A Hair Raising Tale (Ryan Blog Excerpt)

**NOTE--Ryan DOES really have unruly hair when it gets long :)** PAM

Sunday, July 01, 2007

By popular request I shall tell a story about my hair. It really is quite touching, some of you who are more sensitive should take this moment to go and fetch a box of tissues, you will need them. For your enjoyment I have also added a few photos that go along with this story. They are in the folder marked "My hair" and they are in chronological order with this story.

I have never been all that good with getting my hair cut on a regular basis. I'll cut it short for a while, then I'll let it grow out for a while, then back to short...it's a vicious cycle where I just can't seem to find a happy medium. Then when I do find a happy medium, I forget that my hair grows and it ends up growing out long again. Why do I not manage my hair more carefully? Ha ha, that's a good one. My hair is like some sort of wild, untameable creature. I get comments from the stylists everytime I go to get a haircut about how crazy my hair is... no seriously, they ask me how I want it cut, and I say, "Do whatever you think looks best" and they reply, "Well, there's not really much I can do... it's pretty bad".

It's like going to the doctor for some illness and you ask him, "How bad is it doc?" and he laughs and says, "Well son, you're gonna die in about 30 days...There's really not a whole lot I can do". It's just awkward.

While I was serving on my mission, our time is planned out down to the hour. I just never got around to getting a haircut. Infact, I didn't get my first haircut until I was six months out! At first nobody noticed because my hair just kept on curling around and around. It never really looked long unless it frizzed out. I took care of this with lots and lots of hair gel. No one could tell.
Then I remember one fateful day. I ran out of hair gel. I did my best to comb it down, but as the day went on... it just kept on poofing, with a vengeance even! We had dinner that night with Jordan Kelly a guy in the branch who was our age and loved to be around us. While we were eating he looked at me all wierd and said, "Elder Price, your hairs pretty long there for a missionary isn't it?" "I ran outta hair gel this morning" I replied sullenly. "You look like Bob Ross!" he laughed. "Shut up!" I shot back. He then told me that he cut hair, and that he would be more than happy to cut mine. I declined and told him that he didn't know what he was up against. My hair makes Godzilla look like a toy dinosaur. He then threw down the gauntlet and said that he was gonna cut my hair sooner or later.

A few weeks passed without incident. I got more hair gel and no one was the wiser. Then came the day of my 21st birthday, it was glorious! My mom had sent me a huge birthday package that included a great cake mix! I was so excited that I took a picture with the cake mix that morning. You will notice that I had not yet done my hair (picture 1)...Yeah I know, I look like freakin' Bob Ross :/ But when I put gel in my hair, it stayed down liked a whipped puppy! (picture 2) and I didn't look half bad.

Later that night, the Nelson's had us over for dinner. I won't tell you what they did to my cake--that's another blog for another time--and Jordan was there. He said it looked like I had gotten a hair cut and it looked good... I just smiled and said "Suuuuuuuuuure". Then later we went over to the Ferree's and again, Jordan tagged along because he liked Kori Ferree. Sister Ferree made a comment about my hair and how my new haircut looked nice. At this point elder Beauchamp piped up said, "What are you talking about? He never got a haircut, but needs one more than anything!". That was all Jordan needed to hear. He ran and got the Ferree's electric razer and pulled me into the bathroom before I could make it out the front door (I tripped).

Half way through that horrific hair cutting, Jordan stopped and said that my hair looked exactly like Kramer's from Seinfeld. That was the best news I had heard all night! So we took a picture. (Picture 3). When all was said and done, I had lost a lot of hair. It was unbelievable! I don't think Big Foot would have lost more hair if we had shaved his whole body! (Picture 4) In hindsight though, I would have to say that my hair looked pretty good. It was quite possibly the best haircut I have ever had.

So now you know a little bit about the untamable devil that is my hair. I have more stories about it. One time I was shaved bald for a summer... I will never do that again! Then of course there was the time when Schuyler Quinley used rubber bands to put little pony tails on every square inch of my head... That was my homecoming date if you can believe it. Sorry, I don't have any

pictures of that one.