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What is your reason for having your hair long? Why did you grow it in the first place?
I am a long ways away from having long hair, having just started, but I have several reasons:
1) All the guys I grew up with (in my family) have or had long hair. My dad (age 59) had long hair for most of his life, and during my childhood (the 90s) wore a mullet as a compromise due to his job. He only finally cut his hair for good in 2009 at 55 and it was chest length. My brother in law had long hair (more a mullet- on and off for years, every year he would grow it, only to cut it due to my sister making nasty comments. Both guys were huge role models on me and as such its sort of in homage to them.
2) I love rock music. Sounds silly, but I feel rock music, being a rocker, and having long hair all go hand in hand.
3) Its an expression of individuality, even now. Most of American/Western society has a cropped, conformist sort of aesthetic. Having long hair, while more accepted than in the 60s, is still a way to differentiate yourself and say you're not going to conform and be just like everyone else.
4) Its still a marker, at least in America, of being socially liberal. A good chunk of my family is very conservative and hold disdain for long hair, the way people did in the 60s, my aunts,, uncles etc, grandparents all are very against long hair and facial hair and don't understand it, and they associate long hair with hippyness and liberalness and its sort of my defiant way of saying I am me and I don't agree.
5) Its a lifestyle. At least in my opinion,, and its an awesome lifestyle. For some reason, both now and throughout history, having long hair was always a bit more than a simple aesthetic choice, it always had a deeper meaning:
In the English Civil War, you had the Royalist Cavaliers, noted for their long locks, at war with the Roundheads, who were called so for their close clipped hair. The late Roman Empire, short haired, fought and were conquered by the Germanic peoples, who wore their hair long as a badge of honor. A man with short hair was considered odd in many of the Germanic tribes. In the Middle Ages, free men and yeomen wore shoulder length hair; short hair was a social marker of a servant. In the 60s, growing your hair long signified a break with 'The Establishment.' Long hair was and is a strong social statement. It also looks youthful, and its just plain cool. For these and other reasons, I choose to grow my hair.
Hi 'Hair' = thx. for this question & for your interesting reasons given ...
... my reasons are as follows:- 1.) 4.5 years ago = I just felt I wasn't bald or grey = so why the hell not. 2.) I've always marched to the beat of my own drum. 3.) My job allows me such freedom of expression. 4.) Now it is an on going experiment - how long is terminal for me ? = ( ponders my navel & the 'Orion Nebula' ) 5.) ... & now I just love it & care not what others think or whether long hair flatters me ... to live AUTHENTICALLY is KEY for me ! ... cheers to all CEM. :O)
Why? Because i like it, the look, the feel, the statement it makes. (It apparently means many things to many people) It is freedom. (Brought to the fore when an Iraqi friend mentrioned how he loved long hair but voculd not grow it when he lived in Iraq due to societal and governmental/religious edicts) It's also history. My own. I have had long hair since the 60s. Various lengths. but always longer htan the accepted "norm' My hair is now the same length it was in the 70s, Mid back, and I love it. Also history in the sense that my highl;and ancestors wore it long. My hair is turning white 90Moustache and temples, now. but..... And I still have the full head of haor. it's just seems natural.
I started growing my hair long in 1964 when I saw the Beatles. Now 49 years later it is still long. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s I had lots of complaints about my hair, but I held strong
and insisted on keeping it long. Once I saw the Beatles I knew
my hair had to be long. Now 49 years later that long hair
is my trademark and it eventually got much longer than the
"Beatles" haircut of 1964.
As far as hair and clothes i've always been a non-conformist. I wear clothes and hair the way I want to, not what society expects.
God gave me the ability to grow my hair long so I took full advantage of it. If God didn't want me to have long hair he
wouldn't have given me the ability to grow hair on my head.
I've always wanted long hair. I ran away from home (over to my grandmothers' house, five blocks away) when I was five years old, because of an unwanted haircut. To me, my hair is a part of my body that belongs there. I have always felt that way. I was born that way. That is no more going to change than is my sex or sexual orientation.
Bill
Short answer: it's a bucket-list item. At 46 years of age, now or never.
Longer answer: I've always liked hair, noticed it on other people, and realized it was a big part of your appearance. I've been told all my life that I have nice hair (not just vanity, BTW, nobody compliments my nose), so why not have more of it? Accentuating the positive if you will.
