THis has been bothering me sometime so I wanted to vent here and see if any other longhairs have come into the same or similiar situation.
Ever since I came south I've been accused of being a "redneck" one time or another. this has caused me to get short haircuts in the past ,but no more.
years ago it was the rednecks who had the very short haircuts and who used to beat up on longhairs. what happened?
I would like to know how "longhair" became associated with being a Redneck.
Don't have a clue about rednecks since we don't have them here in the UK, but fu**ing a**hole kids call me a pikey all the time, and I hate that. Pikey's are kinda like gypsys, except really dirty and scummy. From what little I know about the USA aren't rednecks kinda similar? Or is that trailor trash? Anyway the guys on Jerry Springer always seem to be kinda pikeyish to me. Maybe thats were it stems from. My relative always say that long haired men look like they have poor hygeine(?), so maybe that could have something to do with it. Glad your not gonna let it put you off growing though, good luck.
MeB
As I understand it a redneck is an undereducated non reading, drunk (usually) that is portrayed as wearing those pants with the suspenders that latch near the shoulders in front and raggedy shoes. Not to mention the poor hygeine with a short haircut. Trailer trash...Hmm..kinda the same just that they live in trailer parks (hookers, drug addicts, drunks, panhandlers? etc. )
I understand the term "redneck" to mean a white, conservative, fiercely independent, right-wing, racially intolerant, generally rural dweller who's intolerant to change and ethnic diversity.
This comes from "rednecks" being at least 10-15 years behind the fashionable times in both clothing and hair.
Rednecks had short hair when longhair was in fashion. Long hair had not caught up to the rural areas and rural mindset. They were stuck in shorthair.
Right now, short hair is what is fashionable. The rednecks have just caught up to longhair which had some degree of mainstream popularity in the early 1990's.
One seldoms sees styles popular in urban settings mirroring what is worn in rural settings at the same time.
I have found that this rule is not 100% accurate, but it is pretty darn close. It is not something to be taken seriously unless you are concerned with fashion.
There is no association as far as I know. The closest a real "redneck" comes to having long hair is a 3 or 4 inch mullet.
It's just a random slur, coming from ignorant people.
I'm amlost sure it's got something to do with mullets.
Good luck with growing your hair. Remember, what everyone else thinks doesn't matter, and there will be people who like it.
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JoNty
We called them "rednecks" because they cut their hair so unstylishly short in the back that they got sunburned back there. :-)
To call a longhair a redneck is ignorant of the meaning of the term, because on my neck and yours, that's one place the sun don't shine.
Kinda like how some associate whales to being a fish, when in fact it is not.