new thread
Maybe an Advocacy group as MattB suggested would work out better.
What do you think about these names;
Free Hair
Free Hair Committee
Hairy Problems
It's Just Hair
HDL (Hair Discrimination League)
HAIR (Hair And Intelligence Revolution)
Hair Nuts (hmm, ok maybe not)
Come on, give me some feed back,
Paul
Hair Nuts!!! Aren't we all in some way? Hope things are good! take care!
Hey friend,
Cold enough for you up there?
I think I'll call it "Hairy Nuts" just to get all those uptight jerks at the school in a serious uproar!
Later,
Paul
In 1964, a 17-year-old David Bowie led The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men (which is long-since defunct, as far as I know). A name like that would be pretty tough to beat :)
Here's a YouTube clip of the young performer advocating for the group...
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men
That is a good name! Our forefathers have waged this battle afore...
Now that's interesting, I had no idea.
Thanks,
Paul
'64?
I kind of wonder what would've counted as "long" that far back--most people date long hair on men from '67, AFAIK.
BUT...here's a link I found a while back. I wanted to make this its own post, but I guess it belongs here, too:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/on_film/2005/long_hair_archive.shtml
This is actually from 1964, and they look like it's 19*74* or something. I literally had no idea. Maybe they were on the extreme end (!) or something, like "terminal length" today.
(I've also seen a photo of English jazz-rocker Robert Wyatt with similarly long hair dated 1963--not that his bandmates have quite joined him yet. Is there something we haven't been told??)
My Myspace page
Hello Everyone,
I once made a search about long hair on men in the 1950's and you have stories about delinquants with "long hair", judges ordering delinquants to cut off their "long hair", and at one time even Elvis Presly sacrificed his "long hair" when he was inducted in the army.
What was "long hair" then? Any style except a crewcut was consdered long hair, and was seen as either bohemian or rebelious. In the eyes of the 1950's society, your pompadoured greaser was a "longhair" for some. Beatniks with hair still short enough to leave ears totally exposed, but with that uncombed look were seen as having "long hair".
In the sixties, I remember reading history books in my mom's bookshelf, and it is there I saw the likes of Franklin, Molière, and other long-haired historical figures. When I first heard of long hair on men, on a radio show, I visualized guys in Louis XIV or musketeer costumes in the street, popping out of nowhere. As a 6 year old I was brainwashed with the notion that there were no long-haired men in modern society. That was in the mid sixties.
My first longhair sighting was around 1968 in Montreal, and it was shorter than David Bowie's look in 1964 and I found this quite bizarre at first, and eventually the hair got longer, and people around me were dissing them as dirty hippies.
Have a good day
Georges in Montreal
Google Search on Long Hair on boys between 1955 and 1960
That's where the two sides of the Atlantic are different. Nobody in the UK or Europe back then had a crewcut. Believe me, I was there.
Crewcuts didn't even appear over there until the '60s, and then only on the heads of Neo-Nazi skinheads. Before that a crewcut either signified an American visitor or a hardcore criminal (or wannabee) going for the convict look (although they had stopped shaving heads in prisons long before that). Think of the low-waisted 'gangsta' look, which later arose to mimic having your belt taken away in jail, and it's the same idea.
Crewcuts have had a positive image in the US for so long that the phrase 'clean cut' was coined to signify someone supposedly wholesome. In England, not so much! Before the '90s any haircut that short used to scare the hell out of people. Still gives me the willies, LOL!
I have laboured over this point before, but to me it is important.
I emigrated from England to the US in 1989, and it took me a while to adjust to seeing so many men with crewcuts without actually being scared. Seriously. Before that it had been my fixed habit to check the positions of all the exits if someone with a crewcut entered a room and if I saw one outside to always cross the street to avoid them, strictly for self-preservation.
Getting more back on topic, what most men had in England in the '50s was usually a 'short back and sides', which is fairly self-descriptive. Hair could be relatively long on the top of the head, but if there was much at the back or sides, or if the ears were partly covered, it was 'long hair'.
