So, I don’t know about where you live but in the South where we live there are two different hair styles now that are popular among middle school boys. One is the buzz cut. That one is of this variety.
Note how neat and clean this boy will look. Groomed, if you will.
The other look, on the flip side, is the more trendy look of the kind of longish but-not-too-long kind of look. Kind of like you are growing out your hair but don’t want it really grown out. Or even styled really. Kind of like a mop, sitting on the top of one’s head. That maybe a bird could make a nest in. Or perhaps a small family of weasels could bed down in. And maybe the weasels are actually in there and we just don’t know it yet. This is how unkempt some of them look. Think Peter Brady on the Brady Bunch. Yes, that’s right. That look is back in.
Well, my son, being the team player he is, had to grow his hair out to get the raggedly mop-like look so he could be cool. For the girls, you know. And the boys too, actually. It’s very important in middle school to impress one’s friends. And, by God, he wanted to look hip. And to be able to do that ‘hair shake’ of flipping one’s hair back in a manner to make one ultra cool. You know, the kind of ‘come hither’ move for boys. So, we let him grow his hair out. Into a mop.
Now, the thing is though, with Rye’s hair…it is blond and very thick. And curly when it gets longer. And did I say thick? And so as he’s grown it out those curls have turned thick and uniform. In fact, they now look like pin curls. Yes, pin curls. Every morning he wakes up and looks like he set his hair in these the night before.
As he has perfectly styled curls. And so, as it turns out, his hair now looks pretty much just like this.
No kidding. In fact, it looks nearly exactly like that.
Now, I’m not sure if that’s what he had in mind or not when he started growing it out but that is where we are. And last week we went and got his passport application put in and the picture on there looked almost exactly like this, minus the girl face. So now we will have a permanent reminder of the middle school hair days.
Oh yes, it’s a coiffure to remember.













