new thread
Hi Hairy People,
Here are some thoughts rolling around in my head recently re. the results of becoming a longhair. Feel free to discuss, agree / disagree, throw tomatoes at me, etc....
OK, take an average-looking man with an average-looking short male haircut, and you'll find him to be a guy who can easily blend into a crowd. Now take that same man with 2 or 3 years of added hair growth, and he'll no longer be able to "blend in" as easily. He'll suddenly be more noticeable, more distinctive-looking, more remarkable, and more memorable to others (both for better or for worse, depending on other's opinions about long hair on men).
Now take an unusually good-looking man, and compare the short-haired version with the longhaired one. Suddenly this same man will become even MORE striking to look at, standing out in a crowd as "exotic"- looking, etc.
Now take an UGLY looking guy.... With short hair, most people will secretly feel sorry for him that Mother Nature skipped over him so badly; but, add some long hair onto this same guy, and suddenly he becomes more frightening, more intimidating to look at, and even UGLIER (prime example: just look at me! - LOL)....
A longhaired criminal will get caught quicker by the police because of their inability to hide in public as well as a short-haired criminal. A long-haired saint will get even more attention re. all their good deeds simply because of also being more unusual to look at. In other words, whether for better or for worse, the longhaired man will get more attention, be more memorable, and will stand out in a crowd. Even in my own experience I've been told by several dance partners that when they are looking for me on a crowded dance floor, they look for my long ponytail or braid -- and whenever I've tucked my hair up under a cowboy hat or baseball cap, they complain of having trouble finding me!
Some guys like all this attention (although in my own case, it was never the thing that motivated me to grow my own hair out). Other guys find it part of the challenge to have to deal with during their awkward stages experience, and that it's one of the more difficult aspects of becoming a longhair that takes some time to adjust to.
"If you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen!" -- as the old saying goes...
OK, bring on the tomatoes!
- Ken
Ken, I love the heat and I love to cook so I guess I'll stay in the (soul) kitchen. Cyber tomatoes Hmmm! Nah!!!
peace, jonalbear
As usual, an interesting read... and I'll save the tomatoes for making pizza!!
Hi Ken...
I agree that longhairs stick out the crowd and are much easier to remember for most people.
This is not always positive. I go somewhere (e.g. to a company where I've never been before, for a new project as an example) and somebody will introduce me to the people. Later (for days, if not weeks) everybody will recognize me right away but I have no idea about the other one (except if it is someone looking special, like another longhair). This might be quite embarassing sometimes...
Cheers,
--tom
No tomatoes left this time, sorry.
I know exactly what you are talking about, Tom, as similar experiences have happened to me as well.
One time I was in downtown San Francisco on Market St. (the main street in town here), when suddenly a woman started waving at me enthusiastically from across the street. I had no clue who the hell she was; so I just stared blankly back at her. Once she realized I was giving her the "deer in the headlights" look, she started doing a little dance step with her feet on the sidewalk -- which made me instantly realize that she probably knew me from Country & Western dancing. I then politely nodded and enthusiastically waved back at her (although I still had no clue who she was, because her face was not a familiar one to me, because obviously not one of my regular dance partners -- or even just one of the "regulars" I normally recognize as just an acquaintance at the club I go to)...
I had no idea I was that memorable to people who I have no memory of ever remembering myself!
- Ken
I can sympathise with that too. Most short-haired people tend to blend into the crowd unless there's something distinctive about them or you know them well.
Yes, lots more people recognize me than the other way around. I have always been a guy with a look that stands out. One effect of having that look was to "explain wholly" to me why the imbalance in recognizing happened when my look really only "explained it partially". My unique look hid from me the rest of the explanation which I came to realize only in my late forties - that I can't recognize faces of people at all!
My look also explained the situation to others so they weren't so apt to notice the face problem and point it out. That they might recognize me and not the other way around was something they half expected.
Bill
Yep. The whole "blending in" ideology is one of the reasons I continue to be a longhair long after everyone else cut theirs. I want to stand out.
One disadvantage is that new people seem to remember me and I usually don't remember a damn thing about them. Combine that with a inability to recall names in general, that's me. I do however have very little problem recognizing those who dress differently, have a distinctive hair style (short or long), have an accent or act nutty. It's those who "blend in" that I have a bad time recalling.
