new thread
Hello everyone, Haven't posted a picture in awhile so here's one for ya'll. Also I'm wondering if anybody else experiences specific misconceptions about themselves because of their longhair. The major ones I get from people are that I own and ride a motorcycle, use drugs and that I am at Native American. None of these apply to me. Anybody else?
peace, jonalbear
Interesting question! The other one I get all the time is:
You must be a musician-no ( wish I had that talent)
You native american?-yes partly (this one helps shut people up cause they don't want to offend your heritage, sometime they ask what tribe which is cool.
The others you mentioned have not been asked to me directly but I'm sure assumed by some including the question of sexuality (being gay) which in my case is a YES, unfortunately the cute boys never ask that one :-(
Steve, I am a musician so I can't cite that one and you are right the cute boys never ask. In fact I have been questioned at he door of a bar before "You know this is a gay bar don't you?". "Yep, I know. Why I'm here." was my simple reply.
peace, jonalbear
Hi Steve & jonalbear,
GREAT pic there, jonalbear, --- and I remember discussing this very issue on the other board with you as well (a year or so ago, as I recall).
Steve, I live in America's "gay Mecca" (San Francisco, CA), so the exact opposite from your experience happens to me: people assume I'm straight (because my hair is so long), when I'm not, --- as I'm sure you know, the gay community is very obsessed with the short hairstyles, rather than the long...
But in response to both of you....
Yes, I've been asked if I ride a motorcycle (which I don't), --- especially when I have my hair down, & have on my black leather jacket (lol)!!
As far as being mistaken for a drug-user or dealer, that definitely happens in certain neighborhood of SF; but anybody that knows me at all, even just a little bit, figures out pretty quickly that I'm not only drug- and alcohol-free, but also pretty stupid about the topic (lol)!!
- Ken
Ahahaha!
You beat me to it.
Typically yes, but not always, there certainly are individuals who are fans of long hair.
Usually I get that assumption when someone wants to use gay in a negative way...usually I answer whichever way serves my purposes best at the time.
Hey jonalbear
Lucky for myself, misconceptions about me I have never had to contend with. Sorry you receive what you are getting........but perhaps just consider the sources.
Justin~
Well i get many people automatically thinking on seing me that ime a fan of Metal and Guitar playing etc.Fortunatly for me they are correct and alot of the time it wards away the kind of people who i do not want to talk to, and attracts open minded people.
Justin, Thanks for the encouragement. I take it all in stride sources considered! Every once in a while I'll get a Cheech and Chong reference. Usually "Hey Cheech what's happening?" I simply correct then saying. "You meen Chong. I'm Chong!"
peace, jonalbear
People think I'm a programmer (i'm not), and say that I should ride a motorbike, which I will soon as I hit 18. That's pretty much it.
I'd just like to comment on how awesone looking your hair is. It works really well with the beard and glasses and you clearly look after it, so congrats on the great hair :)
derf26, Thanks for the compliments. I do try to take good care of my hair.
peace, jonalbear
Hey Bear: The other day I was at the park. I walked across the playground toward my friend's 3 yo old daughter. My hair was not tied up and the wind was blowing. (get the visual image) She started to cry when she saw me and ran back to her mom. (a typical reaction for an infant). Her Mom's friend said, "she's afraid of you because you have long hair." I questioned her about her comment and she said, "Well, children associate long haired men with criminals." I was like "At 3 YEARS OLD, you've got to be kidding!!!" However, as discussed here before, criminals do sometimes have long hair. Hopefully the children that I know (BTW, I'm a teacher) will have a positive image of a man with long hair. It's too bad that so many of us (myself included) tend to judge a book by it's cover without taking the opportunity to see for ourselves what lies beneath the image. Peace - Bruce
For a three year old, that's pretty incredible :/
Hopefully yoru job as a teacher will open many a young minds ;)
The truth be known, Jonalbear spends lots of his time with criminals.... [grin]
I don't get the motorcycle or Indian comments, but definitely the hippie ones, and both sides of the drug equation (dealer, user). I used to get Jerry Garcia comments, then it shifted to Willie Nelson, and more recently as the beard has grown longer, ZZ Top!
Bill
Hey Bill, thanks for bringing my job into the fray. Yes I do spend a lot of time with criminals every day{8 hours a day 5 days a week) and about 2/3rds of them sport buzzcuts or shaved heads.
Clothes or hair do not make the man.
peace, jonalbear
Hi Bruce, welcome back! That opinion of the child's fears is the woman's perceptions not the child's. The little girl was not afraid of you because of your hair, she was afraid because 3 year olds are that way with everyone not in the family. They are not ready to make those kind of associations at that age.
The other Bruce
btw, I see the summer is treating you well!