The Beatles, for example, had 'long hair' initially only because they had fringes (bangs in American), and possibly if it touched their collars, before they had grown it out any further. The length on top of the head may have signified 'long' when they visited the US, but back home it meant nothing.
I'm not sure if Elvis' hair would ever have been considered long in the UK, except by miltary standards, and even the military didn't wear crewcuts. However, despite that, that particular style would have been considered rebellious anyway, as representing rock'n'roll.
There were 'teddy boys' in the UK back then who wore that style that Americans call a pompadour and called it a DA, which stands for a duck's behind, and their styles (DA haircut, drainpipe trousers, long jackets with no vent and with velvet collars, crepe soled suede shoes) were often associated with juvenile delinquency (does anyone even call it that anymore?).
I knew guys in the '70s who were into a teddy boy revival, but I think they wore much brighter colours than the 'real' teddy boys of the '50s, although it's hard to tell from monochrome newsreels, LOL!
Boy! Thanks for sharing! :-)
I noticed one of those Google links referred to a boy's "shoulder-length hair" in 1960. We tend to think of '50s hair in terms of the pompadour in front, but we tend to forget the "D.A." ("Duck's Ass") in back. Some of those could get *pretty long*, and recently I've been thinking some of those rock'n'roll guys might've needed all that hair grease to keep their hair "in place" otherwise. Who knows what it might've looked like with the grease gone and hanging down naturally?? I've certainly never known any guys personally who wore hair that long back then, so it couldn't have been that common. I guess they'd have to be in their 60s nowadays.
My Myspace page
Awesome. Now I have to watch this vintage performance of Starman again:
------------------
How about "The Long Hair Club For Men"? I may want to join even though I live on the west coast.
Scott
Hell Scott, I would expect nothing less. We could make it nationwide.
I thought of that name too, straight to the point, but I want to include anyone who supports us regardless of their hair length. One guy also mad about this is a short haired parent whose son got wrote up when mine did.
I'm surprised that something like this doesn't already exist.
Everyone who tries to fight the school does so alone. That's nuts, the courts just uphold whatever the school board says, they have the power to make whatever rule they want. They don't have to get with parents on any new rules or, more than likely, they do but only in their own little groups. Yes, a conspiracy.
Free the Hair!
Paul
Hey Paul, I think I like HDL Hair Discrimination League. Starting something like this will not be that easy...it's the same trying to organize secularists (like me) to coalesce in order for us to be more effective in keeping church and state separate...but that's another website...
The point is, getting interest started will be the hardest part I think also and a commitment from others. However, you have a very strong personal stake in this matter with regards to your son's whacko school policy on longhair.
Let us know what progress you make.
Cheers,
Max
Hey Max,
I with you there buddy, There's a reason for the separation of church and state, it's called the Dark Ages!
Yeah, if it was easy somebody would have probably done it. It's worth an effort and at least the whackos may tone it down a bit.
Later,
Paul
Well, for my own thoughts, if I were going to do this I'd aim for a friendly, engaging front rather than a fighting militancy, so my advice follows that, but ultimately the look and feel and direction are yours to choose, of course...
I like "Ït's Just Hair" quite a bit - gets the point across just when you say the name. Disarming, keeps the focus. Plus your enemies will be repeating an essential truth every time they mention you.
Hair Discrimination League- while discrimination is exactly what you'd be aiming at, that word does carry a lot of baggage. Do you want to invoke images of the civil rights fights of the 60's?
Plus that name kinda has (to me) a People's Front of Judea feel to it (or was it the Judean People's Front?).
Hairy Problems- sounds like an advocacy group for sufferers of an embarrassing disease that can't be named in polite company.
Hair and Intelligence Revolution- It's got a smart, crisp, acronymic thing going for it. But after thinking about it, it's got a subtle assertion that may turn folks off. It says that people who agree with you are intelligent. Well, I'd say that's definitely true, but this also makes disagreers as- hm- not intelligent. Which they are, but insinuating that may not be the best strategy for persuading folks.
Hair Nuts- actually pretty good as it's got some disarming and self-deprecating humor, but if you're an advocacy group you run into resistance from others, and just handing them a derogatory label for them to put on you probably won't help.