I agree very strongly with the idea that growing out you hair makes an extreme difference. If you take two short hairs who resemble each other and they both grow their hair, in 2 years you will have 2 very different looking individuals.
I don't agree though that longhair makes an ugly person uglier. Lol. I've seen some ugly muthers and longhair always seem to reduce the "pure ugliness" to rather "normal ugliness", (I'm a prime example!) One of my favorite retorts is, "longhair covers up a lot of ugly!"
As for me, I like the attention, good or bad. As a short hair it always seemed I was kinda invisible. Now all I have to do is walk in and bam! I just snicker to myself, simple minded humans.
Paul
And w/ that red hair of yours, you most definitely DO stand out -- even probably midst a sea of fellow-longhairs (LOL)!!
Hey, I can totally relate. In fact, I just posted a reply to someone else about this very same thing (I think it was when I replied to Swisslonghair on another thread... can't remember for sure though)...
LOL, good point there, Paul! Of course in my mind long hair on ANYbody makes them look better; but the vast majority of the planet for some reason refuses to agree with me there. Let's just say that to most short-haired people long hair at least scares them a bit more on an ugly guy (LOL)....
Thanks for your reply, Paul!
LOL,hey Ken you just have too much free time on your hands lately!Just joking as that was an excellent topic to bring up especially with the influx of new users lately who probably never thought of having longhair in that way before.I agree that in spite of what the norm is for men, wearing it long just makes a guy look that much more appealing and handsome in my opinion.Why else do we all have long hair here:)So never fear Ken as the tomatoes are safely stored in the fridge only to be loaded up for that buzzed guy who needs some sense knocked into him.Oh btw, great chatting with you the other day when I should have been working:)Ooops LOL.
Mark
Actually, you are 100% correct in that statement, in that I'm trying to give my knee more time for it to mend after the injury. I hate hate HATE being home too much & idle; so of course I come here to MLHH to annoy as many folks here as I possibly can (LOL)....
OMG, Mark, that means I contributed towards you being naughty... I'm gonna tell your boss on you (LOL)!!
- Ken
I'm sorry to hear you're on the injured list. What happened? Any idea how long you'll be out of action? As someone with chronic knee trouble from too many years of dance and badminton, you have my sympathy.
If you're having cartilage trouble, glucosamine and chondroitin are pretty good, although they say one possible side effect is hair loss! (Gulp!) Keep the joint moving and try not to stress it. Have you consulted a physiotherapist?
I hope it heals quickly!
All the best.
There's another consequence which I hadn't thought about until recently. All I can say is I'm glad my passport is up for renewal next year.
I've been fairly busy of late, getting my business up and running and haven't actually had time to leave the country in the last five years apart from a weekend break to Belgium two weeks ago.
On the way out, you just wave your passport and off you go. Coming back, they stop you and check it. When you've got the best part of three feet of hair and your passport has a No.2 buzz, that can cause problems. They nearly didn't let me back in!
Now take an UGLY looking guy.... With short hair, most people will secretly feel sorry for him that Mother Nature skipped over him so badly; but, add some long hair onto this same guy, and suddenly he becomes more frightening, more intimidating to look at, and even UGLIER (prime example: just look at me! - LOL)..
Hey!! don't mess with us ugly guys!! The cool thing about being scary is people tend to leave you alone so the scarier the better.
Another issue is being vane can be time consuming that is don't we all know of someone who is very high maintenance and you think my god the time and money they spend to look good.
I was wondering is there a sale on tomatoes at Ralph's this week
Kevin
Great post!!! I totally agree except that maybe a not so handsome guy might be made a little more handsome by some long hair. I know when I had short hair and no beard, I just looked like your run-of-the-mill slightly over-weight typical American white guy. But I've notice with long curly hair and a nicely grown dark beard, people do remember me more, and some give me an exotic quality, which is entertaining to me in a way. I also tend to notce people sizing me up with longer glances than normal, but maybe that's just me. Quien sabe?
"Is he Spanish, Middle Eastern, or what?" "Who is this guy? He speaks English with a strong southern accent, but he can't be from here!"
HAHAHAHA!