by hospital visits, the friendships paused, the milestones missed. These are the legacies of illness that don’t always make it into statistics, but shape a child’s life long after treatment ends.

What We Choose to See

Amit believes that the first step toward destigmatising childhood cancer is reframing how we see those living with it.

“Instead of dealing with, ‘Oh, I’m dealing with a cancer patient,’ go, ‘Oh, okay, I’m dealing with a 12-year-old whose life has unfortunately been put on pause because of all this. Maybe he’s got his exams, his friends… what are the other things beyond cancer?’”

That reframing matters as much for parents as it does for the public. When the focus shifts from diagnosis to personhood, the child’s identity isn’t reduced to their illness—and their future isn’t limited by it.

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Breaking the Silence Around Hair Loss

Hair loss is often the most visible marker of cancer treatment. For children, it can be a magnet for questions, stares, and unspoken judgments.

When Dr. Amit Jain shaved his head, the first test of that change came at home. His teenage daughters—used to seeing him with a full head of long, curly hair—froze in the doorway. “They just kept saying, ‘I’m not used to this,’” he recalls. “For half a day, it was the only thing they said. Then, by the next morning, they were fine.”

Source: Hair for Hope 2025

In their reaction, Amit saw something important. Change can be unsettling at first—especially when it alters the image of someone you’ve known your whole life. But with time, it becomes normal. “If my own kids could get used to seeing me without hair in a matter of hours, maybe it’s possible for people to adjust to seeing a child with hair loss without treating them differently,” he says.

Friends told him he looked younger. He appreciated the compliment. But what mattered more was showing, in the most visible way he could, that losing hair doesn’t make you less whole—and for children, it shouldn’t define them.

The Village That Carries Them

Source: Hair for Hope 2025

“It takes a village to raise a kid,” Amit says. “It takes a village, I think, to also help kids through what they go through in their childhood… their childhood difficult experiences.”

That village is made up of parents, doctors, volunteers, donors, survivors, and the strangers willing to step forward, whether it’s through a head shave, a charity run, or simply sitting beside a family in the hospital cafeteria.

And in that village, Amit has seen some of the most powerful voices come from children who’ve already walked the path. “They’re telling other children, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be okay.’ And that’s so powerful in itself.”

The Invitation to Parents

Source: Hair for Hope 2025

Destigmatizing childhood cancer is not just a job for medical professionals. It’s a cultural shift—one that starts in conversations around dinner tables, in the way parents teach their children about empathy, resilience, and difference.

“Beyond shaving, we can all contribute by spreading awareness, volunteering, or supporting fundraising efforts,” Amit says. “We just hope this makes kids feel a little bit better, parents feel a little bit more supported. Come on, we love you, we support you, hang in there, you got this.”

Though the main event has drawn to a close, the work continues—and so does the opportunity to make a difference. Donations for Hair for Hope 2025 remain open until 18 August 2025, with every dollar going directly to the Children’s Cancer Foundation. These funds sustain vital programmes and services: psychosocial support, financial aid, family and education assistance, as well as palliative and bereavement care for children and their families confronting the realities of childhood cancer.

You can still stand alongside Dr. Amit Jain in this cause. By contributing, you’re not just funding services—you’re helping a child feel less alone, and giving families the strength, stability, and dignity they need during the hardest season of their lives.

Leaving the Stigma on the Floor

In the end, the curls were never the point.

The quiet buzz of the clippers, the startled looks from his daughters, the offhand “you look younger” from friends—these were just the surface ripples of something much deeper.

What mattered was the disruption. The choice to turn something often whispered about into something visible, intentional, and unapologetic. To say, without needing to shout, that hair loss doesn’t strip you of dignity, beauty, or identity.

When Dr. Amit Jain stepped out of that chair in VivoCity, he wasn’t just lighter on his feet. He was carrying a message every bit as bold as his new look… See the child, not the cancer. See the life ahead, not just the illness in front of you.

Because for every child whose hair falls in a hospital room, there’s a future waiting to be reclaimed. And sometimes, all it takes to help them reach it is the courage to start the conversation.

Clippers in hand, stigma left on the floor.