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A question for those of you who remember the 1970s, when there was a lot of long hair about.
I can only remember ever seeing three men with ponytails in the whole of the 1970s.
One was a university lecturer in English who had a mid back length tail, very left wing views, and a notice on his door reading 'Attention aux Derrieres'.
Another was a bookshop keeper, again with very left wing views, about 70 with white hair in a short tail.
The other one was just somebdy I saw on a cross channel ferry on my way back from a trip to Europe.
So, were there many ponytails around in the 70s, or is my memory going?
I just turned 30, and I contribute my near obsession with men having long hair to the fact that my dad had very long hair (always worn loose) as well as nearly all of his friends. I grew up around this and it became my ideal. Every boyfriend that I have had I encouraged to grow his hair, if it was short. And they have all complied. So, yes, there was an abundance of long flowing 70's hair.
happy birthday :)
Thank you!
I think that ponytails gradually became more popular in the 80s as people wanted to be able to look more conservative without actually cutting their hair. They really took off around 1989 or 1990.
Nowadays, we seem to be getting a revival of 1970s style hair (bushy, over the ears, but relatively short in back). And tails are not as common as a few years ago, but not rare either.
To me a 1970's style seems to be forever caught in the awkward phase, but that's just my prejudice :-)
Of course, in the 1970's, I wore that style like most everybody else.
My sister sent me an old photograph taken when I was about 15. That description is spot on...hadn't really thought about it like that before.
I think men's hairstyles were 'lost' in the 70s...
After all, they had just come out of the Sixties where the 'hair-in-your-face phase
was all the rage.
Then come the 70s and people were a bit lost, I suspect...I mean...
they wanted a 'new' look without going completely short and so
the perpetual awkward phase was the path taken.
O, Mona was bemoaning her generation as she looked out upon those lost souls.
O, lukewarm years of indecision...
O, why should I care...he..he...
Doesn't 'Attention aux Derrieres'mean 'Watch your Arse' or...
am I wrong about this?
Yes, it does. He liked to see girl students in tight jeans.
I started growing my hair in the 60s. Besides me there were many
with long hair in the 70s. As the 80s approached the number
declined.
I had waist length hair, there were many rock bands with
men with long hair, I also knew lots of others around who had
long hair.
I miss that era......many of those long hairs
have since given up. I'm one of the few hold outs.
Something of interest: At my high school they keep all the old school yearbooks in the library, and sometimes just for fun I'll glance at some old ones to see what hair styles were common. Looking back at, say, 1974, 1975, or 1976 it seems like almost every single guy has somewhat long hair, many sporting what we would now call the "awkward" stage, and quite a few with shoulder-length hair. Occasionally I'll spot a guy with hair longer than shoulder-length. No ponytails; perhaps it wasn't considered "manly" in those days.
Fast forward to the mid-80s. Glancing through the yearbooks there is a greater contrast, with the preppy guys wearing short hair and designer shirts, and the "metalheads" growing their hair ever longer. I saw one guy who evidently never cut his hair throughout all 4 years of high school: as a freshman it was normal short hair; as a sophomore it was shoulder length, as a junior it was longer than his shoulders and really looking good, and when he was a senior (class or '88) it looked to be mid-back length. I wonder how long he allowed it to grow?
Again, no ponytails in this time frame, based on my informal survey.
I graduated from H. S. in 2001, and although there were very few guys with long hair at my school, we weren't shy about wearing ponytails, at least those of us who could! Evidently ponytails have become common and accepted, at least as much as they can be.