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I've always been under the impression that Long hair was more widely popular in the U.K than U.S especially during the 1960s and 1970s.
among some of the citizens of the U.K who are old enough to remember the Beatles early years(about 50 years ago) what changes have you noticed in regards to longer styles for Men over the past
few decades?
also, what subcultures in your country are more long hair friendly than others?
what cities/areas are more pro-long hair friendly?
do you think the general attitude in your country has changed in regards to Men with long hair in a more positive way or more of a negative way during this time?
thanks for any and all replies
hello there
I live in nottingham, and have noticed a definate swing towards the shaved head in the past 15 years in the uk
althought hard rock, jazz and surfer types still follow the long hair look
generally i think the general look for the youth of today is the justin beiber tousled look!
Because the uk is quite small, there dont appear to be geographical trends here, accept for the surfers concentrated around cornwall and devon.
Hope this helps?
Scott from notts!
Scott,
I am surprised that you did not mention the goth subculture
which originated in the U.K!
has the Goth subculture greatly diminished from the U.K?
I was always under the impression that this was a more long
hair friendly subculture.
Hello again
whether its because i live in the midlands.....but there is a huge goth presence in nottingham, derby and manchester......almost moving beyond subculture into city mainstream...i guess it is so prevalent here that i forgot!
The general look for goth here is long black hair..we have an awesome club in nottingham called rock city.......alice cooper, inxs, and lots of other big rock bands visit this very small but well known venue.
Also a few hippies in england, new age travellers etc that wear their hair long.
Scott
We don't see many goths in the south, its all emo kids with the longer hair swept across their faces, and a 'my life sucks, I hate everyone' look :))
cheers Dave
Dave,
I don't care much for the emo scene either and maybe it's because i am older, but I would take the Goth scene over any emo scene any day of the week!
regardless of what scene you're into long hair is cool imho!
I've always lived in the US, only having visited the UK once so-far in my life, in May of '06; but even as far back as when I remember the Beatles first coming on the scene (I was born in 1953), my impression of American boys & men were that of being more shortly-shorn than photos I'd always seen of UK boys/men in various magazines and films, etc. at the time of my childhood. But that all changed during the late 1960s...
In the US at that time, besides the Beatles being a big popular influence on growing out longer hair, the anti-war and anti-draft movement happening while young men were being sent off to fight in an unpopular war over in Vietnam is a factor that changed American history & culture, including hair length on men, forever... Although by the mid-1970s, popular men's hair styles gradually began to get slowly shorter and shorter again (especially after the military draft ended).
For a long time, guys with long hair were still thought of in political terms as, "hippies" (regardless of whether or not they really were hippies!) -- as well as stereotyping longhairs in other ways (like: bikers, surfers, rebels, rockers, etc., etc...)....
Nowadays, more than ever, long hair on a male is often just viewed as long hair -- although still not by any means "the norm" here.
When I visited the UK in '06, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many longhairs there were, especially when I went up to Scotland.
Here in the US, San Francisco, California (as well as the West Coast in general) has often been considered to have the reputation for having a lot of longhairs, because of SF's "Summer of Love" and other events that happened in this area during the late '60s.
I'm originally from Chicago, Illinois area; but moved to CA in '77. The mood in Chicago, though, as well as in most of the USA during the tumultuous '60s, was pretty nearly the same all over the US at that time of political and social upheaval. By the time I moved out West in the late '70s, however, that particular tumult had calmed down a lot -- and consequently, men's hair-styles had gradually become a bit more conservative along with it...
In other words, there are aspects of great differences between the US and the UK, both historically and hair-styles with it; but in the long run, I really don't think of longhairs being all that different from each other between the two countries, because it still takes guts to be willing to stand apart and be a bit "different" from the short-haired norm.
Apologies for my getting so long-winded!
- Ken in San Francisco
s
I first grew my hair in the 1960s, and remember the Beatles very well.In the 79s, most men had longer hair than "business short", and you hardly ever saw a shaved head. The skinheads, much feared for their perceived violent attitude to everything, were the first to change that. Long haired men almost always wore their hair loose - I don't think I saw more than two male ponytails in all of the 1970s, even though lots of men had hair long enough to tie up or back.
