Student cleverly conforms to school rule after new principal demands he cut his hair every week

Rules help enforce a sense of decorum and formality in an institutional setting. While rules are crucial for the proper functioning of most schools and colleges, some of them end up overdoing them with unnecessary and redundant rules. Such rules often do not make any sense, however, institutions insist on them firmly. A Reddit user shared how their husband, who attended a private high school, creatively overcame his new principal's rule about haircuts. The post has garnered 3.6K upvotes and 143 comments.

The individual shares that their husband, Phil, went to a private school from kindergarten till his graduation. They write, "He was (and still is) a long-haired hippie. All was well until his senior year when a new nun became principal." The woman could not tolerate Phil's long hair and was quite offended by it. She was warned by the other nuns at the school not to make a big deal out of the issue because they knew not to pick a fight with Phil, as he would win.

She is deeply bothered by his hair and does not listen to them. The nun proceeds to call Phil and his father for a meeting to discuss cutting his long hair. They suggest that he could wear a wig so that he could comply with the nun's rules without having to cut his hair. She is not happy with this solution and remains adamant that Phil has to cut his hair, threatening to expel him if he doesn't. His father said, "Okay. He will get his hair cut every week. And we will provide receipts. Will that suffice?"

The nun agreed to this solution, but it turns out that the duo had a trick up their sleeve. Phil's father takes him to get his haircut and instructs them to "cut as little as humanly possible of his hair." The hairdresser who worked there went a step further and suggested, "Why not just have me provide a receipt and not cut?" But the father wanted to keep his word, so he insisted that a little of Phil's hair should be cut.

They proceed to cut Phil's hair as little as possible while producing a receipt every week. The individual concluded the post by saying, "The nun has no recourse. Phil graduates with longer (and healthier) hair than he started the year with." Other people on the platform shared their own strategies for dealing with redundant rules in the comments section. u/Luc-Ms said, "Something similar happened to me. My high school allowed us to have long hair, but in the last year, suddenly, it was not allowed, so I went the last year with a mohawk."

Another individual, u/Monotonegent, shared, "We had the whole shorter hair/no facial hair rule in my high school. Getting a routine haircut was easy enough, but my face got a five o'clock shadow around the afternoon. Had to pack an electric razor if I stayed after school. It took me until I was 25 to stop the madness and let my beard grow." u/Madrona88 commented, "I bet your husband had beautiful hair. No split ends!"

Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 28, 2023. It has since been updated.