The first time I saw my long-haired son with a girl's hairstyle

My son with a girl's hairstyle?

My son Alex is only 14, but since he decided he was in charge of his look, he's done just about everything for us in terms of his hair. We had the "shaved head" haircut , the quiff, the slicked back like a gangster, the blond swept surfer look... As they change very quickly during this time, I take pictures regularly, so that I can recognize them when they come through the door! But it was his latest hair experiment that made me question myself in a rather unexpected way...

The fatal mistake

Lately, he’d been growing his hair out and it was about shoulder-length, which suited him pretty well, although we were slowly getting to the critical half-Cro-Magnon half-Thor stage, and he just didn't seem to know what to do with it. One morning, as I had just put his cereal box on the breakfast table, I see him walk through the kitchen door with a... braid? I don't know, I had to do a double take before I understood. A braid, just like that, held back in bun by two orange and pink clips that he had to steal from his sister. I burst out laughing, I couldn't help it! I let out " Alex? Is that you or your sister? ", very proud of my joke. The glare he gave me should’ve made me realize that it was better to leave it there. But I came out with " But where did you see that? ". And that was the fatal mistake. My son, usually rather stingy with his words, especially before 8am, gave me a " Are you jealous because it looks better on me than on you? " accompanied by a big smile. Then he explained to me very simply that in 2021, it might be time to stop classifying things as " for girls/for boys ". If he felt like having fun trying out hairstyles that suited his hair length, he didn't see the problem. On that note, have a good day mom.

Why do we keep attributing a style to a gender?

Flabbergasted, I was still in the kitchen when his dad popped his head in to say " Not bad this new haircut, right? ". He heard everything, of course, and was happy that, for once, I was the " has been ". He didn't see the problem at all. Of course, when you spent your teenage years in a high school rock band with black nail polish and eyeliner, it opens your mind It took me a few minutes to get myself together and realize that they were both right. After all, women have fought hard for the right to wear men's clothes. Why do we keep attributing a style to a gender? It doesn't make sense when you think about it. Besides, it's true that it suits him! However, there is one thing I will not compromise on, and that is that my son has bad hair. So, man bun or braid, we take care of our hair and we perfect our technique. Starting tonight, it's braiding class for everyone. Yes, even for his dad, that will teach him.