In Search of the Ronaldo Haircut

The world’s top soccer player Christiano Ronaldo always sets the latest trend when he shows up at training sessions, press conferences and matches – always, his new hairdo can set social media networks abuzz – he has 41,114,777 followers on Twitter.

Ronaldo, the Portuguese captain and reigning world player of the year, sparked a flurry of tweets when he emerged from the dressing room for Sunday’s match against the United States with what looked like a lightning bolt shaved into the side of his head. It also sent legions of young boys rushing to the barber chair, smartphone image in hand to give the stylist something to work with. My son Joey was one of those boys. The problem is where you go to get a Ronaldo haircut. This dilemma actually appeared last year, when we attempted to get the right cut somewhere on the Eastern Shore.

This may seem like a trivial matter, however, the Cape Charles Mirror believes that a good cut is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. A good hairstyle can absolutely transform a person from simple boring to sexy and mysterious. While the effect is certainly external, the real transformation is internal, bolstering confidence and self-esteem. Appearance is a major factor in everything – it is much more important to look good than it is to feel good. The fastest way to go from simple to fabulous is by finding the right stylist. Never underestimate the power of a good haircut.

Our quest to find a stylist that could ‘Ronaldo’ Joey took an unexpected turn last winter during the play Barefoot in the Park. Our stylist and makeup expert for the show was Hope Wolffe of Unique Graphics right here in Cape Charles. During the show, we asked her to do some odd things, like try and dye what is left of my hair dark brown, and more importantly take Carter Parks’ wild rat’s nest and tame it into a conservative 1960s doo. During rehearsals, my son came up to me with his phone and showed me a picture of the latest Ronaldo style, “Dad, I really need to have my hair cut like that.”
“You really ‘need’ to have it cut like that?”
“Yes. I need it!”
Then I thought, “Hey, I bet Hope could do that.”
“Joey,” I said. “I think I know just the person to do it.”

Hope is a very modest person, she once told me, “I’m very, very, very good at what I do.” With this knowledge in hand, I was confident that this time, we would finally be successful in ‘Ronaldoing’ Joey. I was right – with Ronaldo Instagram photo in hand, Hope matched the style strand for strand; it was perfect, and we were finally able to help Joey fulfill his inward dreams by outwardly resembling Christiano Ronaldo. Hope Wolffe is very, very, very good at what she does.

There may be more to this than we think. The next day, Joey came back from the field and exclaimed, “Dad, I really play so much better with this new haircut! My footwork is better, my cuts and breaks are faster, and I have more power on the free kicks!”

Like I said, never underestimate the power of a good haircut.