new thread
Y'know, I've never considered myself to be at all militant about hair length. Mine is longish and that's the way I like it. For those who prefer it short -- or even buzzed -- well, I've always thought that was their business and not mine. On Friday afternoon, though, I learned something about myself.
I was at the hair salon for low-lights and a trim, when I noticed a man reflected in the mirror behind me. He was about 25, nice looking (a UCSD grad student maybe?), and his shiny brown hair was just short of waist length. As an old guy with a prominent "bald spot" (that's what I call it, okay?), I was openly envious. Anyway, he disappeared into the back of the room and I forgot about him.
Later, after my color was done I went back to have the foils taken out and get shampooed. As I was returning to my stylist's station, I was walking with my head down to keep my hair from dripping on my neck. That's when I saw it. Passing another stlyists chair, I noticed on the floor these LONG chunks of hair -- lots of them. Looking up, I saw a formerly long-haired young man with a very well done, hip, stylish, SHORT haircut. By almost anyone's definition, you'd have to say he still looked very nice -- and I realize that the majority opinion would probably be that he looked "a helluva lot better!" To me, though, it was as if I'd seen someone like Britain's Tony Blair dressed in full Nazi storm trooper regalia. I gasped as if I'd been punched in the gut. For just a minute -- and only at the gut level -- I felt both pity and anger. A few seconds later, I was able to remind myself that it was none of my business, and I guess you could say I recovered. Even now, though, thinking about it again brings back a sense that the world is out of kilter. What was it, I wonder, that would make someone who had obviously made a conscious decision to be a longhair, and who had obviously had it for long enough to become part of his identity -- what force could have made him cross over to the dark side? Guess I'm not as tolerant as I thought.
...JP in san diego.
He must have never completely decided to keep it forever and came under lots of outside pressure. Outside pressures can be subtle but enormous and may include the ending or beginning of a new relationship. I don't think that you would have been out of line to ask him exactly why he cut it all off but if you are ever in that position again just make sure that get more than, "I just got sick of it" out of them.