If this was just a group of longhairs that was getting together for potluck or something it'd be a great name.
-anyway, that's just my .02 dollars.
I believe I got my money's worth too, a very nice analysis. It's Just Hair is also my fav. but my wife says it reminds her of a hair salon or something.
You made a very good point I hadn't considered, they cannot trash talk the group without stating my basic point, it's just hair. Stealthy.
Good work and thanks,
Paul
Hello,
I like Hair Discrimination League (May be worked up a little). One may want to avoid "humourous sounding" names, as if the club grows, and wants to be taken seriously enough not to be aired just on "oddly enough" news shows or columns.
A purpose of a group like this one to help change minsets of the general public, to accept hair diversity as a positive aspect of life. An ultimate goal, is to make choice of hairstyle protected by anti-discrimination laws.
Boycotts should be a good tool to encourage hair diversity in the business world, and that can be started by compiling a list of hair-friendly businesses and employers, and encourage people to boycott places that have hair policies in place.
At one time, I did see a similar list on a body modification site (piercing), where companies were listed with their attitudes towards excentricities. That list somewhat mysteriously dissappeared from the net. The hair crowd should start compiling a list of companies and list them by policies, max length tolerated, is long hair only dissalowed for those who work with the public, but is ok for warehouse workers, etc.
Have a good day,
Georges in Montreal.
Hi Georges,
I think it's time for a change. It's slowly getting worse and frankly I think there is some group responsible who have longhair on their list of agendas.
Boycotts! Added to the list, Letter writing, petitions and picketing.
The list of hair tolerant companies idea is great and I think we should start one right now.
Thanks,
Paul
What about ''Hair Power''?
Nice one. Might be a bit militaristic for some though. If things go wrong I may use it. LOL
What's wrong with Hair Nuts?? LOL
How about "Longhair Anti Defamation League"
I was never very good at coming up with names.
Kevin
Hey Prez!
You sell yourself short, that's a good one. It has an "official" ring to it.
I think this weekend I'm gonna talk to a few people who may be interested.
Thanks,
Paul
Well, of course, he's making a reference to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, a long-standing branch of a Jewish civic association that's specifically dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism. But I can certainly understand the idea of "anti-defamation" as providing the basic thrust from which a good name could be devised. Of course, I'm even worse at coming up with names--I have to get *really lucky*, or else just nick some reference to something else...
...Maybe something *about* hair, rather than hair itself? I remember coming across an association of [RAISE SHIELDS] bald and shaven-headed men. They called it "The Shorn Society." Says "bald" without using the word.
My Myspace page
Funny, "it's just hair" is what people would tell me when they questioned why I was so attached to it. Well, if others can care so much about my hair, surely I can?
My Myspace page
Yeah, I've heard that one too.
If they feel like "it's just hair" why do they make such a big deal out of it? It apparently means a lot to them since they make rules about it.
You seem to know a bit about the history of long hair, I remember some of your post. The first short military haircuts were WW1 (because of lice), what about civilian hair? We have all seem pics of Wild Bill and Custer with long hair. Something happened and suddenly everyone got real anal about it.
Paul
Paul:
"You seem to know a bit about the history of long hair, I remember some of your post."
Oh, hey, thanks!
"The first short military haircuts were WW1 (because of lice), what about civilian hair? We have all seem pics of Wild Bill and Custer with long hair. Something happened and suddenly everyone got real anal about it."
It may have been WWI. Personally, I blame Teddy Roosevelt for some reason--OTOH, the short hair seems to have first come into fashion around 1880 or so. Maybe the Civil War had something to do with it. I think fashion just fell into it bit by bit over a few decades until before anyone knew it any other sort of hair seemed "retro" or even "historical" and it was just accepted as if were "natural".
I remember when Jimmy Carter was President and someone noted at the time that he was the first President since Grover Cleveland to have hair on his ears--just a little, but that seemed like a step forward. Now we're about to have Barack Obama, whose scalp you can see through his hair. Oh, well...
My Myspace page
Anything except 'The Hair club for Men', LOL!