Mike
Oh man, I know a thing or two about the “blunder years.” In the early 2000s, I was deep in my awkward phase, desperately trying to look like Mark McGrath with frosted tips, a puka shell necklace, and way too much hair gel.
It was a rough time for all of us, and the folks on r/BlunderYears are here to prove it. They’ve shared their most cringeworthy, hilarious photos from those awkward years when we all made some choices.
So, if you’ve ever rocked a regrettable haircut or a questionable fashion trend, these nostalgic pictures will feel like a warm, cringey hug.
1. I was going through my goth phase while being the only Pakistani kid in my rural North Carolina high school in 2003.
2. 1991, off to my high school graduation ceremony.
3. 14yo Me in 2004… Thats what I wore while tearing down the old trailer….new trailer in the back.
4. My wife kickin’ it with her dad in the early 90s
5. The first photo is when we were all around 13 years old. Last is at my friend’s wedding last year.
6. 10 year old me in my Hannah Montana wig.
7. Thankfully I grew into my face.
8. 2008, this was my everyday winter coat & casual hair.
9. My twin bro and I went through the blunder years together.
10. I went out in public like this. On December 2nd.
11. I drank out of a hamster water bottle for my entire first year of college.
12. 1989 I was so excited for the new recycling program to start that I wanted to be recycling for Halloween.
13. 2008 I was so proud of my hair.
14. Myspace band pic 2007. We couldn’t agree if we wanted to sound more like Cobra starship or suicide silence. So we combined it.
15. Seeing how many of us we can fit in conjoining doors of hotel room.
16. What 12-year-old me considered peak fashion.
17. 2011 homecoming.
18. 8th grade
19. My mom convinced me to dye my hair blonde and take a picture with my teacher in high school 2007.
20. Yall have blunders, but do you have anime convention going J-fashion loving weeb blunders?
21. 17 year old me thought getting my hands and knuckles tattooed was peek coolness.
22. I went like this to school at 15yo, and genuinely didn’t understand why I was bullied.
23. 8th grade graduation, 2 months after a teacher tried to get me expelled for having blue hair.
24. Got my hair & makeup done at Libby Lu at the mall for my birthday. I thought I was so cool.
25. 2005/6. Believed I was part of Kings of Leon and cut my own fringe with a Stanley knife. Wow.
26. My mother absolutely roasted me by sending this pic in a massive group text.
27. My future mother-in-law made 11 year old me pose with some zucchini she grew because she was proud of it (1997). The “zucchini photo” is now infamous in our house.
28. A home perm. I had several. This was one of them.
29. I am NOT scene do not EVER call me that.
30. Mistaken for a substitute teacher at least once in junior high.
31. The year was 2011. This kid taught me what heartbreak was. lol.
32. Halloween 1997, I insisted on going as a generic can of whipped cream and mom delivered.
33. This was a photoshoot I did in 2010.
34. It’s 2005. Guess how many viruses I could fit on this bad boy?
35. I arranged this photoshoot with a friend circa 2006. I didn’t even have Tumblr.
36. We liked twilight before it was cool.