More lately, I've embraced the spiritual view that God, or nature if you prefer, intended we humans to have long hair by giving us the ability to how three feet (!) or more of head hair. Refraining from cutting our hair honors that gift.
Hope that helps,
Chris
What more could be a better answer than the one given by chris. If the hair was not intended, it would not have grown.
Hmmm, I hear that argument a lot ... but the logic is slightly flawed. See the pic above ... ;)
Damon
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... Gods intent OR evolutionary quirk !??! = will we ever know ? - what God gave us is choice - so as humans: ( here on 'the board' ) - we choose to let nature take its course - it makes us unique & special - being human is a privilege, but with our intelligence & power comes great responsibility: ( not that I see that exercised in the world ) ... in the scheme-o-things ... long hair/short hair is paltry & trite compared with the real issues the world & humanity faces ... much love to all ... CEM.
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Absolutely - and like you I too have decided to take advantage and grow my hair long. That decision does make us longhairs unique and special.
But my point was that just because God or Nature gave us the ability to grow a body part, it doesn't necessarily mean that we should. Fingernails and toenails have the ability to grow to extraordinary lengths but most of us find that impractical so we cut them shorter. Ear hairs and nose hairs also grow but most of us find them unattractive so we cut them short or pluck them out. We were also given tonsils and appendixes but sometimes they can be a problem and have to be removed. Similarly, we were given wisdom teeth but they may have to be extracted.
I'm personally not too keen on facial hair and I'm not alone. I don't feel obliged to grow it just because I can.
I love long hair but I find it a poor argument to explain that we should grow our hair long simply because it was "intended". I have no desire to grow my fingernails and toenails to crazy lengths or leave my ear hairs and nose hairs to blossom unrestricted whether they were intended or not. I had no choice but to have my wisdom teeth extracted and having my appendix removed literally saved my life.
Yes, God or Nature gave us the ability to grow our hair long (so long as we are not ill or have MPB or whatever) but, as you said, the decision to take advantage of that is purely our own choice. I'm glad I have that ability and I'm glad I made that choice - but it had nothing to do with what was "intended".
Damon
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Absolutely - and like you I too have decided to take advantage and grow my hair long. That decision does make us longhairs unique and special. : But my point was that just because God or Nature gave us the ability to grow a body part, it doesn't necessarily mean that we should. Fingernails and toenails have the ability to grow to extraordinary lengths but most of us find that impractical so we cut them shorter. Ear hairs and nose hairs also grow but most of us find them unattractive so we cut them short or pluck them out ...
... agreed in full - I choose to grow my scalp hair = I choose to cut my fingernails fortnightly & my toenails monthly = ALL other hair trimming habits are pvt. ... hehehe < gigglez > CEM.
Fingernails are intended to be worn off when we use it
Interesting post I must say! I have had both long hair in my life. When I was younger, I had short haircuts. When I became a teenager, I started growing my hair longer. My dad never really cared about the length. He would just tell me I was crazy. Then, I joined the Air Force at 21 years old and had a flattop haircut for 4 years. This was mainly to deal with the regulations. After I left the military I kept my hair "mainstream men's style" for many years. About 3 years ago, I grew to just past shoulder and cut it to donate. Now here I am again at just past shoulder length. Guess what? No more donating for me-unless it's a dear friend in need or a child in need. And I will make sure they get the hair. But seriously, I am going for waist length minimum!
My reason for having long hair? Because I live in the U.S.A. And because I always wanted to know what my hair would look like when longer. And because I always admired Native Americans with their beautiful long hair.
Ted
My answer has nothing to do with religion, politics, or popular media. My answer is my hair.
Back when I was still getting haircuts. My hair had a bad habit of hitting what this board calls "the awkward stage" early, and hitting it HARD. As in, no matter how well I took care of it, within 3 months of a haircut, my hair would be a knotted uncontrollable mess.
By the time I was 16, I was so tired of dealing with the mess, that I decided that I was either going to shave it all off & keep it off, or grow it out at least long enough to hide the mess in a pony tail & never let it get any shorter than whatever that length turned out to be. Took me less than 30 seconds to decide.
I didn't quit cold turkey, right away, like some of the guys on this board. Took 4 years & being tricked into a haircut, before I swore off them for good. A year or 2 after, I made some hair-related mistakes, that convinced me to go for broke & aim for terminal length, trim-free.
Now just under 4 years post-haircut, I STILL can't put all my hair in a ponytail. But at least the mess I used to deal with every day, now only shows up on the really dry days.
Arend