new thread
9-month tied up
Both look great! I was so shy of wearing ming up in public until it reached shoulder length. Don't know why. Now I tie it back pretty much every other day.
You know, it looks pretty damn good there in my opinion -- the other pic as well, JP.
The first time I ever tied my hair back into a half-tail, I was too self-conscious to wear it that way in public (but that was MANY years ago, during my first time growing it out, back in the early '90s). After my impulsive Y2K short haircut, I no longer cared what anybody thought or said, and was completely non-timid during my 2nd time of going through the "awkward stages"... It's all about holding your head up high, not being self-conscious about what others might think or say, and just enjoying the heck out of the hair-farming journey!
"Onward & Downward!"
- Ken
First off,
JP...dude this looks awesome!! That's crazy you can get it all back at 9 months dude!!! This gives me great hope ha ha. Not gonna lie I'm jealous. Thanks for posting this upon request bro!
So true Ken! The "awkward stage" has taught me a lot about confidence and just rocking it. Maybe it's because I'm more confident in myself now or I'm just sick of worrying what people think. 3 times before I wasn't confident enough to push through the bushy mop. Now I care a lot less what people think and have the tools, support (here) and knowledge to get through it. I think the awkward hair stage "appears" much less awkward when the wearer just owns it and is confident. I imagine the early 90's must've been pretty tough to rock a half tail. I feel it is more acceptable now for men to wear it due to the man bun trend. I guess us young bucks have it easy!
Yes, confidence is the key to pulling off a style that the general public has not yet accepted / embraced. If too "different" from the norm, it's always a good idea to prepare yourself for SOMEbody or other to be critical about it, sometimes even a bit nasty or at least sarcastic in their comments towards you. But, if you truly don't care about what others think or say (because you have your own reasons to feel happy about your decisions), a negative comment will NOT make you collapse or crumble in your determination to continue forward with your plans -- in fact, you'll find it within yourself to stand up to the jerk!
Every era has different challenges to social progress and acceptance of people's differences. When I was in high school (Sept of 1967 - June of '71), long hair on guys had just recently started to become very cool; but the majority of the parents and teachers also considered these longhaired guys to be the "rebels", the "trouble-makers" of the community, the "problem kids", etc. This particular era in US history also had a lot of social unrest, protests to the Vietnam war, the first of the hippies (which were considered dirty, as well as "anti-establishment"...
Most jobs had strict "dress codes" -- including definite limits on a man's hair length (but no limit for female hair length). The jobs I first got when I was in my late teens and early 20s, for example, all required that males could not have hair past collar-length.
Attitudes also varied depending on what part of the country /world you lived in (and still varies according to location). The Chicago, IL area where I'm originally from, for example, is a bit more conservative-thinking than San Francisco, CA.
Over time, it's been fun for me to watch attitudes towards longhairs change and grow (pun intended - LOL)! Nowadays, it's no longer automatically assumed that a young guy who's just growing his hair out must also be an extremely rebellious trouble-maker, as well as politically connected to the farthest extreme left -- although occasionally you'll bump into some isolated old fart who might still think that.
I am GRATEFUL you young guys have it quite a bit easier than I did when I was your age -- heck, that's one of the reasons I love MLHH so much: it helps keep the ball of progress rolling in the right direction!
- Ken