new thread
After reading all this crud about managers having issues with male employees in regard to hair length, I began to wonder if different lengths of longer-than-traditional hair provoke different responses. Would it be easier for someone to criticize a person with shoulder-length hair rather than a person with a length of mid back or more? Is there a point in the growing process when people begin to take a more pleasant stance toward your hair? Does the "awkward stage" last longer in the perceptions of others even if you feel you're long passed it? I'd imagine that shoulder-length hair would be more problematic than longer hair because of, perhaps, a shaggier appearance if the hair is especially thick and/or curly. Maybe it's that the longer your hair is, the more respect you will get from regular people. Oh I don't know. I'm not a psychologist. What's your take on this?
Just some info about me:
I'm 19 years old and I've been growing my hair for two years from a mushroom. My bangs are already creeping toward my chest, but because of my previous mushroom cut, the back is only slightly longer. No "V" for me. By the time I'll be done with college, my hair will be at mid back. Sorry, no photos until I'm at mid back. Remember to SCREW THE HATERS.
Well because my hair is curly, and only shoulder length, when i ponytail it , it looks like a giant mothball at the back of my head, not really a 'tail'. Some people even asked if i was growing a mullet before :p
haha, this board is hilarious!!
Hmm, I've thought of this before. You certainly have a point - a little boy with waist-length hair probably actually won't be as pressed for a haircut by his immediate peers/family, and more so for, say, a middle-aged man. But why?
Now first off, remember that this isn't an absolute; it'll vary from person to person. But one possibility is that it's a sort of inherent subconscious thing - longer hair has long been a symbol of superior status in war, particularly, I believe, for the Japanese and Africans (note that European knights are often depicted with awkward-stage hair). So we may be in 2006, but the old awing fear of long hair is still in us. The effect of such fear would probably exist more with the older longhaired crowd, from teenagers up. A little kid wouldn't be perceived as a great threat, just a potential one. Dreadlocks might create a greater such effect.
The other possibility is respect, be it subconscious like the fear, or conscious because the person realizes how long it must've taken to grow the hair. Most people don't really know the rate at which hair grows, so waist-length hair might be a decade of dedicated growing to them. All this just enhances the respect.
A third possibility is that the people have seen how far you've gone with your hair, and that it's probably too late to ask you to go get a haircut. The hair's obviously a long-term project, a part of you, and haircuts aren't likely. Maybe they even think the hair's become part of your image, and it looks good.
And that last one brings up an obvious forth - maybe they just like your hair.:P But you're right - they're more likely to be accepting if your hair is neat, although some might interpret a high level of neatness as obsession with your hair. Eh, can't please everyone.
I'm a curly-hair myself, and my hair can be pretty untidy when loose. When my hair is waist-length, I don't think it'll be quite as untidy anymore, lol. Hopefully.
HTH, dude. Peace
...Would it be easier for someone to criticize a person with shoulder-length hair rather than a person with a length of mid back or more?...
That's actually true! I remember some years back on this board that somebody with waist-length hair posted that their boss was getting onto another co-worker about needing a haircut, but the boss said to the poster, that it didn't apply to him, of course.
When a guy has really long hair, their bosses know that they'll never cut it for them, so they don't even try.
After a while, length reaches a point where a boss knows the employee is already a lost cause. Though, it also has to do with the assuredness a man carries himself with and that can happen at any length.
Elizabeth
I have a theory that the hair haters are usually just torqued off because they can't grow long themselves. Think about it--they're usually people into control, who couldn't grow long if they wanted to, because of jobs, lots of associates who are hair haters, wives who won't let them, or maybe they're bald. My experience has been that this is usually the case with businessmen, guys who are used to bossing people around, but you don't work for them so they can't control you and that p***es them off.
