diff --git a/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb b/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb
index 48ec198a3..6671a39b8 100644
--- a/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb
@@ -53,22 +53,22 @@ class ApiUsersController < ApiController
   end
 
   def update
-    @user = User.save(params[:id],
-                      current_user.id,
-                      params[:first_name],
-                      params[:last_name],
-                      nil,  # Don't allow changing email here, since updating email is something that must be done through it's own API
-                      nil,  # Don't allow changing password here, since we want to prompt again for the old password
-                      nil,
-                      params[:musician],
-                      params[:gender],
-                      params[:birth_date],
-                      params[:internet_service_provider],
-                      params[:city],
-                      params[:state],
-                      params[:country],
-                      params[:instruments].nil? ? [] : params[:instruments], # we have to convert nil to empty []. background: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14647731/rails-converts-empty-arrays-into-nils-in-params-of-the-request
-                      params[:photo_url])
+
+    @user = User.find(params[:id])
+
+
+    @user.first_name = params[:first_name] if params.has_key?(:first_name)
+    @user.last_name = params[:last_name] if params.has_key?(:last_name)
+    @user.gender = params[:gender] if params.has_key?(:gender)
+    @user.birth_date = Date.strptime(params[:birth_date], '%m-%d-%Y') if params.has_key?(:birth_date)
+    @user.city = params[:city] if params.has_key?(:city)
+    @user.state = params[:state] if params.has_key?(:state)
+    @user.country = params[:country] if params.has_key?(:country)
+    @user.update_instruments(params[:instruments].nil? ? [] : params[:instruments]) if params.has_key?(:instruments)
+
+    puts params[:birth_date]
+    @user.save
+    puts @user.birth_date.inspect
 
     if @user.errors.any?
       respond_with @user, :status => :unprocessable_entity
diff --git a/app/views/clients/_account_profile.html.erb b/app/views/clients/_account_profile.html.erb
index fb1ba66fc..bbd0e8be7 100644
--- a/app/views/clients/_account_profile.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/clients/_account_profile.html.erb
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
             <td valign="top">
               <div class="field">
                 Gender:<br />
-              <select name="gender" data-value="{gender}" class="w80"><option value='M'>Male</option><option value='F'>Female</option><option value="">-</option></select><br />
+              <select name="gender" data-value="{gender}" class="w80"><option value='M'>Male</option><option value='F'>Female</option><option >-</option></select><br />
               <br />
                   </div>
             </td>