I do not know if there even is a country where the rat-tail hairstyle doesn’t exist but if you were born there, I cannot trust your understanding of the world as accurate. Seeing the haircut changes a person for the rest of their life and I can say, without hyperbole, that my childhood would not have been the same without the deep and profound effect the rat-tail had on my perception of reality. It doesn’t use some girly hair-tie, it needs a dirty rubber band. It can be free flowing or in a braid so tight that it can never be unbraided. My enemies had them, my friends had them and two of my teachers had them. I even think I remember one of the Presidents in the early 1990s having one. President Dusty, right?
It doesn’t even matter. The point is that not a day goes by that I don’t look back fondly at the rat-tail. I may not have ever had one or thought they were in any way flattering, but it continues to be a source of never ending joy for me. If anyone wants to relive the good old days of BMX bikes, haircuts that don’t play by the rules and no-sleeve shirts, here is a seriously disturbing website that celebrates boys that still support the rat-tail lifestyle. I’m not sure if it is supposed to be funny, I am only sure that it is.
You Monsters Are People. 
It’s…it’s…rat-tail porn! That is very disturbing!
Yeah, I hope the authorities kept an eye on that website’s author.
Although, it is their legal right to be a total creep.
Considering how many of the boys are half-clothed…I certainly hope so.
Terrifying.
I think you meant to type “sensual yet dignified and important.”
Haha well I was actually responding to the comment about that website. I too have fond memories of the rat tail from my youth…
I agree, although he might not approve this comment! Hahaha! I hadn´t thought of the rat tail in a long time. I still prefer guys with long hair.
You’re right about that being a disturbing website – I got the creep vibe from it :) But I really liked your post!
I wear the rat tail to this day – it really pissed off my dad! :)
God Bless!
Prenin.
Don’t cut it. While I don’t understand it and NONE of my friend’s moms (or mine) let us have them, I think it’s totally okay for anyone to have any hairstyle they want. We don’t all need to look the same and wear the same outfits, so I’m glad to know that you express your individuality via your style to this day.
I dare not go to that site. I once was lured into visiting the website celebrating Zubaz pants. I have not yet recovered…
i absolutely agree !!!
There was just one boy in my primary school who had a rat tail – he was three years above me, but I still remember it and his name (and clearly not for the right reasons!)
First love?
Er, no!
*shudder* Did anyone else hear the banjo sound from Deliverance or was it only I? Egads. Please pass the mind bleach.
I think it was far more sinister than that.
I can’t believe you leave us all with these images for the weekend. Piglet.
Funny Posky,
I did a post not too long ago about the hairdos I proudly sported throughout the years, and le rat tail was one of them. I did. Yes. I. Did.
Le Clown
It’s an important style. I always though it would be cool to get a lightning bolt shaved into the side of my head.
You can’t have been to New Zealand recently. The Rat Tail and the Mullet are both still alive and well!
Reblogged this on Sink the Boat and commented:
While I think I had something like a rat-tail in the very early 90s, it’s not as hilarious as the chumps who rocked them in the mid-90s… CHUMPS!
Awesome…
I love BMX bikes and the kids who ride them. I love watching them try to fix their bikes with a rock. It makes the rat-tail thing so much better.
Haircuts that don’t play by the rules – hysterical
Great ode to the redneck ponytail!
It just felt like it was past due.
Is a thin ponytail the same as a rattail?
When are you done with Cat Diary part 10?
Hey now…
In the early ’80s, I recall following the “trend” exhibited by many of my girlfriends: It was a bi-level haircut. With a tail.
I was HOT.
;)
That’s back in in some circles and on the right person totally still works for me.
yuppie class waannbe considered ex hippes(no way)think they’re making their white boy hip, Maybe at the mall and soccer but it stops there.
I’ve seen it on just about everyone and I feel like it is a look that looks equally good on all races, sexes and age groups.
I was all geared up to write something clever and then, doing due diligence, clicked the link. Wow. WTF was that. Whatever it was, it totally cleaned my clock. Gummo moment. I have nothing else to say.
Dear … ugh. That link!
Before I strayed there, I was going to tell you: I wore a rat-tail for part of a summer as a kid. I only remember it, I think, because my grandfather razzed me about it every day–with good humor, though I believe he hated it a lot more than he let on. When I had it cut, I taped it to a piece of paper and gave it to him. He proudly displayed it on his refrigerator for some time, a memento, perhaps, of his victory over the atrocious fashion sense of a youngster.
Jeff, if I walked into someone’s home and saw a severed rat-tail taped to their fridge I’m not sure if I would think it was undeniably cool or subtly upsetting.
Well, you were right about the link; seriously disturbing. I’ve never really thought the rat tail was a thing of beauty but now it has a whole other awkward thing going on…
Nice to see you um…, popping up on Freshly Pressed, Posky. As a science blog, no less! You have new street cred! =)
I’ve actually been Freshly Pressed three times. I think someone that is in charge has a crush on me, which is totally fine with me.
I’m not sure if this counts as a science blog but it sort of feels right, doesn’t it?
It’s perfect! Like the gravy on the poutine pizza…
I can’t express enough how not sold I am on poutine pizza.
The author of that blog has taken a really strong stance on braided rat-tails for someone who has a blog about rat-tails.
This may be one of the best comments I have read on the subject.
That website is a little creepy. Nice blog though.
I’d be willing to bet that at least half of those kids cut their own hair. They look all nail-scissored.
love it!
HAHA! Here in our place it’s called “tingkoy”. And it’s considered cute by the majority, in toddlers at least. XD
Be honest…you had one too, didn’t you Posky?
Yeah, I knew it.
I’ve had roughly the same hairstyle sine I’ve been ten and, before that, it was short on the sides and combed neatly over to the side.
I feel like you’re not telling me something….like the fact that you also had a long whisp of hair that started at the nape of your neck and fell gracefully down your back.
I feel like you just need to be honest about it… ;)
They all look like white trash punks. I can just see their mothers, skimpily clad, leaning lazily against the open door of the family double-wide, her favorite cigarette dangling from her lips with a mason jar of whiskey in the other hand, yelling obscenities at the boy’s father in yesterday’s wife-beater covered in grease hiding under the 20-year old Chevy up on blocks in the front “yard”.
You just made them sound infinitely cooler.
I had a friend who wore won of these. Who moved to the uk after stealing my Pokemon cards…
Your life growing up sounds pretty awful.