Posted by elektros (other posts) on March 14, 2017 at 19:07:29 Previous Next
In Reply to: The 1970s were a long hair friendly decade posted by Josh on December 22, 2016 at 14:23:12:
: I can't imagine what it might have been like to go to school during the 1960s and being suspended and told to visit the barber shop before returning to school.
: I think the 1960s are vastly OVERRATED while the 1970s, a more freedom oriented decade are vastly UNDERRATED.
: would you not agree?
I suppose it depends where you were. As a child of the 60s in England I probably had a fringe before the Beatles did, and yet people called that style long. It wasn't of course. Mind you, crew cuts were either an American thing or something a Victorian prisoner had.
Moving on, the standard men's hair style in the 70s was shoulder length. We thought that was long too, but it wasn't. I grew mine to shoulder length circa 1972.
I only really decided to grow my hair really long circa 1980-something. This was in response to a comment from a female co-tenant that it was only 'long for a guy'. She was right of course, and I took it as a challenge.
However, I still got mild flak for having long hair for a very long time after that. Still do, though ironically it all comes from either my wife or my mother! Their reasons differ. My mum just doesn't like long hair past shoulders on anyone of either gender. My wife, OTOH, thinks my hair is past it's prime, and I shouldn't have it this long any more.
IME the 70s was an easy time to have shoulder length hair, because, for example, if someone wanted to hire for a job they would have had a really hard time finding any candidates with hair shorter than that. And yet, some still wished to share their opinion that they didn't like male hair even that long. There is always someone, isn't there?
There was this bald guy I worked with in the 80s who was constantly carping about my hair. Mind you, (a) he was bald; and (b) he was on the exact same pay grade as me, although quite a bit older, so in no position to affect my employment.
Later on I had a boss who said I ought to get a haircut, but when I declined he said it was 'just a suggestion', and it never came up again. I think that falls along the lines of not looking trendy enough, although why employers think that is something they can make suggestions on, I'm not sure.