Just about everybody goes through an awkward phase at some point in their lives. Whether it’s being super into Minecraft or some awful boy band, rocking a terrible homemade haircut, or just being hopelessly, hilariously dorky in every way, we’ve all had a few family photographs pop up that make us cringe at our clueless younger selves.
These people decided to brave the cruel waters of the Internet and share some of the most cringe-worthy shots from their childhoods and youth days and we have compiled a list of best throwback photographs for the ultimate cringe effect.
1My 1996 HS Yearbook Picture
210 years ago and our first family photo. It looked like we stole someone's kid
3I won an award at school. I was told to dress up for a photo. I thought they meant like in a costume. Cowboy me made all the sense in the world at the time. One moment captured my entire life
4My original 3rd-grade school photo (left). Mom demanded a retake (right) with the instructions 'SMILE! Show some TEETH!' Note which one got framed, and the caption on the envelope
5I thought it would be cool to make KNEX body armor
6My conservative Christian college yearbook Photoshopped my punk rock spikes into a white afro
7I was 10 when I realized people with no bangs had grown them out, not cut them off
8'Ginger hair? Freckles? Pale skin? This kid going to be too popular at school. Can you level the playing field a bit?' - Parents to hairdresser
9My good friend Josh showing off his sais in HS
10I was a 40-year-old woman at 13
11As a 10yr old male, I was a 30yr old lesbian
12My Senior yearbook photo. It was 2002, frosted tips and N Sync were actually cool
13For me, 7th grade school picture day was actually just a field trip to Flavortown
14Why YES!! My vest WAS homemade!
15Right before a brutal transfer from homeschool to public school, circa 2007
16'You’ll regret this senior picture,' said my mom’s boyfriend. Turns out, he was wrong
17Glamour shot blunder (7 years old)
18My Kindergarten picture is definitely the most epic of all my school pictures
19My legs and feet hit puberty before the rest of me
20My friend was 12 going on 45
21Apparently, I didn't know how to smile in first grade
22The blunder brothers, circa 1994. I'm in purple
23Mom: 'You’re going to regret this when you’re older.' Me: 'Hold my Sting.' Senior pictures, summer of ‘04
24The time in sixth grade when I thought it was cool to wear my Naruto headband everywhere - even to school
25My mom says the school asked students to bring something they cared about. While other students brought basketballs or books, I brought Charmander
