new thread
Hello everyone,
Had an old friend on the net tell me to get a haircut. I am interested in hearing your quick-witted remarks for these opponents of growing hair. Not that I'm really concerned with what these people think! Thanks for your input!
Ted
Does he/she know that your intention is to grow your hair long? Some people may say that because they are not even aware of your intentions.
I've been told that several times before while I was going through the awkward stage.
I had a female co-worker who said to me: "Your hair is soo long" (like actually meaning: It's time for a haircut). My response was "oh thanks!"
my comeback remark has been "I could ask you the same question in reverse" "why is your hair so short." I never get an answer.
Hello Mike,
Ha! I bet you don't ever get an answer to that question! I just don't understand why people feel they can question other people about hair growth. I do believe this world would be such a better place if people would concentrate on being more tolerant. We should be trying to figure out how we can help our fellow man. And I just don't see what the length of one's hair has to do with the price of tea in China.
Thanks for your reply which I will use for future encounters! Great weekend to you my friend!
Ted
Hello Dave,
That is a good point. This person is a male former co-worker of mine. He was always the kind of person who liked to get reactions from people. So his behavior was not surprising. However, I didn't appreciate his remarks. Needless to say, I won't be in touch with him anymore. Life is just way too short for idiots like this in my life. Heck, I don't even put up with crap from my Mother-in-Law about my hair. She seems to think the only men who should have long hair are the soap opera actors.
Thanks for your reply, Dave. I will keep that in mind for future reference:) Great weekend to you my friend!
Ted
It is probably different for those growing than those with already long hair. For this sort of question my response is just a flat negative or maybe an eyeroll.
I save the smart comments for jackasses who feel that they can impose on me...usually by involving my race/sexuality/political affiliations or drug preferences. And most of those responses are remembered or pre-rehearsed because I'm not THAT sharp on my feet.
Hello Trolleypup,
I am reasonably sure it is different for those still growing their hair out. I guess because these naysayers aren't sure us in the growing stage are firm in our desire for long hair. So they feel the need to impose their societal norms upon us. Well, I will have none of that.
I do have a natural ability to come up with wise ass replies to these idiots. And Heaven forbid they get into the political, race, sexual stuff. I will let them know how the cow ate the cabbage! I was raised to be tolerant of other people's interests, sexual preferences, etc. As a result, I don't take too kindly to people who are intolerant.
My response to this idiot was "Why, so I can look like you?" This guy always has his head shaved very close. But at one time he had pretty long hair.
I do thank you for your comebacks! Maybe one of these days I can use them! Great weekend to you my friend!
Ted
My usual response (when such happened as it was growing, not at all at this stage) was 'Not bloody likely" or with one friend whgo is foollicly challenged..... "jealous?" The last time My hair was mentioned was form a oung 20ish intern. who said to her frind as I was within earshot. 'Ooh! I like his hair, The tail is so cool, He must be a Bad ass" Had to smile. I am far from being a "Bad ass" However, if it keeps trouble at bay. I will go with it.
Hello Jason,
I do think it's kind of funny how our follically challenged friends feel the need to comment on our hair prowess:) That's cool about the 20ish intern! Kind of funny how long hair on a man evokes images of Harleys, hard rock music, general badassness. The intern sounds to be a fairly open minded creature, however. Nice to hear your tail is badass! And definitely go with it! Heck with your Tbirds and all, you are a badass! Little do they know!
I do appreciate your comebacks. They may come in handy one day. But as I am well on my way to longhairdom, maybe not. Great weekend to you my friend!
Ted
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to tell you that when I was leaving my dilysis clinic an older lady saw my hair and said she liked it. I find this interesting because she is in her late 60s or 70s. I would expect someone this age to be against long hair on a man. Granted, my hair is not long yet. But, it is longer than a normal(?) man's haircut. This lady is very friendly and always compliments people on their appearance. Needless to say, it made me feel good about my hair. Even though I'm still trying to grow out these blasted layers and I'm not always pleased with it!
Thanks again for the replies! Much appreciated!
Ted
I don't have a remark. I just remain silent and ignor.
Justin~
Hello Justin,
Absolutely must agree with you here! These ignoramuses don't deserve a response. Sometimes nothing said impacts more than an answer. I really appreciate your suggestion. I shall use it in the future if necessary! Great weekend to you my friend!
Ted
Thank you Ted and I hope that you have a great weekend as well.
You are so right and they don't deserve a response. No reason ever to feel that you have to defend yourself about how you choose to have your hair regardless of length. You could have had a "Buzz Cut" and been a 1-1/2 months overdue, and this moron might still have said the same thing. The ONLY way to win is remain silent.
