new thread
This image has been circulating on the Net. I assume it is a genuine family portrait (from the 1970s judging by styles?) and not photoshopped.
I have no idea who the family is but I was just gobsmacked by the contrast of the kid on the right - an oasis of coolness in a family of uncoolness and conformity.
Perhaps any time that we longhairs feel ostracised and despised by the rest of society we should have a look at this image and decide which member of that family we most empathise with. Do we REALLY want to be just like everyone else? ;)
Damon
One thing that also struck me: the parents may well LOOK uncool and conformist but they are clearly open-minded and tolerant in letting their son choose his own appearance.
Damon
---------------------------------
Yes, I totally agree -- in fact, were it not for open-minded and supportive short-haired folks, life would be a hell of a lot more miserable for us longhairs!
The vast majority of my closest friends all happen to be short-haired (even most of the women - LOL). The beautiful thing about diversity is not judging a book by its cover, but rather to get to know someone by whatever positive qualities of character they have inside their hearts.
To me, this pic of that unique family is an awesome example of how all members of that family must love each other, regardless of whatever differences stand out like a soar thumb (LOL)....
Thanks for posting that pic, Damon, it's a definite winner!
- Ken
Yeah but if ALL people were as open-minded as those parents, we'd have nothing to rebel against and long hair would be far less fun! :)
Damon
----------------------------------------------------------
I scanned this advertisement several years ago from a magazine. I wish more families would be more accepting as in your photo and this
Wow!!! Another amazing contrast. Vive la différence!
Damon
---------------------------------------
Dear sweet Dibella, that picture is hilariously awesome!
If it's not fake then those parents are indeed the coolest parents of the 20th century, despite how generic they look.
Thanks for sharing, Damon.
Looks like Axl Rose :)
Vivien.
Yeah, must have been his role model.
-----------------------------------
I think there needs to be more rebellion and far less conformity.
One thing I noticed even though one of the boys has long hair half way down his back the other boys also have long hair. Granted it's not as long as the boy on the right but it's also not
a buzz cut.
Yes, but the buzzcut didn't become the "default" hair for males until the late 80s. Until then it was rarely seen outside the military/law enforcement communties. Judging from the hair and clothing on the other family members, I'd put this picture in the early 70s. I may be hauling coal to Newcastle with this observation, but that was pretty much the standard hairstyle back then.
Until people realized that putting a bowl on your head for haircuts is a terrible idea, that is.
I'm no expert, but I'd wager that the buzzcut trend is because of the draft. So many young men went to Vietnam, and when they came back they just kept living the military lifestyle. You can see the same effect after WWI & WWII with the death of the beard. We were in Vietnam for 15 years, and a vast majority of American men basically grew up in the military. It's no wonder that modern society is still feeling the effects of this indoctrination. We've probably got another two generations to go before the ripples die down, barring any more militant catastrophes.
I'm 58 years old, started growing my hair long in 1964.
The standard hair style was the crew cut.
Many parents still opposed their kids having long hair.
The shift to shorter hair for men was a universal trend in the Western World, not just in the USA - and I doubt that the American draft played any significant part even in the USA itself. For one thing, the time scale would be questionable. Secondly, although Vietnam vets are venerated nowadays, they were not at the time and the young had little wish to emulate them. For another thing, here in the UK (a major fashion influence) we never had the draft after 1960.
Here in the UK and elsewhere the first signs of the fashion for shorter hair began in the late 70s/early 80s - and the reason had nothing to do with the military. It was simply the usual generational dynamic that affects fashion. The youthful energy behind avant-garde fashion tends to begin as a reaction - typically as an underground protest against the mainstream. The driving force behind avant-garde fashion is to be SO different to the mainstream that it shocks.
The same shock value that drove the change to long hair in the mid-60s drove the change to short hair in the late 70s/early 80s. By then, long hair had now become mainstream - EVERYONE had it. It had become ubiquitous and simply BORING. It no longer had shock value. So young people in the forefront of fashion and rebellion cut their hair short, styled it in outrageous ways, dyed it in bizarre colours or even shaved it. Punk and new wave became the new look. (Skinheads had short hair too but that was generally a separate culture.)
As with all fashions, the extremes (mohican, mohawk, whatever) never became mainstream but eventually - by the early to mid-80s - the simple short hair did (spiky, buzzcut, etc.). And it has stuck through the 90s and most of the 00s. Fashion trends tend to be fueled mainly by popular culture (rather than military or government standards) and the liking for buzzcuts received a huge additional boost by its popularity in the hip-hop culture during the 1990s.
Now, in its turn, short hair has become ubiquitous and boring. Over the past few years more and more young people (and a few older people too) are growing their hair long. Fashion is a cycle driven by generational factors, the necessity to be different to what was "in" last year/decade, etc. Fashion by its very nature HAS to change and challenge in order to survive.
Damon
-----------------------------------------
True, but the longish "bowlcut" hair of the other boys was mainstream at the time whereas the much longer hair of the "rocker" boy was not.
It's nice to see that the parents didn't have a hang-up about long hair on any of their kids though. Refreshingly liberal.
Damon
-----------------------------------------------
In alot of cases no. While I had long hair and a number
of others had long hair alot of parents instisted that their
boys have the obligitory crew cut.
Some parents allowed their boy to have long hair, many did not.
And there was much reistsance to it in the schools.
As someone who lived through the era the bowlcut was not mainstream. Some had it but many parents didn't allow it
and many schools didn't allow it.