Before and After

My husband has had a HUGE BEEF about my oldest son's hair lately. And, uncharacteristic for Matt, he hasn't been quiet about it, either! Any chance he could, he'd "trash talk" his hair. Often while sitting in church as a family, I'd notice Matt's gaze going down our pew. I'd follow that gaze of his and find it resting on his firstborn son, and THEN when he caught the eye of Ryan, he'd just shake his head and accompany it with his best disapproving look. To which, Ryan would respond by taking a comb out of his pocket and, dramatically, with a sweeping motion, combing his mane into the perfect, feathered look again [with a smirk on his face.] For Ryan, it seemed to be a great source of joy to irritate his dad in this way! ;)

Have I piqued your curiosity yet about this unruly, intolerable hairdo, that is the cause of such great disgust with his father, that Ryan is sporting as of late?

Here's a sneak peak.

Right out of the 70's: The "butthead" part with the feathered back look,
going past the ears AND the collar.

Oh, here, I think this is where he found his "inspiration."

Right out of The Partridge Family!

To me, as his Mom, I don't even think it's that bad -- so, I don't even worry about it. It's ONLY hair! There are definitely much greater battles worth fighting than HAIR! And because of that, Ryan didn't even put forth the effort to perform his sleek, hair styling show with me if I was his only audience. He DID find great amusement when, he had put some hair elastics in his longest tresses to make some tiny ponytails, and when Miss B saw him, she declared loudly, "Ryan, YOU A GIRL!!!"

Matt would continually ask him WHEN he was going to get his hair cut. A while back, Ryan came up with the date of November 18th for some reason, (in celebration and/or respect for reading the entire Book of Mormon in a weekend? Or was it because the SportClips [his favorite place to get a haircut] coupon expired that day?) So Matt eagerly awaiting that date. Well, 11/18/11 came and went and NO hair cut....you see, Ryan had a new reason for not cutting it now. At some unknown date in the future, for his Drama class at school, he has to do a performance depicting Flynn Ryder, from the movie, "Tangled" and he claims he "needs" THE HAIR to help him "get into character." (He does have a good point - he must also be taking a Debate class! Sounds good to me!)

But, to Matt, he can't see the reasoning at all! Which is why Ryan loves to talk about this impending performance with the ever elusive date, that Ryan just can't quite "recall", so his Dad can squirm and let his hair-hating attitude fester within him! (Gotta love teenagers! :))

The thing that puzzles me so much about Matt's reaction to THE HAIR is that HE has NO ROOM TO TALK!!!! I mean, in HIS youth, he had THE WORST HAIR EVER! It was really bad. We're talkin' it was so bad, that IF I would've have known him then....we would not be married now! (Because I would've written him off so fast.....)

Have I piqued your curiosity about Matt's unruly, intolerable hairdo of his past?

Here's a sneak peak:

Do you need another look?

And another?

Now tell me....does the word, "hypocrite" come to anyone's mind?!?
This sums it up: when Miss B sees these pictures of Matt (and I HAVE TO inform her it is her Dad because she doesn't even know) she says, "I don't like that Dad!"

Sooooo......THE HAIR banter has been going back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

One day, we got an idea! Recently, my son and I went on a little "outing."

This is what he looked like when we left our home. (the "Before")

....And this is what he looked like when he came back (the "After"):

And when Matt first laid eyes on him, Ryan said, "MERRY CHRISTMAS, DAD!"

(and he was greatly pleased)

(Way to show me up in the Christmas present department. My gift to Matt will surely pale in comparison!)