Two north TikTok stars have parted with their beloved beard and long locks to aid a Lochaber mental health charity and a children’s hospital.
Sandy MacCallum and Amy Underwood, known on the platform as @flatoutflatbrokesandy and @the_digger_girl, opted for the cut to help Lochaber Hope and Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.
In total, more than £5,000 has been raised.
Good to use platform for the better
Mr MacCallum said: “My own personal curiosity led me to think ‘I wonder what I look like without my beard’.
“I thought I needed a motive and something that was going to make me do it.
“Amy actually suggested doing it for a mental health charity.
“I thought actually it would be quite good to use this platform for a bit of good.
“I have got a lot out of it so I feel I should put something back into it for the better.”
‘I want my beard back’
Mr MacCallum, who had grown his beard for seven years prior to the shave, is now slightly regretting his decision.
He added: “Now I look at my face and I do not like this – I want my beard back.”
@flatoutflatbrokesandy Beard gone #flatoutflatbroke #fyp
The pair braved the shave and trim on Bonfire Night, with friends and family gathering for a small celebration.
Mr MacCallum added: “It’s amazing its now over £5,000.
“Some of the donations have been coming in for a couple of hundred quid at a time.
“That is pretty amazing and there are some really good people out there.”
Miss Underwood added: “It is quite crazy how much we have raised.
“I was joking with Sandy saying he should shave off his beard for charity.
“Then he put a TikTok on about me saying I had to cut my hair and everybody went kind of mental for it.
“Once you go that far and all our followers were wanting to see it, we thought we would just do it for £1000.
“It just went mental after that.”
Miss Underwood has donated her locks to The Little Princess Trust, who specialise in making wigs and donating them to young people with illness.
She added: “It really was a big deal to me.
“It is such a mess just now. I have not been to the hairdressers yet to get it sorted.
“A woman actually commented on one of my posts to say that her daughter had just got a wig from the Princess Trust and thanked me for what I had done.
“It really hit home then that it is actually a really good thing to do.”
@the_digger_girl Ahhhhh it’s gone! Thank you everyone for the donations ❤️ my hair is getting donated to @littleprincesstrust 💜
Proceeds will be split between the two charities
Mr MacCallum said he chose Lochaber Hope as a way of giving something back.
The counselling service provides support to people experiencing sensitive and personal issues in the Lochaber area.
Miss Underwood opted to raise funds for the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity after experiencing first hand their work.
She said: “My wee boy had his skull reconstructed when he was one. It was a nine hour operation to get it all done.
“I thought I would like to raise for a charity that I have benefitted from.
“When we were down at the hospital, we actually seen everything they do for all the little kiddies so thought it was the best cause.
“He is fine now.”
How did their TikTok audiences grow to six figures?
Both Mr MacCallum and Miss Underwood began posting on the social network as “a bit of fun” and a way to pass the time.
It was where the two met and forged their friendship, despite living just 30 minutes away from each other.
For @the_digger_girl, it started out two years ago as she said her friends grew fed up with her digger posts on Instagram.
Since joining, they have come to amass large followings exceeding the six-figure mark.
Mr MacCallum said: “I always made GoPro videos and things like that. I posted one video, then I posted another and it just stemmed from that.
“Somebody asked a question one day and I actually remember how happy I was when I got my first thousand followers.
“I never seen it getting any bigger than that. I thought it was so amazing and I was happy with that.
“When Christmas came we had 35,000, at the end of March we had 80,000 and now we are up to 210,000 followers.”
‘It just gives people a bit of an insight’
He continued: “The only thing I really take from it is that for years now I have heard nothing but people moaning about how the haulage industry is dying.
“In a way, yes it is, but this has got to the younger generation and people on the outside of trucking that there is more to what you see going down the road passing you.
“There is colour, there is culture, there is family and there is friendship.
“It just gives people a bit of an insight into it.”
@flatoutflatbrokesandy Please share Inside a truck 🚚 #flatoutflatbroke #flatoutflatbroke #share
He added: “I never kind of appreciated how big 100,000 or 200,000 followers is.
“I have just been up in the Highlands and it was only when I was going back down the road or to truck shows that I realised what sort of an impact I can make.
“I do feel good being able to give something back, or by giving awareness or trying to help someone out.”
‘It is really rewarding’
Miss Underwood added: “It can get overwhelming at times too because you get some hate as well.
“I think the good outweighs the bad, for me anyway.
“To do something like this and raise awareness and money for charity, it has been really rewarding.”