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I am 4O years old and teacher and have never had long hair. I am really interested in fashion and saw during the last few months more guys with long hair in fashion magazines. They were really nice and I get interested in long hair for men. So I found this message board and it was a really support for me. Thanks to all these messages, I decided to grow out my hair for the first time in may life. My aim is shoulder length.
I know it would very difficult as teacher to wear long hair and that the awkward stage would take a long time.
Can somebody give me advice and support?
How long will it take to have long hair, my hair is short!
Thanks a lot!
it helps if you attach a pic so we can see how long your hair is now. don't worry about the awkward stage you might feel weird but no one realy cares. How do you want to grow it? all one length in front sides and back is in style now. best deal but it takes longer is to let it grow when it gets sloppy get a slight trim to clean it up then let that go and do it again it's like taking 2 steps fwd and 1 step back but it keeps you cleaner loking. since its summer vaca dont bother with any cuts till the day b4 school starts
hope this helps dude
Your wrong. Kids are MERCILESS. Unless your control of the classroom is absolute, the brats will notice anything and everything, and use it against you in either loud or subtle ways....
I personally would grow it out no matter what, but some other people might hesitate. Consider this: if your hair is straight, growing it out will be easier to get away with in the classroom. If it's poofy, well, kids love to grow afros, then hate them, then cut their own, then make fun of anyone else's afro.
But still. Some kids just have Attention Deficit Disorder. If you were to get a haircut to please them, they'd STILL be an ass sore. Just that they'd make fun of something else instead of your hair. If you either a) have absolute control of the class; or b) don't give a shit about the 'bad' kids, grow for it.
If not, consider this with more depth.
Paco, please--absolute control? Surely you are not a teacher. My experience is that a teacher who even attempts something called absolute control was an asshole before he/she ever walked in the building and deserve whatever grief the kids can think of to dish out. My experience is that kids are fascinated when we choose to reveal our real selves to them. That is what makes teaching powerful and wonderful, as the kids are already inundated by a culture that tries to control them, fails at it, and then convinces them to wear all kinds of masks. Kids who taunt a teacher are begging him/her to be real. Most teachers won't be real, so the mutual lack of respect spirals down. Sorry, this is not much about hair, but you stepped into a big pile of what goes on every day in classrooms everywhere, long hair or not.
Robert
I am a sixteen year old teenager, with hair that can't fit through most doors. That said, Robert, I plead no contest to what you say about the teachers who have absolute control. They are assholes with either no self-confidence or too much of it. I personally think humans were not meant to learn in an institution, but by experience. However, there are kids who have a bad home life, who have ADD, are depressed, or for whatever reason; who say the same things I do. But then, when they get a 'real' teacher, they diss his afro or something. It's a horrible cycle. The whole school system needs to be destroyed and rebuilt from nothing, but that's a whole other story.
Teachers who get a facist control of the classroom have things in common. A conversative appearence, a systematic tone of life, a powerful (though imbelished) voice, and...NO MAJOR IMPERFECTIONS. They can be ugly all over, but they never have one things that sticks out. These teachers can grow the fro with less difficulty, though. However, they WILL get reprecussions from the kids for doing something unique. Teachers who have absolute control, therefore, NEVER HAVE ANYTHING UNIQUE about them.
The good, nice teacher gets walked all over like an ant. The very rare excellent, memoriable teacher, is the only teacher who will find growing an afro to be easy. This unique teacher is ALWAYS MEMORIABLE BECAUSE THIS TEACHER WAS UNIQUE. However, this teacher still falls under category two of teachers to grow their hair...
b) If you don't give a shit what other people say
Thing is, a unique teacher is a memoriable teacher. Unique people are not ashamed to grow their hair out, or do whatever they want to do.
Touche! You see things very clearly. Thank you.
Robert
Peter, I am 41 and a teacher. I began growing my hair long last October with a slight trim in early December. No cutting since then. I can now wear my hair in a ponytail with the help of some spray to hold the sides in place. It is a very neat look, which will be important when school starts back. My experience with the awkward stages so far have not been too awful. My hair is thick and apparently slightly wavy (who knew with short hair). For what it's worth, I checked all my school's written policies about teacher dress and professional requirements. Nothing about hair at all. I am going in next week for a photo for a faculty directory. We'll see what the reaction is as no one has seen me with the ponytail yet.
I have found much of the writing here helpful in considering how to respond to poeple about my hair. I have developed a perspective, that hair is a part of my body, and while style and appearance can be negotionable in the workplace, changing my body is not negotiable. The length of my hair is not a qualification or a disqualification of my abilities as a teacher. I am a good teacher and I know that. My hair length will not change that. I also muse on this: who has had the nerve to speak to one of my female colleagues about the color, style, length or quality of her hair? No one in his right mind would go there.
Where do you teach, and what, and at what age level?
Robert
Robert,
Thanks a lot for your information and congratulations with your ponytail. It is nice to have support from other teachers.
I teach in an European college and I am responsible for social sciences. My students are 18 years old.
I am just starting the growth process and I hope within one year to have long hair.