Take care Ted-
Justin~
Here are some great come backs:
Hi LHIA,
Thanks for reminding me about Hair Religion's site! I had totally forgotten about these comebacks. Now I have plenty of things to use on the idiots who think they can tell me how to wear my hair! Not that I really care what these people think! Thanks again and have a great weekend my friend!
Ted
You're welcome and thank you to Hair Religion for creating the site.
i would mention I got alot of those comments years ago. Now that
i'm 58 years old all of those comments have stopped. The all stopped when about 10 years ago. Once I hit the age of 48 the
comments all ended, all the relative who complained about my hair
had died off, I was now the oldest in the family, I was that
eccentric uncle who had long hair and wore cut off shorts all year 'round.
During the first 38 years of having long hair I didn't have the benefit of advice from guys like Hair Religion and other
guy on this site. So you can learn lot from them.
I was at the drive-thru at a Whataburger a few weeks ago. As I paid for my order, the girl I gave the money to said, "Wow! You're hair is really LONG!!!" I shrugged and asked her, "Is that really such a bad thing?" She looked surprised that I commented back and then said, "Oh...uh, no!" Yeah, right!
Hi OKC Dude,
I would be willing to bet that she was just very jealous of your hair! I think it's a safe bet that you have nicer looking hair than many women out there! I wonder what she would say to you if you ever saw her in the drive-thru again! Interesting story and I appreciate you sharing it.
Hope you have a great coming week my friend!
Ted
There have been a few times when I wss in a local store
and someone would say "Wow! You're hair is really long."
I'm still not sure how to respond to something like that.
But I do enjoy hearing comments like that.
These are not the same people who will mistake me for a woman
when they see my long hair from behind.
This one takes a bit of luck and cleverness, but is SO satisfying if you can pull it off. My latest triumph was over my cousin, who is an Army brat and a retired police officer. She's kind of a jerk. (Also, she has short hair. The "modern standard mother's/30-ish haircut". My hair is actually longer than hers.)
*****************
Her: Looks like it's time for you to get a haircut.
Me: Why would you say that?
Her: It's too long, guys shouldn't have long hair.
Me: Huh, you'd think it would stop growing at some point then.
*This is a good line in and of itself*
Her: Look, it's just not normal. How many guys do you really see with long hair? You should just get it cut.
*The trap is set, time for my coup de grace*
Me: Oh, I see. Are there any other parts of my body you think I should cut off?
Her: Hair isn't a part of your body.
*VICTORY*
Me: Really? You maybe want to think about that one again?
*Five full seconds go by*
Her: Oh, shut up!
*She storms off in a huff*
*****************
It's so great when you can use psychology to make people realize that their own arguments are stupid. Most people truly do not see their hair as a part of their body. They see it more as a sort of inconvenient hat.
Most oldest argument (since I was a child, in fact) is "If it wasn't supposed to grow, it wouldn't". Think about it. Your arm hair never grows past the length of the "standard male haircut". If your head hair was supposed to stop at that point, it would have been simplicity itself to set up that way. Instead, it keeps growing, as intended.
Hello Septet,
I can always count on you for an awesome response! These are great stories of your interactions with the naysayers! You definitely have to watch out for the people with "standard type haircuts"! My Mother-in-Law has a "standard type old lady's haircut". She loves to tell me how I would look so much better with short hair. Needless to say she has given up, having failed miserably. I am so sick of these people who want to be like everybody else. Thanks a bunch for the excellent comebacks which I maybe will be able to use in the future.
Hope you have a great coming week my friend!
Ted
If God didn't want us to have long hair he wouldn't have given us the ability to GROW OUR HAIR
The last time I looked hair was growing from MY BODY.
One thing that really helps in arguement like this is when you
get older. I got the usual complaints when I was younger, but
once i reached the age of 48 the complaints stopped. (Respect for your elders? Maybe it finally sunk in that I wasn't going to
cut my hair? Maybe it finally sunk in that my hair was going to
stay long.)
One of the major advantages of being 58 years old (my current age) is that I can wear my hair the way I want to and nobody
will say anything about it. I can also wear what I want to
and nobody will say anything.
Also at the age of 58 i don't care what others think about how I should wear my hair or what I should wear for clothes.
--------------------
The best argument is that GOD created both men and women with the ability to grow very long hair.
If you attend church you may get pressured to cut your hair to be more mainstream or "normal".
The religious argument is: Either God made a MISTAKE in creating males with the ability to grow long hair or short hair is a MAN MADE custom and not God's intent. God's laws are much higher than man's laws.
