Dad gave his son hell over his shaggy hair — until his son dug up his old yearbook photo

Disagreeing with teenagers is a standard part of parenting, but history can have a sense of irony. Parents often forget that the apple does not fall far from the tree. A father who relentlessly nagged his son to cut his shaggy hair learned this the hard way when his son found an old yearbook photo revealing his dad once shared a similar hairstyle taste. Reddit user u/DrillWormBazookaMan shared the amusing incident with the r/pettyrevenge forum, including his dad’s stunned reaction.

"So I tend to grow my hair out. It's not that long, but it gets really shaggy. Think kind of Justin Bieber-ish, but not as cleanly brushed. It looks more like I rolled out of bed," the son shared in his post. "My main reason for doing this is because I just prefer it longer and I genuinely dislike getting my haircut. Anxiety and everything, can't find one I'm happy with." He added, "In particular, when I was a teenager, this would anger my father. My dad is a very... well, for lack of a better word, angry person. Massive anger issues. He would call me names and s*** talk my hair in front of his friends and scream at me to get a haircut because I 'look like a girl.' Occasionally, I would get it cut to shut him up, but eventually, I just didn't get it cut to spite him."

But one day, things unexpectedly worked out in his favor. "One day, I was looking through some old yearbooks of mine from elementary school when I found my father's yearbook. Guess what I found? Yep, a copy of his junior year school photo," he wrote. "Not that I had any doubts, but he is with absolute certainty my father. THE EXACT. SAME. HAIR." The son shared that his father had the same appearance as him in those old pictures. He kept the photo and waited for his dad to complain about his hair again. "When he did, I just threw the picture on his lap and walked away. He never said a word about my hair again. My mother also put the picture on the fridge," he revealed.

People enjoyed a good laugh at the son's "petty revenge" and shared similar experiences in the comments. u/strywever wrote, "Daughter had a high school friend who hung out at our house with her crew freshman year. I didn't see the kid over the summer, but he was there again once school started, but with a buzz cut where his shaggy hair had been. I asked him what was up with that, and he said his dad had made him cut it. I told him to look for his dad's yearbook and use what he found wisely the next time he got heat about his hair because I could just about guarantee his dad had long hair in high school—virtually everyone did in our day. The kid brought me a chocolate bar a few weeks later. It turned out I was right. He ran with my daughter's crew until graduation, and I never saw him with a buzz cut again."

u/Equal-Feedback9801commented, "I love this! (Not that it excuses any of his behavior), but maybe his dad also verbally abused him about his hair!" u/Somandyjo remarked, "My grandfather fought with his dad over hair. He wanted it short, and the style at the time was long. He then fought with his son because he wanted my uncle's hair short when my uncle wanted it long. The irony appeared to be lost on him."