new thread
Hi,
I'm doing a project on 'how can hairstyles define identity?' and I was just wondering how you feel your long hair defines you as a person?
I wouldn't be me without it, quite simply.
Nothing more to say on it really.
It can help- but I'd hope that a person is more than just a hairstyle.
For me, the long hair symbolizes an open-mindness, tolerance, deep feeling nonconformity and disagreement with "commonness", and a symbolic additional head space for extended consciousness :o) My part, what is really mine and no-one can take it (without being hit by a chair). Also, in Freudish sense it may be a cover from outer world, because I'm an introvert person.
I believe hair is only a representation of what someone wants to show to the world. Someone may shave their head or grow it long; but spirituality, personality, etc. is birthed from the heart.
However, I think hair can be used to reflect someone's ideologies and thoughts and most definately be used to make whatever statement they want as well...
Just my thoughts though..
Peace.
Tristan
My hair is part of who I am but I don't think it defines me. I would be the same person without it. People tend to be defines by their occupation more than anything. My hair no doubt affects how I'm perceived by others who have not gotten to know me.
Kevin
I dont feel that having long hair has anything to do with what kind of person you are. It is part of my identity, but it doesnt make me a different person than I would be with short hair. I suppose it would define me as someone who doesnt bow down to what others think.
There's a saying among longhairs that a longhair gets as much growth under his scalp as he does above it, when he grows out his hair. That saying is very much in line with what I just read.
We have guys on this board who are as greatly driven to have long hair as are transgenders for a sex change, and we have other guys who see their long hair as a mere fashion statement. And we have guys who fall everywhere in between those two extremes. Longhairs are a diverse lot! We tend to be individuals, and we tend to be guys who "own themselves". That is a cornerstone of our identity.
We've found that certain topics come up so often on this board that the moderators do not consider them to be "off topic". Discussing rock bands is an example. So many longhairs are interested in such topics that we consider them to be "on topic" as part of longhair culture.
That there is a single word for longhaired men, "longhairs", speaks to society's feelings that we are a distinct group, and that we are often singled out for different treatment also does. As does your idea to do your project on this very topic does. [grin]
Good luck with your project!
Bill
I am who I am with or without my hair, but i much prefer to have my hair!!!!I AM a longhair!! Besides, I think I look better with longhair.
peace
clayton
This is a short post which leaves me wondering. It's a loaded question really - whether the dog wags the tail or the tail wags the dog.
What's your thesis, and what are you trying to argue? For it to be a good project, you need to take a position and argue strongly in its favor for the project to have a strong rhetorical effect.
Narrow your topic down and get back to us, you may get more effective responses then so that you can get empirical evidence to support your project. If you need help figuring out how to document this web site and a certain thread in your paper or project, I'll be glad to help
I've had long hair since the Beatles inspired me to grow it.
So my long hair defines my identity as a long hair male.
Hi Joss, long hair means I am an individual. It makes me unique. My full length hair gives me an identity as a natural person as well. This is the way God intended it.
Absalom
Hi Joss,
I feel that it's helped my self-esteem because it's something that I want to do and I did it in defiance of other people's wishes...not that that's a big deal for me, but it was when I was living with my parents when I was a kid. When I was younger, longhairs always got a bad rap. I decided to grow my hair just to prove that longhairs are good people...I think this board is evident of that.
So, how does long hair define my identity? Fun-loving and down to earth. Plain and simple...the way it was meant to be.
Take care and keep it growin', y'all!
Brett
Interesting project, Joss. In my opinion, hair certainly can help define our EXTERIOR sense of our identity; but our internal sense of who we are and what our place is in the world goes much deeper than any bodily aspect of ourselves.
Here's an example of what I mean by the above statement:
When I was a kid growing up in the conservative Midwest part of the USA, my ex-military father forced me and my brothers to have buzz cuts every summer. I hated them! For as long as I can remember, I had a burning longing (and I do mean, BURNING) to have long hair; but there was no way in hell I could ever be allowed to do that, as long as I lived in my father's house, --- so even all through high school, which for me was during the late 1960s and early '70s, I was forced to wear my hair short. My father also hated hippies, and regularly voiced his didgust of long hair on men. I knew better than to speak up and verbally disagree with him, so my only solution was to leave that house when I turned 18. My point in narrating all of this is that all during my time as a kid I had very short hair, visibly obvious on the outside; but on the INSIDE of me, even then I was a "longhair" at heart!
Another example is that of guys who go bald... Some decide to keep whatever amount of hair they have long, in spite of society thinking it looks "funny" (which I personally admire them for doing what they most sincerely want to do); while other guys may shave their head, or at least go to some "short style", --- but on the inside of them, they still relate to themselves as being a longhair at heart!
For all of us that feel we identify ourselves as at least "longhairs at heart" (whether or not our protein follicles are actually long), hair never is our ENTIRE sense of our being and identity. My favorite pasttime, for instance, is to go out dancing (I do a lot of partner dancing: C&W, Swing, Salsa, Ballroom...), --- so I self-idetify myself as, "a dancer". I also do gardening and landscaping jobs, so will refer to myself as "a gardener". I also have a part-time cooking job which I love, so I'm happy to identify myself as, "a good cook"! I'm also a big fan of National Parks and Nature Preserves, as well as the outdoors in general, --- and used to do an extensive amount of camping & bak-packing when I was younger. I also have an interest in Bible studies (even though I no longer belong to any church). And the list goes on & on about things that make up my own identity (in my own mind, at least), --- things that have no connection to long hair, and where I have friends who enjoy those same activities that are all predominantly short-haired!
Then again, if you would be interested in reading a HUMOROUS answer to your question...
Go to my website. After reading the intro page, click on my "Mane Page", ---- now THAT'S what i REALLY think about long hair (lol)!!