new thread
I am wondering if some of the younger readers of this board would comment on something that I am curious about. I have been under the impression that we live today in a period when young men's hair can be pretty much any length anyone wants it to be, without getting much grief from peers. "Anything goes" was the trend, I thought.
But I have been reading some of the posts to this board, and I am starting to think I might be wrong. Many people here seem to think that wearing long hair among high school and college age men can subject you to all kinds of harassment, not just from adults and other authority figures who always tend to fond something wrong with youth, but from one's fellow students as well. Is this true? If so, how bad is it? Would it be fair to say that having short hair gets no kinds of abuse, no matter how short, but long hair of any kind opens you up to rude remarks and behavior? Thanks in advance for your view.
Is this true?
Thanks in advance for your view.
Dear Honest Inuirier.
You would be surpris4d at how ridigd some pople can be, but if you wish to be your own free self you need to express yourself as you like.
Be sensitive not to offend anyone's values if they are functional and permit freedom. But blast through the unthouoghtout conventional expressions that have no idea why they do what they do except the priest told them. Doubt authoritiansiaanism of all kinds, and try to act in a way that would be benefical to you as well.
James
There are some people who say things for harmless fun, but there are some people who say things because they dont like the whole male long hair thing. Whether they feel threatened or offended I dont know but its these people who come out with the least intelligent insults.
As for friends, Ive had the expected girl jokes but the general opinion is that the long hair is an improvement.
Ive never had any kind of stick from authority figures.
Cowlick...*SLURP*
You'll get harmless ribs from your friends, but the people who don't like you will most likely go out of their way to harass you (as I have found to be th case).
But it's probably not your hair they dislike- it will either be because you are a leader not a follower, or some other completely different reason. Your hair is an easy target for their worthless remarks because it is the first thing they notice about you - so actually it is a kind of compliment. I remember the first time enybody told me I ought to get a haircut - I have never felt so proud in my life.
My friends all think it's pretty cool, especially since none of them have the balls to grow long hair. I've only gotten heat for it from a girl i'm currently seeing, and of course, my dad.
I'm in college and i cant tell you how many guys i see who have longer hair. my hair is just now getting to about my chin. Maybe its because i go to a school with a lot of surfers but its pretty well accepted here. Oh by the way i go to the university of west florida.
It's the same at my college in New England, and other schools I've visted. Most guys have a regular haircut. I don't see many guys now with the very short look, bleached or not. Next most popular is a somewhat short spiked looked, and also a "shaggy" look with hair over the forehead and ears. While it's not common, there are many guys, I see some every day, with chin-length, shoulder-length or longer hair. Really anything goes, and it's not an issue when encountering people. The only comments you might get are compliments if someone really likes your hair.
I think it's much different in some high schools, and for guys having problems in high school, just stick it out until college and you'll fit right in.
Doug
Actually, the most negative comments encountered by anyone on this board are probably, 1st- Parents. Yes, we love 'em but... 2nd- Priests and Nuns (with no sex, you'd need some sort of release too). 3rd- An Ass-hole Manager or Boss. 4th- An Ass-hole Teacher. And the rest are various people we encounter in everyday life who need a life. Nowadays, most people of college or high school age are pretty accepting of almost anyone elses style. A trend I feel(and hope) will continue!
I go to a school in North Carolina so there are a lot of rednecks in my school and 98% of them have buzz cuts. Most of the negative comments I get come from them and people my age that kinda know me. But I have never heard anything said to somebody about there hair being too short, though.
I'm a junior in High School and I've only gotten one rude remark (and I'm only at 7 months) and a bunch of uhmm "neutral" remarks. What I mean by that is people saying stuff like "that'd be crazy if you came in hear one day with really short hair" which I don't take as an insult or compliment just that they notice my hair is getting longer.
I'm in highschool and am one of two guys (used to be 3) with longer hair. Neither of us have very long hair, the other guy whose hair is longer then mine is only past his chin. I've gotten a few negative comments from people who never liked me anyway (including 'faggot' which I really don't approve of when it's used as an insult-it's just plain ignorant) and I have an aunt who's not a big fan. But I've also gotten some compliments from a few girls and it just makes you smile and want to melt.
i am a college student and i've been growing my hair for almost a year. I haven't really got any rude remarks from my college peers, however i work at a elementary school and everyday i am bombarded with waves of insults, its always the "you look like a girl" or "your ugly" and sometimes the kids will actually give me money to get a haircut (no lie!) Countless times have i came close to cutting my hair into my old spiky hairstyle, but i had supportive long haired friends who persuaded me to continue growing my hair. Yes it was rough having to listen to these kids insult my hair, however i realized how irrelevent the childrens insults were, here they are talking about how i look like a girl and they're sporting the Jerry's Barbor Shop $5 look with the messed up fade. So pretty much i get the most abuse from kids.
As for authority figures, i work with teachers, principals, and vice-pricipals and they never told me to get a haircut, and most of the time my hair looks messy and untamed. But the way i figure is that its my hair, and i could care less what other people think, they dont pay my bills. its like my mom always said, "don't get hurt by insults because they're just words, but once someone puts they're hands on you, you gotta get down"
...they GIVE YOU MONEY FOR HAIRCUTS??? Holy crap, dude, I think you're siting on a gold mine!
Sometimes when I hear remarks about my hair being too long, I retort that they are skinheads, just to show them how their remarks are in reverse. There is one person who I had to deal deal with (former friend, one year younger than me) and had just decided to comment about my hair extensively. He had kept on saying such remarks like "snip, snip", that at first my longhair was amusing, but know it was scary and that it threatened people, or that he had seen my brother and told him to cut my hair in my sleep. One of the funniest things he had ever said was that it's okay to be different, just not to not be normal. He had even convinced his friends to hassle me about my hair (don't worry, it was all very minor). Thankfully, he seems to not care anymore, and he probably knows that he will never get me to cut my hair. One thing that I always notice is that the people in my school (junior high) don't usually care about quality, just the length, of the hair, and if it is not the "little boy's haircut", they are usually not approving. Actually, it's the strangest thing, I live in California, a place where long hair should not be that uncommon, yet the only longhair males that I have ever seen are some Indian guys which the put it under their turban, and a guy with a strange-looking mullet. Basically, in my school with 1000+ kids, I'm alone with my longhair.
I've heard the expression before but, sorry, have no idea what it means. Thanks.
I just graduated from high school last Sunday (Rural West Virginia, school of about 450 students) as, I believe the ONLY long-haired male in my graduating class of just over 160. When I first embarked on the path to longhairdom, I was constantly harassed by peers, and of course ribbed by friends. However,in the six years I've been growing my hair, insults have decreased as tormentors realized that I obviously had no intentions of altering my hairstyle despite their juvenile jeers. But, in my mostly redneck school there is still a sizable group that gives me crap to no end. Daily taunts range from the usual "femme" comments to the passe "faggot" (a derogatory word I destest since almost all my friends are gay or bi). Hoping that as I enter a VERY liberal college next fall things will improve.
However, as several have mentioned before, when I travel to bigger cities in WV, girls often feel the need to compliment/obsess over/touch my almost waist length, curly auburn hair. :)