new thread
I was wondering why it seems generally out of favor with long haired men to have layers, or bother with any sort of "styling" type thing, not to mention very few color their hair. Now, I know obviously heat styling is damaging to the hair, and therefore not good if you want very long hair, and that chemical dyes are similarly rough on the hair shaft.
But, what about henna and indigo, they achieve lovely results while actually increasing the strength of the hair shaft, and why not for special occasions and such a cold roller set (which achieve very nice results with no damage, although they do take a lot of time), and why not layers? They're all perfectly good for your hair but very few long haired men seem to bother with such things. It's my theory that it's considered un-masculine to spend anything over the absolutely the minimum amount of time on your appearance which is why you see so many guys with their hair always back in a ponytail "It's not really that much effort, honest"
Personally I think men with long hair look even better when their hair is beautifully groomed, and styled. I know a lot of long haired lads are a bit leery of styling products as some of them contain chemicals that are damaging to the hair, however there are a number that are beneficial, giving you a sleeker, shinier look, or a more volumized one (depending on the product) without hurting your hair.
Anyway, I'm curious as to why "blunt cut, and either down, braided, or ponytailed" is the only long hair option for men?
I use neutral henna, which is not actually henna, to condition mine. The trouble with natural dyes is that most of what is sold as natural, isn't. If you're buying henna at the store and not from a henna fanatic online, you're probably getting chemical dyes. The main reason that I don't dye my hair is that it's a great color already.
As to styling, mine isn't long enough to do much with yet. I currently leave it down or put it in a topknot. As it gets longer, I'll experiment with it. I won't layer it because I don't want to thin it, I can't see the value in cutting it when I'm trying to grow it, and how am I ever going to look like Legolas with layers? As to being feminine, who cares? I'm perfectly happy being a girly man.
I dunno, legolas might have looked pretty cute with some long layers *laughs*
My partner uses henna on his hair. He dyed it from dark blonde to a light brown, it looks really nice. As for layers, he had them from growing out very short hair, but now most of the layers are gone. The layers looked good, but he just wanted a blunt cut. As for styling, he straightens it sometimes, by putting elastics along the lenghts of his ponytail. That works fine and looks good.
Well, I always pictured Legolas as a dark brunet. :-P Elrond's hair is supposed to be *black*, but they gave Hugo Weaving a brunet wig to play him.
I notice that in the movies, only Frodo and Aragorn (of the members of the Fellowship) have dark hair. Boromir should have dark hair, too, as well as Merry and Pippin. I suspect that that decision was made so that Frodo and Aragorn, the most important characters, could be picked out from a distance in a long shot.
Now the bad news: You know that poor kid on the horse out in the fields of Rohan in the third (I think) film? That's Peter Jackson's son, and he's the only male member of the cast who played his role with his own hair. All the rest are wearing wigs (or at least extensions). But you probably knew that.
For me the reason is that I don't wanna spend to much time on my hair. Just comb it and get out the door.
The problem with dyeing is that you have to repeat it or else it will grow out.
I don't think it's so much about the effort required, but about the reasons for growing the hair. I know of people who spend a lot of time and money on haircuts that make their hair look messy on purpose, to pretend as if they don't care about their hair. What an irony!
I've grown my hair because its a part of my body that I want to look the way it naturally does. So I don't do anything to it except shampoo/comb. Maybe it's this natural idea of long hair that stops men from interfering too much?
I've considered dying my hair, but the only colour I was ever interested in was silver, and that would completely dry out the hair, so once again I'll let nature dye my hair :P (that's if it doesn't fall out by then).
Well, ever since before grunge (probably ever since thrash), it's been considered "inauthentic". (As if you could put on authenticity like a new shirt or something.) And yeah, there's insecurity, and the social risk. (But that's what the fear of "femininity" comes down to, too.)
Agreed, mostly. But, you know, different strokes...
I save the blow dryer for special occasions (and trips to the stylist), for the most part. I get my hair dyed black occasionally (always semi-permanent). I condition it about twice a week (or the next shower after I've done laps in the pool). I suppose I should try henna sometime.
Henna's an excellent thing (Lush cosmetics makes a lovely blue black with indigo) that gets one a gorgeous color and leaves your hair so soft it's just heavenly.
My boyfriend has his top layers bleached blonde, and layers around his face, but he's something of a glam rock boy anyway. He's got beautiful hair though, it somehow managed to stay in amazing condition even after he bleached it (and he's got jet black asian hair)
Layers are out of fashion generally, not just for men. Blunt cut is more up to date, and I personally prefer it, but if anyone else wants layers they can look good.
I do use henna.
As for more complicated ways of securing hair, there are some guys who wear buns, but most aren't yet comfortable doing that. I guess we are only used to seeing these styles on females, so we think of them as feminine.
Not every body suits a blunt cut, and layers are considered very fashionable where I'm from (new york)
My hair has a slight natural curl and for a few years I'd get it layered and just fluff (scrunch?) it dry and leave it as curly as it would. I think it looked good. I think most guys go with blunt cuts because their simpler to cut themselves and manage. You just dry it an ponytail it. Guys could show a little more imagination, I suppose.
Gene