Hey Bruce: Good to be back. Thanks. I'm really enjoying my summer and have lots of plans including the Highland Games in the mountains near us. Maybe I'll buy me a kilt!!! I'm calling this the summer of Bruce. Do you watch Seinfeld...? In one episode it was the summer of George. Anyway, I agree with you. The child was not used to seeing me in that environment and didn't recognize me. Her friend, whom I know, comes up with some pretty idiotic stuff sometimes so I just had to "consider the source." Ciao - Bruce'ster
Hey bruce, I would tend to shy away from one nazi mom who speaks for all children. I'm sure buzzcuts and right side parts are much more compassionate.peace, jonalbear
Hey jonalbear, I got this just the other day. I got in a bicycle crash on Friday. I hit a cat. I went to the ER to be checked out. A young tall physician checked me out to make sure I did not have any broken bones. He mentioned that smoking some pot would help ease the pain from my injuries. He was rather surprised when I told him I had not smoked pot in about 20 years.
Absalom
It's been about 27 yrs for me!
peace, jonalbear
It's only been about 15 minutes for me *looks around nervously*
I haven't had any of those reactions to my long hair yet.. But give it time.
Bruce
Great picture, btw
Thanks Scooper(the other bruce)!
peace, jonalbear
i guess it's a little different for a girl, but guys avoid talking to me all the time because they think i'm some super prissy preppy chick. in the real world, i'm pretty much the opposite of that. most of the time i don't even remember to comb my hair, but people think i must be like marsha brady sitting around counting out 500 brush strokes. ugh.
peace,
nic
(a long-haired sister)
Also I'm wondering if anybody else experiences specific misconceptions about themselves because of their longhair.
----- reply ----
I got asked the other day "what tribe am I from?"
The assumption being that I am native american, I am not.
This was from a 60 year old man.
I do race motorcyles and play music. I don't do drugs.
DavidL
There are a long list of possible stereotypes:-
Hippie - I'd say I'm more of a freak, but hippie is close enough
Drug user - I refuse to answer
Biker - I used to ride motorcycles, and maybe will again one day
Musician - I used to sing in a band, but never gave up my day job
Headbanger - I like headbanging music, but not exclusively
Computer geek - I'm not really, but I've an Electrical Eng degree
Native American - No, and I've never been mistaken for one
Gay - No, and those I know in real life have short hair
I fit multiple long hair stereotypes, but I don't think of any of the above as bad, even if some other people do.
OK, drug use is a special case, as I would draw a line beyond which it becomes bad news.
OTOH, I once lived near a guy who was a (recovering?)heroin addict, and spent many happy hours chatting with him and listening to him play guitar and sing songs he had written himself. There's no denying that his life was messed up, and the fact that he was a squatter in an abandonned building was not irrelevant, but he was not a threat to anyone. YMMV.
In the summer when I'm tan I get the Indian tribe question sometimes - I grin and tell them the "Shock and Awe"
I seldom get the hippie question, I think thats because of the business suit though, but they do think I am a defense attorney.
I guess suit + long hair = criminal defense attorney for some people.
There's that association with criminals again. I've noticed that in movies and TV shows, many of the few longhairs we see are in roles as criminals. The percentage of criminals among longhairs in those segments of the media is far disproportionately above the percentage of longhairs who are criminals in real life.
They got rid of the Frito Bandido because Mexican people complained that the character caused people to think of Mexicans as criminals. Maybe it's time we raise a similar stink about the over-portrayal of longhairs as criminals.
This of course would not mean that we will see those longhairs in "good" roles instead. It would probably mean that we'd just see less employment opportunities for longhair actors. [sigh]
So what's a mother to do?
Bill
Bill, Don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys!
nm
Main thing I've noticed is that when I had short hair, I was often called "sir" by shop assistants, at restaurants etc, but now it's changed to "dude". Also people are a lot ruder ie push in fromt of me in queues etc, shop assistants eg when buying petrol won't say thanks a lot of the time, just look at me as if my credit card is going to decline when they swipe it.
Oh well.
MattT, I get "dude" or "chief" a lot nowadays.
peace, jonalbear
People call me a hippy all the time, which is funny because:
a) My hair is not even very long
b) I usually dress very preppy,
This younger guy with a shaved head was sitting at my bar the other day, making fun of my hair. Not a huge deal, I'm used to that and I kind of ignored him, until he said something inappropriate to one of my female employees. After that, I cut him off. He got mad at me, then proceeded to start a fight with an absolute stranger for no apparent reason. When our door guy finally got him subdued and cuffed, he kept screaming about how "it's all that long-haired hippy bartender's fault!"
Yep, I've had a few. One happened after a drug test for my job. My dad's the boss there, and one day I come home to him telling me "Greg, you're messed up. You're really screwed up." I ask "Why?" and he replies "You're 18 years old, hair down to here *taps chest* and don't do drugs." (obviously the test was negative)
It was a joke - especially as he's a former longhair who's admitted to me that he's smoked pot before - but still, I thought it was funny.
jonalbear, I've been a lurker on the board for about a year, this is my first time posting. The most common misconception that I get is that people think I'm a lady(obviously not applicable), and frankly, I don't mind. I'll post a picture if I can, but those statements are more common a day or so after I shave, though I have a beard now. The next most common is gay, and yeah, most the gay people I know have short hair.