new thread
I got to thinking about Mark's survey and recall having conversations with other guys with short hair regarding long hair on Men and asked them if they ever had long hair or would consider growing it. the lists of reasons ranged from the usual potential problems with employers or family to the most outrageous idiotic lamest excuses possible!
some reasons other guys have given me for not growing their hair include:
"I'm not a Metalhead"
"I don't use drugs"
"I don't want people to think I use drugs"
"I don't want to look like I use drugs"
"I'm not a burnout"
"I'm not a hippie"
with the first one, you would think that these idiots would realize that Metal as a genre is only a little over 40 years old, but Men wore their hair long for many centuries way before the advent of electronic instruments!
with the others, it's based on a stereotype probably due to Cheech and Chong's "up in smoke" and "Woodstock" among others and much misinformation.
although I would try to convince these guys that if "long hair on Men was a strong indicator of illegal drug use" there would be a lot less drug use in society today, but on the contrary illegal drug use is more widespread and used mostly among the clean-cut or shaven head types, not guys with long hair.
When I point these guys the usual replies would be "Well, they may do drugs(the clean-cut and shaven types) but they don't look like the type" and "If you have long hair you look like the type that do!"
so in their own little minds, if you are a Man and have long hair that automatically makes people suspect that you are a drug user?
Men have worn long hair since the beginning of recorded history.
many were philosophers, teachers, inventors, Doctors, yet many guys can't get past the usual stereotypes that have been presented to them from the time they were a child.
when they are presented this information some will try to make some excuse why these educated Men had long hair such as
"they did not have barbershops back then" as if there was no way to trim the hair 200 years ago. lol!
I think barbershops have been around a few centuries longer.
also, they find it inconceivable that any long haired Men during the 20th century invented anything and when I reference people such as the late Steve Jobbs or Steve Wozniak, two guys who invented the personal computer and started Apple back in the 1970s it seems to go right over their heads!
it's as if it's been ingrained in them since birth that long hair on Men will turn you into some sort of monster or undesirable and they continue to hold these erroneous notions while walking around with blinders on not even questioning them at all.
what examples have you been given by other guys when you had a similar discussion?
Hi Paul,
Very good thread and interesting what you mentioned as reasons
for a guy not wanting to grow out his hair.It's all typical crap as if every
bald guy is an absolute angel.lol.People being what they are will do drugs
no matter what their appearance is.Frankly it's a waste of time to convince
anyone that closed minded that they should try growing their hair.
Another rediculous reason I've heard for not wanting to grow long hair is
because its too much trouble!Really, I suppose shaving your head often is a
cakewalk.What happens when you slip with the razor leaving that nice gouge
on your scalp.Oh what fun:) Oh well better quit while I'm ahead.Do have a nice day:)Cheers
It's a long while since I even tried to convince anyone to grow out their hair. I don't see much point. On the whole I don't much care if other people have short hair, as long as they have hair.
OTOH, I can't stand shaved heads. I can only think of about two people who look any good with them. One is Sinead O'Connor, but only before she gained weight. The other one I have forgotten, LOL!
In any case, given my age group and where I am from, I will always associate the style mainly with neo-nazi skinheads and soccer hooligans. The one thing I can't figure out is why anyone else of the same age and background would shave their head? I could live to be 90 and never understand that, but many of them do it anyway.
I know many years ago I did try to talk a mate named Paul into growing out his hair, and his excuse was that he had tried but it tickled his neck. Of course, it does, while it is passing through a certain range of length, but after that it stops. Couldn't convince him of that, though.
I wouldn't go out of my way to convince a short hair to grow out his hair unless he was a very good friend and I felt he might even entertain the idea.Other than that as long as my own hair is long and no one bugs me to cut it I'll be content:)
Agreed on the shaved head look as they also look like inmates from prison too.All they need is a stripped shirt with a long number on the back!LOL.In particular the young guys with shaved heads do make me think neo nazi so they kind of bring that on themselves.I always wonder if they themselves think others come to that conclusion but they probably think they look beautiful.Blaaaaa!LOL
Mârk
True.
Paul was probably the only one of a number of my friends that hung out together who didn't have long hair at the time. You could describe his style as a caesar cut with long sideburns. So yes, he was a good friend and I did think he might entertain the idea of long hair, otherwise why would he hang out with all these longhairs? Of course, he said he didn't grow it out because he didn't like how it felt on his neck, but it could have been pressure from family, because he wouldn't have been alone in that.
Yes, well said. Barber's rash, razor burn, pimples, pock marks -how ugly ... and the willingness to mutilate one's self daily. This is nothing short of self-abuse.
Because of those reasons you site, it takes courage to grow long hair ... in modern times that is. Since these crop-headed people are indeed ignorant, it is up to us to educate them with the facts of Our LONG HAIRitage from the standpoint of history and science.
Long hairs are not smarter than crop-heads, except it is certainly smarter to grow longer hair for scalp health/head protection. On the other hand, with all things being equal, longhairs tend to be a hair more creative, more peaceful, artistic, and fun-loving compared to crop-heads who are addicted to the barbershop.