There seems to be more acceptance of long haired men nowadays, just as there is more acceptance of other people who don't conform to stereotypes (boring or otherwise), and more credence to the idea that people can "be themselves" - not everybody wears black formal clothes to funerals now, in the 1970s everybody did.
Hope that answers your question!
I've been thinking long and hard about you question and have come to the conclusion that Long Hair in the UK is more acceptable and more popular than perhaps the US. To say is started with the Beatles is not stricty true, if you look back in history, most men either wore long hair - or long wigs! but in the modern world and from the 60's the "fab four" certainly made us all realise we had choices, and could "rebel" against our parents and authority to look and dress the way wanted. We've also had the Goths, Druids, Vikings, Gypsies etc, many of whom sported long locks, and over the years many pop and film stars and sports people have worn long hair. The "fashion" come and goes a bit, but I think it will always be popular to grow the hair. Perhaps the UK and it's people are generally more tolerant and I do see long hair on guys from School boys through to pensioners (me) so the future is looking good for UK longhairs!!
Ian
Not living in the U.K. I can not answer the original question. however, I wish to respond to your missive. Being of Highland Scot (father) and Welsh (mother) descent. I am certain that my Celtic heritage carried the 'Long hair gene" The Celts did grow their hair long and Moustaches were a badge of honor for males. The Romans even spoke of their looks, describing the length of hair and glorious moustaches worn by the native inhabitants at the time I also can claim Norse ancestry. Another group of fun loving guys who sported long hair and facial hair and blended with the native Celts and Picts. My surname is a Sept of Clan Gunn of CaithNess.
You are spot on Rktect, Scottish folk throughout history have been long hairs. I visit Scotland often and have collected Caithness Glass in the past. You must be proud of your heretige. I also remebered Beatnicks, Hippies, Bikers, Flower Power, New Romantics, Rockers, Head Bangers. Ah! such memories and such a lot of hair!
Best regards, Ian
What's your tartan? and let's see that in a kilt with a sporran. I'd wear a kilt here Florida if I could carry an AK-47 wherever I go.LOL James/Tampa,Fl
Ian, you've made some very good points , but im telling you there are 2 things im never going to do is wear a powdered wig or bell bottoms. oh yea add puffy 17th century shirts are also on that list. LOL James/Tampa,Fl
Wherever there is a high concentration of money, military, and/or government, the hair and dress is more conservative. Washington DC and the surrounding suburbs comes to mind as a good example.
Wherever there is a high concentration of environmentalists, surfers, skaters, snowboarders, metalheads, hippies, musicians, craftspeople, historical re-inactors, and people in the entertainment industry ~ there are usually a good amount of long haired men. Places that come to mind are *certain parts* of: Washington State, Oregon, California, Colorado, Maryland, Texas, Nevada, and New York. (I'm sure there are other places too.)
I have noticed that many "would-be-long-hairs" (men who work in a job that requires short hair, and that is the only reason they keep theirs cut short) encourage their sons to grow their hair long if they so desire, and do not dissuade their daughters from dating long haired guys. That is -- until it comes time to get a job. In this economy, if you can get a job, you do whatever you have to do to keep it! Otherwise, there would be thousands of men with beautiful and amazing long hair walking aroud everywhere you go!!!
Lastly, wherever there is a large concentration of Native Americans, there is sure to be a lot of beautiful, long, dark hair on the men. Parts of Oregon and Nebraska come to mind.
Hello,
My opinion wold have been the opposite. Around where I live (the west midlands), long hair is not "unaccepted" in anyway (except by a few idiots), but it is certainly not what I would call popular. I would say where I live is pretty conservative, politically and socially. There is a middle class part of town, doctors, lawyers, business owners etc live there, if you see long hair in this town it comes from the middle class kids mostly. Then there a the working class people who tolerate long hair for the most part, but there are some people who will kick and long haired chap into the dirt just for looking at them.
From my outlook it seems that people around my area (especially the youth) are more happy looking like each other. Sticking out is probably one of the worst things you can do. That being said, if you travel up to Birmingham (about 40 mins in the car) the city center is quite a diverse and interesting place. I certainly don't look anything out of the ordinary.
Really, I'd say it depends where you live. If anything I'd guess the US and UKs attitude to long hair is fairly similar.
