Genetics are a bitch.
Sometime during my senior year in high school, or maybe it was late in my junior year, I decided I wanted to grow my hair long. My parents didn't mind (at least, if they did they never told me; my brother came home with a nose ring after Lollapalooza '93, for instance, and that didn't last long ...), so I went for it.
Plus, it was the beginning of the grunge era. I'm not saying I was a sheep, but given my age at the time and my love for that style of music (which has lasted to this very day), it shouldn't have surprised anyone that my look stuck around for a while. I kept it longish until my senior year at B.U.
A quick aside: my biggest fashion regrets of that era are that, like almost every college-aged guy, I experimented with goofy facial hair. Inexcusable. Absolutely inexcusable. I cringe at some of the old photos I see. Goatees are nobody's friends.
My second regret is that I had a pretty cool collection of what would now be considered vintage concert tour shirts. The years reduced many to tatters, and some just disappeared (I suspect laundry room shenanigans from my grandmother). But man, I wish I still had my "Fables" era R.E.M. shirt, my "Facelift" Alice In Chains shirt, my "Pretty Hate Machine" NIN shirt, and my red "God Fodder" Ned's Atomic Dustbin shirt. NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN, PEOPLE! I HAD ONE!
I had so many. I really did. And I still do, just updated for a new era. I still have a few of the vintage ones, but they're dying away, too. In fact, just this week, I decided I had to put down my purple Dinosaur Jr shirt because the collar was stretched out and the stitching was all coming loose.
Actually, for my own archives, I think it might be fun to take pictures of all the t-shirts I currently own and post them as a gallery for all to see (and mock). Despite many of the photos I've posted here and there in the past, not all of my t-shirts have a Red Sox logo on them (though it sure does seem like it). I have a nerdy classic for almost every occasion.
Anyway, genetics. My brother got the physical characteristics of my mom's side of the family, but I definitely looked (and still do) a lot like my dad. I realize that the hair-loss gene is spread through the mother's side of the family, but I'm not convinced. Knowing what my dad's hair situation was, I was ready. Not looking forward to it, of course, but ready. Sure enough, after college, I found myself having a lot more in common with Wally Joyner than I had expected. (Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Wally Joyner? In one post? You know it!) During my senior year of college, I could tell that my hairline near my temples was working its way backwards. By my late 20s, it was in full retreat.
So, as most of you have known me in recent years, my hair is now short, if not occasionally completely shaved off. I'm not happy about it, but at least I own up to it. It's unavoidable, and as I used to joke, my last name is "Comeau", not "Comeau-ver" (say it out loud, and maybe it's funny. I don't know.)
Why do I mention all of this?
Becausemy good friend my arch-enemy Jessica had to go bring back all kinds of great memories ruin my life by digging up an old photo of me with my wonderful, glorious full head of hair.
So, second from the left, here's a little bit of proof that I did, in fact, have long hair. This is from June 1992, 16 years ago - literally almost to the day. I owe another post about June of '92, which I still consider to be one of the most fun months of my life, and the people who made it so special to me. And yes. My buddy Andy, in the back? He's actually 8'5" tall. Swear to god.
As a side note, man ... Now that I'm bald and hideous, I realize I looked pretty good at the time. Dammit all. Seriously, what the hell happened to me?
Sometime during my senior year in high school, or maybe it was late in my junior year, I decided I wanted to grow my hair long. My parents didn't mind (at least, if they did they never told me; my brother came home with a nose ring after Lollapalooza '93, for instance, and that didn't last long ...), so I went for it.
Plus, it was the beginning of the grunge era. I'm not saying I was a sheep, but given my age at the time and my love for that style of music (which has lasted to this very day), it shouldn't have surprised anyone that my look stuck around for a while. I kept it longish until my senior year at B.U.
A quick aside: my biggest fashion regrets of that era are that, like almost every college-aged guy, I experimented with goofy facial hair. Inexcusable. Absolutely inexcusable. I cringe at some of the old photos I see. Goatees are nobody's friends.
My second regret is that I had a pretty cool collection of what would now be considered vintage concert tour shirts. The years reduced many to tatters, and some just disappeared (I suspect laundry room shenanigans from my grandmother). But man, I wish I still had my "Fables" era R.E.M. shirt, my "Facelift" Alice In Chains shirt, my "Pretty Hate Machine" NIN shirt, and my red "God Fodder" Ned's Atomic Dustbin shirt. NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN, PEOPLE! I HAD ONE!
I had so many. I really did. And I still do, just updated for a new era. I still have a few of the vintage ones, but they're dying away, too. In fact, just this week, I decided I had to put down my purple Dinosaur Jr shirt because the collar was stretched out and the stitching was all coming loose.
Actually, for my own archives, I think it might be fun to take pictures of all the t-shirts I currently own and post them as a gallery for all to see (and mock). Despite many of the photos I've posted here and there in the past, not all of my t-shirts have a Red Sox logo on them (though it sure does seem like it). I have a nerdy classic for almost every occasion.
Anyway, genetics. My brother got the physical characteristics of my mom's side of the family, but I definitely looked (and still do) a lot like my dad. I realize that the hair-loss gene is spread through the mother's side of the family, but I'm not convinced. Knowing what my dad's hair situation was, I was ready. Not looking forward to it, of course, but ready. Sure enough, after college, I found myself having a lot more in common with Wally Joyner than I had expected. (Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Wally Joyner? In one post? You know it!) During my senior year of college, I could tell that my hairline near my temples was working its way backwards. By my late 20s, it was in full retreat.
So, as most of you have known me in recent years, my hair is now short, if not occasionally completely shaved off. I'm not happy about it, but at least I own up to it. It's unavoidable, and as I used to joke, my last name is "Comeau", not "Comeau-ver" (say it out loud, and maybe it's funny. I don't know.)
Why do I mention all of this?
Because
So, second from the left, here's a little bit of proof that I did, in fact, have long hair. This is from June 1992, 16 years ago - literally almost to the day. I owe another post about June of '92, which I still consider to be one of the most fun months of my life, and the people who made it so special to me. And yes. My buddy Andy, in the back? He's actually 8'5" tall. Swear to god.
As a side note, man ... Now that I'm bald and hideous, I realize I looked pretty good at the time. Dammit all. Seriously, what the hell happened to me?
2 comments:
First!!
Ha, ha. As if there will ever even be a second :)
You have better hair than any girl in that picture.
Yeah, I've recently decided to just shave my head all the time now. But I've found that you have to have a goatee to pull off the look, otherwise I look too much like Silas from DaVinci Code.
-Old Man Grimes
HOL-E-Shit looks at the shirt!
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