This Man Braved Some Of The Century’s Worst Hair, All For Your Amusement

I’m pretty sure if we all look through old photos of ourselves, we can probably pick out at least one period of truly questionable hair choices. Depending on your age, you might have rocked the beehive, the shag, the crimp, or that terrible eggplant color everyone seemed to like in the late 90s (just me?). And that goes for guys and gals. Yeah, dudes, we’ve seen your mullet.

In an act of staggering bravery, two men decided to recreate these iconically bad hairdos. Photographer Terry Brown and photographer and (in this case) model Gordon Stettinius put together a collection of truly terrible hair decisions in a book called Mangini Studio. They include everything you can think of, including male, female, and unisex styles, and required serious dedication on Stettinius’ part; he cut, dyed, permed, shaved, and dreadlocked his hair into one terrifying construction after another. The entire book took eight years to complete.

There are 51 pictures in the complete book, and besides the hair, Stettinius also goes to town with costumes and poses, creating characters to go with each hairstyle. And not only did he have to put up with the terrible hair, so did his family. He profusely thanks his wife for “her forbearance throughout the various looks that I brought home with me at the end of each day.” But his wife seems game, or at least completely supportive. “I believe she knew what she was signing up for as we first met on a night when I was sporting a comb-over, a crucifix, and two spray tans.”