Take care,
Neil
Neil, if that happened here in Tampa,fl ,i would go after them and there family and anyone that looked like them. so they better kill me , cause i would make them the focus of my destruction, James/Tampa,Fl
It's a couple of decades since I left the UK and moved to the US.
The main difference I think is that crewcuts were never seen as mainstream in the UK. The conventional cut for the uber-boring in the 60s was the short back and sides, which included several inches of hair on the top of the head, just not at the back or the sides. Even the army had their hair like that. Anyone who shaved their head before 1990 was a skinhead, which meant definitely a football (soccer) hooligan and probably a neo-nazi into the bargain. Brits reading this already know that, of course, unless they were born too late to know. What they might not realise is that the crewcut had the same place in American culture that the short-back-and-sides did in the UK in roughly the same time period.
Those Brits who are old enough to remember the skinheads and yet still shave their heads seem to be doing it because they are going bald, ROTFLMAO! A shaved head is the new combover!
As for the frequency of actual long hair, I don't think there's so much of a difference, or at least there didn't used to be. What is going on now in the UK I can only glean from short visits.
First off, thanks for your response
it sounds similar to the hair trends here in the U.S.
back in the 1970s Male short hair usually covered the ears and short short usually showed half the ears(check out the show 'that `70's show)
if they could see your earlobes then your hair was definitely short and probably shorter than the median length of that era.
while much shorter styles emerged during the 1980s you did not see many guys with crewcuts or shaved heads and the ones who generally did that were skinheads.
by the 1990s that all changed and it has become more or less the mainstream.
hopefully long hairstyles(at least long enough to cover the entire ears or longer circa 1970s) will make a huge comeback to the point so that the average Man wears it that way and the military styles will completely die out.
it would make it safer for those of us who desire shoulder length or longer in areas that might be less than long hair friendly.
Hi, I'm not sure long hair has changed radically over the years that I have been on the earth. I hear 'get your haircut' and 'oi, hairy' comments everyday almost, but I see many of those as jealousy, as they come from balding, greying types.
There is a section of society - the more carefree, hippie, non materialistic types who love it, but of course there are the corporate suited types who think we are scum and a scrounger. Mothers never seem to like long hair on their sons!
Ironically whenever I have talked about getting a cut/trim, all my mates and work colleagues say, 'don't do it, it looks really cool', so deep down I guess its ok.
Getting a job however could be more tricky, I am in the creative field so its not a problem, but yes it could and would be in many areas I suspect.
cheers Dave
I agree with most of what you have said there Dave. A lot of the comments I get come from blokes who are balding and/or greying. I have thrown this back in jest once or twice at pubs, and it's left them with a bruised ego in front of their mates. I have gotten comments from kids too. This is the bit that makes me feel sorry for them. It sort of says to me that from a young age there are plenty of kids who have been taught that any kind of independent thought or creativity is a bad thing.
Getting a job has been difficult, but I wouldn't put that entirely down to my hair, but I'm sure at some times it has hindered me in interviews.
Neil.
Hey Dave,
That's a great analysis of why we get negative comments about our hair being long.It could be for a variety of reasons but I think mostly its because of jealousy on the part of those who can't grow their hair long.Maybe its an MPB problem or its outside forces making them conform.I'm sure some of it boils down to some guys don't think men should wear their hair long because it confuses them about what gender the person is!LOL.Heavens to Betsy.Fortunately I haven't been bothered by such comments as maybe people are afraid of me or something.Maybe I look evil, who knows:)Anyway keep up the good fight and let that freak flag fly:)BTW, I still have your poster proudly hanging on the wall still;)Cheers my friend.
Mark
Markie babes, I am honoured to be still hanging on your wall :) Thanks for your interesting insights into hairdom!
Cheers Dave
probably, but in the U.S they often come from younger ignorant people too.
And we NEED more societies like this! the less uptight the better!
the uptight yuppie crowd, no doubt.
actually , I have known some old hippie Moms who have actually
encouraged it on their sons. ;-)
now, if they had said the opposite how would you have reacted?
yes, it is a problem in the U.S. especially with current economic conditions and too many guys willing to get barbershop haircuts just to get an interview. ;-(