new thread
Hi,
On June 22th 2025, I had met Anthony. We have discussed shipbuilding, I had bring my shipbuilding lessons to show him. I spent two years learning shipbuilding in Saint-Nazaire (France), a city mainly known for its shipbuilding industry and shipyard "Chantiers de l'Atlantique" where famous ships had been built, like the Normandie, France, and Queen Mary 2; today they build very big cruise ships.
It was the day just after an extreme heat wave; this day was hot, but it was bearable. I also took some photos of Anthony with my film camera, a Hasselblad 500c, which is the same camera used on the Moon by astronauts from Apollo missions. I use black & white film that I develop myself and print photos in a darkroom.
Taking this photo was challenging due to the wind that messed up our hair, there was just a small breeze but it was enough. I had to take many photos until I had a good one, and between photos we rearranged our hair.
Hi again Jesus Forain, first off how cool is that having a real life meetup with another mlhh member.If I recall correctly I thought you met Anthony a couple years ago too.I've met many guys from this board over the years but sadly many have since passed away.One of the most recent was Scott Nagel aka Absolom almost a year ago.
Cool about your interest in shipbuilding and apparently photography using actual film that needs to be developed!I wasn't even aware you could buy film like that anymore.I'm guessing film photography has moved into a nitch hobby just like many other obsolete technologies.
Anyway thank you for posting as we need all the help we can get here nowadays.Have a great day and look forward to future posts from you.Cheers.
Mârk
Hi Mârk,
I met Anthony for the third time, each year since 2023.
When I discovered the MLHH in 2020, I spent several days reading messages and saw that some members had meetings. But it's sad that some of the members passed away.
I immediately recognized myself in all these long-haired guys; we share the same feelings about hair, and I felt less alone. I have the impression of belonging to a group.
It's nice that this website exists, but the problem on the internet today, is that only a couple of big tech companies draw most of the traffic like Meta, Google, and TikTok. They impose their rules and algorithms which decide what we should see. People don't browse on the Web; they have smartphones and use only apps. That's why websites lost visitors and became less active.
I am seriously missing the internet of the 2000s; despite it being expensive and slow, remember the dial-up modem, it was fun when everyone made websites and used forums. Today it's all the same design, no colors, no customization of your social media account; it's just boring with lots of ads, tracking, and AI content!
I regret not having known about this site earlier. When it was created in 1997, I started to be interested in having long hair, and in September 1999, I went on Internet, but my English wasn't good at this time. Since the last year, when I had had optical fiber, I feel more free because I can host my webserver and video sharing site thanks to a 1Gb/s internet connection. Living in the countryside, we are always the last to get new technologies.
I know that it has been discussed before, but I think that the MLHH should be modernized to be more attractive. And why not create an official account on social media? There are numerous groups of long hair men on Instagram, Facebook and Reddit, which are are eating all traffic from the MLHH.
I've been interested in ships since I was little; I was 9 when I saw a short documentary on TV about the Titanic. I don't know why, but I wanted to know more about this ship, and it never stopped, and I was fascinated by ocean liners. At first I wanted to work on ships in the merchant navy, and again after seeing a TV documentary about the Saint-Nazaire shipyards, I wanted to build ships. I worked hard at school to obtain the mandatory exam (scientific Baccalauréat) to enter to the only shipbuilding school in France located in Saint-Nazaire. I stayed here two years; it was great, and I got my final exam.
But after school I was unable to find a job because no experience, no job. It was sad. It slowly disgusted me with boats, and I returned to studies to learn computer programming and got a job just after! But today, I'm again interested in boats for a few years.
Film photography isn't dead and got a renewed interest in the recent years. In Bordeaux there is a camera shop that has been around since 1865 and sells digital cameras and film.
In 2004, when digital cameras were good enough and affordable, I bought one and instantly saw film cameras as objects from the past! But in 2017, I discovered that you can buy used film cameras at low prices, and what interested me was that you could buy the same camera used by astronauts to take photos on the moon. I was also curious about the film development process.
I do black & white and color. Black & white is super easy to process, but color processing is more delicate, chemicals last only a few months before expiring and producing unwanted results.
Using a film camera is another experience because you must take your time and think before you shoot the photo.
Here is me holding the camera and a piece of black & white film. This is a medium-format camera, which uses larger film than the 35mm that everyone is familiar with.
Hi Jesus Forain,
Thank you for the great reply on multiple subjects.As far as the mlhh is concerned I got involved daily as a user around 2005/2006 and eventually was offered a position as a moderator.Clearly traffic on the board was quite robust back then and even the chat room got used as well for live conversation.Nowadays that's all in the rear view mirror as posting is far and few between.I agree updating the mlhh would likely help matters but I'm in no position to tackle that as my tech skills are minimal.I would love if some tech savy guy would volunteer to work on that aspect of the mlhh to bring it into the future as there are only a couple of us left on the original crew involved anymore.I basically finance the site to keep it open.I know a day will come that even I will hang it up and if current conditions remain the mlhh will vanish.But I hear you,the site is archaic and needs a refresh.However the good news is no pop up ads and your not being tracked.Who knows maybe its still better that way.
Aside from that I love when the guys talk about their interests as its more than just long hair.I feel the community here made it possible for me to visit members in real life.How great is that?! Very cool to read about your interests in photography and ship building.I found that fascinating.Anyway I thank you again for your commentary and participation on the hyper board.Don't be a stranger my friend,Cheers.
Mârk
Hi Mârk,
I don't respond quickly because we can't edit our messages in the board, so I always take time to write my message.
I used the chat for the first time 2 or 3 months ago. I saw someone connected, and we discussed it. It was a guy who lives in England.
Despite people going on social networks and abandoning websites, I think that one day this trend will reverse. As an example, there are people who are interested in how the early web was; there is a "reborn" Geocities with Neocities; some people find that forums are missing because it was easy to find information, you had forums that gathered people for everything you wanted. And with all these big tech corporations that dictate their laws by telling us what we can do with our own devices, people may start to find alternatives to gain more freedom and escape from these digital jails.
If you need help with the site, I can help. I do computer programming, I have created websites, and I'm familiar with web development and servers. I use the latest web technologies available in order to have the best user experience. As an example, you can send a notification as soon as someone posts a new message or make the website look like it's a smartphone app. But for the design, I'm not a specialist, and I do what I can to do my best.
Last week, I learned that AOL will shut down its 56K modem service in the USA. I was surprised that people still use this today! I read that it was the reason for keeping the design of the MLHH, make the website usable by slow connections but I hope that today everyone has a fast internet connection in the USA.
I think that a "various discussions" section is missing in this board. All forums used to have this section where you could know more about members and discover new interests or even other forums/websites. It was the golden age of the web!
These are my websites; they're in French, use translation function in your browser:
- https://www.turbo-kermis.fr => It's about fun fairs or travelling carnivals and amusement rides.
- https://www.jesus-forain.fr => My personal blog. The server is hosted at home.
- https://lesgarschevelus.fr => For long haired men in France. Not very successful.
