new thread
Yesterday a friend of mine and I were discussing reasons why far more
women than men grow their hair long, even in an area where socially,
people are allowed to do pretty much anything they want (we live in
Seattle...) and the best objective reason I could come up with is that
women don't have to deal with beards. (hence the punny subject)
Let's face it, a man with long hair is not scruffy and unkempt. A man
with a beard is not scruffy and unkempt. A man with long hair and a
beard has to work really hard to avoid being really scruffy.... and
shaving is a complete pain when you have long hair. Trimming is
nearly as much of a pain. But facial hair style which look fine on
someone with short hair (five-o-clock shadow, a shaggy goatee, a
well-brushed full beard) turn someone with long hair into Charlie
Manson.
Personally, I have a well-trimmed beard, which I have to make sure I
trim once a week, in addition to shaving the areas I don't want facial
hair (under my chin, middle of my cheek) once or twice a week, if I
don't want to look unprofessional. I know that if I had short hair,
half the attention to my beard would be as passable.
Thinking about this, I'm sure there are men out there who'd be more
willing to grow their hair longer if it didn't make for such a total
pain shaving or trimming a beard, and letting a beard grow out look so
incredibly unkempt.
-Coyote Pup
As a longhair and now a longbeard, I can say that your statement, at least for me is true up to a point. However, I think that like hair, beards look less unkempt (more kempt?) as they pass a certain threshold length. Once you exceed several inches, it become clear that you are not simply lazy but have a long beard as an actual style.
I've had another thought about this subject: men tend to cut their hair because of male-pattern baldness. Let me explain. A significantly higher percentage of men are bald or partially bald than women. People in general tend to follow the crowd. Given that bald people have no choice in the matter, the only way for everyone to become uniform is for the hairy men to lose their hair.
Just a thought, but one that I think has at least an element of merit.
Victor
I have long hair and a beard, and I avoid looking scruffy by keeping the beard trimmed to a length of about 3/4 inch - the shortest I can cut it and stand it, because my beard is so stiff. To keep it looking neat like that, I have to trim it about every four weeks.
Wow! Such work! I never shave around the edges of my beard. I like the natural looking hairline rather than one that is cut. Where hair grows, I have a beard, and where it doesn't grow, I don't. But maybe I am lucky. I have no hair on the cheeks of my face or on my neck - the beard grows real thick right up to where I want it to, and there it stops.
As to trimming, I probably take off a dozen wild hairs here and there, every other morning or so. It takes only a minute or two, far less time than I'd need if I were to shave.
I do agree with Coyote Pup that hair and beard interact to form an impression of one's appearance. I've always felt a guy can have one wild thing and get away with it so long as everything else is neat, and in my case, I want my hair to be my one wild thing! So I keep my beard neat.
