I figured it was about time I made a picture of Gale before he finished growing his hair out.
The reason he grew it out in the first place was because of the scar on his eye. He got it protecting Lily when they were little kids, and he had it in his head that it was cruel of him to leave his eye exposed for her to remember what happened every time she saw him. So ya, he chose to hide it behind his hair instead of an eyepatch because "eyepatches are too showy."

He's probably about 9 or 10 in this picture.