new thread
Hi, ya'll, I be new here.
I finally decided to grow out my hair this past October. I've always wanted to do so, but my parents forbade it, for some pretty typical conservative religious reasons, I suppose. The clearest thing that I remember my father saying was that "the worst" thing for him is for one of his boys to "show up with faggot earrings and hippie hair like a liberal professor taking his girlfriend to get an abortion." I'm not making this up, he actually said this, which is why I remember it is so clearly. I was probably 13 or 14 at the time.
The best thing that I could do was just let it grow for a few months, generally unkempt. I have really thick, straight hair, and so as it grew, it would just become a bush, kind of like an afro, at least as far as volume is concerned. Now that I've been on my own for a few years, I decided to see if I can have the patience to grow out my hair out past the annoying middle stages. Recently I've been able to do a very small pony-tail on the back, that doesn't catch the front. I was still excited to be able to do it. I have pictures, but they're on my phone, and so I'll have to get them off of it. I'm happy to find a community of like minded people! :) Cheers!
Thanks for the nice introduction, and congrats on growing your hair out to what we call, "the awkward stages" -- it's not easy to get through; but worth the patience in the end!
No worries about a parent that doesn't like or agree with long hair on a guy. I can relate, as my dad (an ultra-conservative former U S Navy man) would not allow me or my brothers to grow our hair out as long as we still lived in his house; so I left home at age 18 during my parents' divorce (when I was almost 19), entering the workforce so I could be financially independent of him. Although I missed out on finishing my college education at the time, the freedom from my domineering dad was the healthiest thing for me to do.
"Onward & Downward!"
- Ken in San Francisco, California
Hi, Ken. To be honest, I'm still probably in the "late middle awkward stage". The back of my hair hits my shoulders and curves/curls around, while on the front of my head, it's around mouth level. I can pull it into a pony-tail thing, but not the front, I have to use pins on that to get it out of the way.
And yeah, I've been away from my dad and financially independent for years. The first thing I did when I moved out, many years before deciding to grow my hair out, was to get my ears pierced. :)
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I feel, now that I've grown it out a bit, and gotten past some of the awkwardness, that I can see what it will do, kind of. Although, it has surprised me already with its wavy-ness. I thought I had really straight hair, now I'm not so sure anymore.
Also, San Francisco is a beautiful city. How is it treating you today? :) Cheers!
Hey CarpeMortum90,
Welcome to the tribe, dude.
One (1) of the great things about having long hair is the ability to do various things with it. When you need to look kempt and professional you can put it into a tail. When you can go more casual then you can let it go free.
I look forward to seeing your pics.
Welcome to the family, bro.
Your long haired bro,
Raymond
I know! Thanks. :) I can't wait til it gets long enough to really try different styles. My hair is long enough that it hits my shoulders and just curves around. I can do a lower pony-tail thing or a small top-knot thing like a samurai, which I think is pretty cool. I have to use pins on the front of my hair because it's otherwise in my eyes.
Bwhahaha that quote of your dad's is hilarious, if only he knew all the places us faggots get pierced he'd definitely stop worrying about hippie long hair and earrings :p
Love my long hair AND my out of the ordinary piercing!
Made me chuckle. Happy growing bud :)