new thread
I am 17, a few years ago I started wondering why I went to cut my hair every two weeks and why I had that style for so long, I didn't like it or choose it. My dad just told the barber to cut my hair like that and I went and got it cut the same way again and again and again.
Then I thought, I want something different. So I chose to bee a skin-head, now I want to be a long hair. But with every time I get the same responses, like: why is your hair so short ? now it's: You are going to have your hair as long as girls hair ?
Over and over again I get the same repsonses from different people, why do they all have the same Idea about the "right" way hair should be. It's not like they sat down and actually thought that it looks better or that its more practical or whatever. They are just doing what everybody else is doing, and rejecting people that want to do stuff differently.
The more negative responses I get, the more proud I am for not following the herd, and for standing up for what I see is best for me.
Be proud, you are a longhair.
Peace
Leito
Are you just setting out to grow your hair?
No, I've been growing for some time now. But whenever someone asks why I haven't gotten a haircut (since I've been a skin head for so long they wonder about it) and I tell them that I am growing my hair long I get a negative comment, didn't get any supportive ones yet. And I always see people making fun of long hairs in the street, and calling them gay.
Peace
Leito
Yeah, the disliking of long hair probably started about 1200 years ago, at least there is a legend about Libuse, the seer countess (who started building the Prague city). She once judged two neighbours who argued for some field. She agreed with the younger one and the older neighbour said in anger something like "a shame to the men ruled by a woman...long hair - short mind!" This is maybe one of historical roots of these social problems.
And the coming era of christianity just made it worse. So, nothing new under the sun. When someone says bad stuff about the long-haired people, its an ancient behavior model which is really good to bury in history.
Well... For us it may be that we grow our hair because we feel more ourselves with it. But turn that perspective around - I'm sure that are a lot of people that feel most themselves with the short hair they have - they wouldn't want to trade it for a skin head or long hair.
The trend, however, is short hair. As a skin head OR long hair you will definately get some attention from the "normal" crowd. I think it's something psychological. They don't like what they don't know or don't understand. So that's why such a lot of us are getting (negative) responeses.
I think people simply feel more comfortable when there are people around them that are like them - just as much as we like to be around other longhairs. If someone starts growing his hair out, he is no longer part of the group, and some people feel uncomfortable with this change.
So, I conclude that it's not simply being a drone and acting to "the system's will", I think it's also something psychological. Either way,
I found that people who are more intelligent (please do not confuse this with "ease to learn") have less problems with long hair. They can put it into perspective and guess that the longhair simply has long hair because he likes it, and that length of hair doesn't really matter as to what kind of person the longhair is.
Imagine if longhaired men were predominent and people made fun of short hairs.
Cultures over the past thousand years have had different hairstyles. Hell, back in
the seventies and sixties most men had long hair. It's not that long haired men are
that freakishly different, its just a cultural cycle. Who knows? In a hundred years or so long hair may be the common style for men again, and we won't stand out all the much. It's just a matter of perspective.