A TikTok video about bullying stopped Valerie Rodriguez in her tracks.
The San Antonio mother said her sons, Jonah Castillo and Julian Castillo, had struggled after classmates repeatedly made fun of their haircuts.
“It made me feel hurt. I was sad, knowing, you know, I can’t go to the school and protect him,” Rodriguez said. “It made me feel helpless, just knowing that I couldn’t do anything.”
Rodriguez said classmates mocked the boys’ haircuts, criticized their appearance and made jokes about the shape of their heads.
For Jonah, the bullying stayed with him after he graduated elementary school.
“Since I really have like low self-esteem, I’m hard on myself,” he said. “It’s made me like a little bit too hard on myself.”
As he spoke about the bullying, Jonah said the comments still hit hard.
“Whenever I hear those words, it just is taken deeply,” Jonah said.
Rodriguez said she kept reminding her sons, ages 10 and 11, not to let the comments affect them, but she could see the impact.
Then she found a TikTok video posted by San Antonio barber Benito Valdelamar, who works at Faded Attraction on Potranco Road. In the video, he offered free haircuts to children who were being bullied.
“The reason why I’m bringing bullying up is because it has come to my attention that in my barber journey or career, there’s kids out there that get bullied due to not them having a haircut,” Valdelamar said in the video.
Rodriguez said she reached out right away.
“When I saw the video, it made me feel happy, because it’s like you don’t really see good people like that,” she said.
When the brothers went to the shop, Valdelamar listened to them, talked with them and let them choose how they wanted their haircuts styled.
For Jonah, that made a difference.
“I was just happy, because I could get something that I actually wanted,” he said. “I was hopefully saying hopefully the kids won’t make fun of me no more.”
After Valdelamar showed him the finished haircut, Jonah said he was speechless.
“It was just the first time I’ve ever had a good haircut,” he said.
Julian said he left the barber chair feeling “happy.”
Rodriguez said the change in her sons was immediate.
“It really boosted their self-esteem,” she said.
Later, FOX SA and Manuel & Sons A/C and Heating surprised Valdelamar with a $1,000 Cash for Kindness prize.
Jonah used the moment to tell Valdelamar what the haircut had meant to him.
“It’s like saying bullying is like throwing a rock into the ocean – you never know how deep it goes,” Jonah told him. “I just want to thank you for helping us not get bullied anymore, because it really affected me so much, and you helped that go away.”
Valdelamar said Jonah’s message nearly brought him to tears.
“It really touched my heart,” he said. “It’s honestly something that I’ve been wanting to do for the longest. I wanted to help out so many kids out there because I’ve been through the same situation.”
Valdelamar said he wants children and adults to hear the same message.
“Stop being a bully,” he said. “At the end of the day, kindness will always win.”
Cash for Kindness is sponsored by Manuel & Sons A/C and Heating and recognizes people who make a difference in the lives of others without expecting anything in return. The $1,000 prize is awarded as two $500 American Express gift cards.
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