new thread
Just a thought to toss out here about something that's been bugging me for a while.
Many new members often post stating a particular "goal length". That's their choice and good for them to have a specific goal. This seems to be the standard attitude, especially from people beginning their journey. I myself regularly asked "so how long are you going to grow it" as I'm sure many others of you are.
I think I started out slightly differently than many others though. I actually started growing my hair out when a personal financial crisis required my family to cut out as much discretionary spending as we reasonably could. No more magazines, no more trips to the fast food joint, if the kids wanted to go on a school trip they saved out of their part-time jobs, and no more haircuts for Dad (that's me). Those times are now more than a year in the past but I still haven't cut my hair. And that's the point (to me). It's not that I've got a particular length in mind - my wife cringes when I mention "butt floss" - more just a lack of interest or need to get it cut.
It's often been discussed here about other cultures who do not cut their hair and I've had talks with people that believe that it disturbs their "aura" if they were to do that. For me, interestingly, I feel that since I've stopped cutting my hair that I've had very good fortune. In fact after we won some money in a radio contest my son (short hair) cheered "hurray for Dad's hair" when we had a celebratory dinner out.
For me, the questions should be - are you going to cut your hair? Right now - the answer is no, I have no reason to. If, in the future I get a reason, then I probably will, and I can think of several different reasons, like it becoming too much work, someone making a large donation to a charity to see it gone, or just wanting a change.
Anyway - I just felt like rambling on about this - thanks for listening and feel free to chime in with thoughts of your own.
Hi Andrew B,
Thanks for sharing your philosophical outlook, as well as your longhair history. It was VERY interesting to read!!!
My feeling is that there are at least one hundred thousand different reasons (or MORE) why men end up growing their hair out. From as far back as I remember, even when I was just a young child in my single-digits, I always hated haircuts (I even remember crying and kicking the first time I sat in a barber chair, at approx. age 3)
My dad being a fanatic ex-Navy man, he always insisted upon my brothers and myself having very short hair as long as we lived under his roof. It wasn't until I left home at age 18, entering full-time into the job market after only one year of college, that I was first able to finally grow my hair out even just slightly over my ears! My dad and step-mom got a divorce that same year, --- and to make a long story short, I was never able to continue w/ my college education.
To me, long hair symbolizes hard-earned FREEDOM of CHOICE! I have always wanted long hair. I have always been attracted to long hair. I've never known any other perspective, in fact!
The fact that part of my own personal history includes arguing with people around me who tried as hard as they could to DIScourage me from growing my own hair out, gives you only a small indication of what an uphill battle it's been for me to get to where I am today.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your own hair history, --- it was a VERY refreshing change-of-pace and outlook!
Also, I totally understand what you are talking about when you referred to newbies mostly being the ones mentioning their ultimate goal length. When I first grew my own hair out successfully to ponytail length (starting back in the early '90s), I just took it, "one day at a time!" I was AMAZED when it got to shoulder-length. I was even MORE AMAZED when it got half-way down my back...
Now that it's my 2nd time around (I cut it short in Y2K), I appreciate my hair being long more than ever!
Thanks again, Andrew, for bringing this interesting topic up, --- very thought-provoking!
- Ken in San Francisco
Ken:
Thank you for your kind comments. The support of people like yourself and places like this forum are part of the reason that I'm still growing.
AndrewB
Good read there, AndrewB.
That's pretty interesting
I myself have been growing from a buzz for a little over 12 months.
I remember hating haircuts when I was a kid, and hell, even last year! I have wanted long hair for the pass 6-7 years of my life (I'm 20) and right now I'm FINALLY doing it. I just love the feeling of my long hair. It's VERY VERY important to me and I wouldn't know what the hell I would do if it for some reason was cut. I can't wait for more growth!
There goes a rant of my own, hahaha!
My story is very simular to Ken's. I had a retired Navy father and the standard Navy crewcut was the only official hairstyle allowed for all of us boys. I can't remember a single hair cut that I wanted. Even in my single digits (4 or 5) I remember voicing my displeasure about the mandatory haircuts. I always wanted long hair. I am a born longhair. Even if my hair got cut today, and I cringe at the very thought of it, to me it would be as if my very heart was being cut out. My hair is a part of my identity as a person, it is who I am.
Daniel
I very much agree with that sentiment and it about sums up my attitude about growing my hair (now below the shoulders--Yay!)
People do ask when I'm going to get a haircut, or alternately, how long is it going to get. Even though they are very different questions, the answer is the same: "I don't know." Right now I'm enjoying the journey.
Chris
Hi Andrew,
Like some of the others here I am a born longhair. What I mean is, I always hated haircuts as far back as I can remember. There was just something "wrong" with cutting it. In grade school I envied the fact that girls could grow their hair as long as they wished and we couldn't. Fortunately for me it was the 70's and longhair was is style but I'm sure if I grew up in the 40's I would have been one of the very few men then with long hair. Hair is just cool.
I really have no explanation for this, I just like longhair. I don't see it as "feminine", to me it doesn't have any gender attachments at all. I do think it's unnatural to cut it and utterly ridiculous that some people hate it so much. I have never felt a need to justify it myself but I am asked to sometimes. I don't really know what to tell them, so I just pop off with, "I feel like a dork with short hair." hehe. The funny thing is, that is exactly how I feel.
I would like to grow it to my waist but I don't think it is going to get that long. All I can say for sure about any goals is that I have a real goal of simply not cutting it. It will just get as long as it will grow.
I don't think it's a symbol of anything, I don't know what it could mean. I like it long and I am my own man so I will damn well grow it long. If somebody has a problem with it then it's their problem not mine.
As for you my friend, it sounds as if you were surprised to find out that you liked it so much. Now don't you wish you'd grew it out sooner? Lol, now you know.
I've met a lot of people who used to wear it long, perfect strangers often seem to find a reason to tell me this. Some longhairs are just going through a journey, that's really just fine with me too.
When it comes to hair, the only type of people I have a problem with are the ones who make rules against it, they need to be shut down. If it was not for them, I would rarely even discuss the subject of "hair".
Paul