An elderly woman at my church (about 12 years ago) tried to talk me into cutting my hair. Shortly afterwards a visiting preacher did a negative sermon about men with long hair. Within weeks the 2 other longhair guys at my church cut off their hair. I did not. (I was not present at that sermon, but even if I was, I would not have cut off my hair.)
Scott
Hello Scott,
Thanks for your excellent reply! These are great arguments in favor of long hair! Very interesting. I am definitely not going to listen to people who want to tell me how to wear my hair. I am enjoying this journey way too much and I'll be damned if anybody is going to change that!
I can't wait to get to at least mid-back length and it won't happen if I cut. With the help of this board and major patience I shall succeed! Thanks again for your great response! I hope you have a great upcoming week my friend!
Ted
the way I look at it is God gave me the ability to grow my hair so
i started in 1964 to take advantage of that ability and grow my hair long. Now 49 years later it is still long, and will remain long (and grey) until the day I die.
I don't really care whether that ability was intended or was a mistake, i'll keep it long irregardless. I had lots of hassles from teachers, school administrators and employers starting in
1964 through all those years of growing my hair out. And despite all the hassles in those intervening years i thoroughly enjoyed the
journey from a very short "Beatles" haircut to my eventual attained length of waist length many years later. If i had to do it all over again I wouldn't have hesitated for a second. .
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, even with all the hassles
involved.
I often wonder would I have kept my hair long if I had gotten no
hassles from teachers/school administrators/employers about my hair length? I don't know.
But throughout the decades from 1964 on I thoroughy enjoyed
breaking all the dress codes as far hair length and what I wore
for clothes. When It came to the dress code I broke eery rule
in the book and continued to do it through out all my years in school. And I absolutely enjoyed doing it. And now at the ripe old age of 58 i'm very happy that I did it. And now at
58 years old i'm glad I stuck to my guns and kept doing what I wanted to do not what others wanted.
After all God gave me free will and I used that free will to
wear my hair the way I wanted to and to wear the clothes I wanted to even when it broke the rules of society. And I used
that free will to not only break the rules of society but
to smash them.
So the moral of the story here: if you want to grow your hair
long, you should take advantage of your "free will" to chart your
own course in the enterprise of hair farming.
One thing I would add here is a friend here in Albany died back in February from cancer, which drives home the point of how short
our stay in this life is.
So when you are on your death bed you don't want to be saying that
you wished you had grown your hair long when you had the chance. I can guarantee you won't be saying that you wished you had gotten more hair cuts or worked a lot more hours at the office.
So you should grow your hair long now while 1. you're still alive to do it and 2. while you still have hair.
Hi LHIA,
As a person with kidney disease who is on dialysis 3 times per week I must agree with this. I am enjoying my life regardless and also enjoying growing my hair. Life is and always will be good! It is my responsibility to make my life what it is and nobody will interfere with that. Not even my relatives and family members. /end rant.
Ted
Came across this post which can be used to clarify the bible verse that refers to men and long hair.
One thing i'd also point out the bible was written by men, not God.
It was written by men who wrote it after a large number
of translations. it is thought that alot of meaning was lost
or mangled in the many translations. So take that bible with
a giant grain of salt.
/end of rant from someone who fully intents to keep his hair long
for the rest of his life no matter what the bilbe or others think
or want.
I'm not even Christian, so I just ignore folks when they bring up Bible stuff. You can pretty much use the Bible to justify anything, so I don't even care.
Hi Runningball,
My apologies for the late reply! I appreciate the link you provided. Very interesting and useful information. I can assure you no religious person or anyone else will make me cut my hair. Thanks again for the reply and I hope you have a great week my friend!
Ted
Hi Scott,
These are excellent points you make! I don't go to church every Sunday anymore, but if I did nobody at the church would influence me to cut my hair. I absolutely refuse to connect religion to hair growth. I thought people went to church to hear the Good News. And I am tired of seeing people always doing what other people are doing. Just like sheep being led to...well, you know where.
Thanks again for your great points! Hope you have a wonderful week my friend!
Ted
Hey Ted, my personal response is to ignore said naysayer :). I usually just give them the look of "are you really wasting my time by attempting to communicate to me" and respond with a "Yep" or an "Ok".
Hello Tommy,
I totally agree with you here! These are excellent comebacks and I may get to use them in the future. But then again, your suggestion to just ignore them is probably the best thing to do. Seems like when you say something it just lets them know they're bothering you. Thanks again for your excellent reply and I hope you have a great week my friend!
Ted