new thread
Was wondering, for those of you that actually can tie a full tail what percentage of your typical waking day do you keep it tied back? I have the sense that when my hair finally reaches that length it will be in a tail all the time because of the convenience.
part 2, not necessarily written for the same audience
I find myself under the two week guideline almost continuously but always breaking it when I have a good hair moment. Almost like it is the image of long hair that keeps the "dream" alive. The image though is not of me, it's someone with nice hair but quite a different face, a softer less rugged face. I've pulled my hair back and looked in a double mirror setup and the tail does not look like it belongs with my neck, shoulders, face and it will only become exaggerated as I continue to train heavy with the weights now that I am back into it after a very long layoff. Like I am being pulled in two different directions,../sigh no need to reply to this drivel, I don't know what i am doing.
Well, back when I had a tail last, I usually had it down, just cause I prefered the way it looks.
I'm longing for those days, right now my hair likes falling into my eyes...
Snarfagus:
I don't know how old you are, but I think your observations about yourself are very astute, and that is that a man growing his hair out in this culture goes through a personal transformation and several rites of passage--if he will pay attention.
It sounds like you are paying attention. You see that you are seeking after something that is an image, and not you. This does not mean that you should not grow your hair out. It means that you are being invited to see your self, with your own hair, and accept yourself. In other words, give up the image for yourself. You are, finally, much better than any image. Acceptance of that is the key.
I have been through everything you describe. When you look in the mirror, you can either reject what you see because it doesn't fit the image you cling to, or you can smile at yourself and say: hey, this is me. I like me. I accept me. This is my hair. It belongs on me.
This is why so many, so regularly, complain about how their hair looks: too straight, too curly, too thin, too thick, too short, too frizzy, too oily, too (fill in the blank). With only rare exception, none of us have hair that is too anything. The problem is that the hair we have doesn't fit the image we cling to. And it won't ever.
As for the working out, I have been a weightlifter and body builder for over 10 years. I have a muscular physique, and I have mid-back length hair. Do I look like the guys on the front of the muscle mags? No. I don't do juice (steroids) and I don't shave my body hair. And, I have long hair. I look like me, and I like the way I look.
The two week rule is great. It keeps you honest, I think, and it keeps you asking the right questions. Now, you have to practice answering with your own answers. Hang in there. I think you are on to some great personal adventures.
Robert
This is actually a more complicated question than it seems. I wake up every morning with my hair in a... um... topknot. I generally leave it that way until after my workout. (My office is at home so the dress code is rather casual). Then either I tie my hair back *or* wear it down. I very rarely change my hairstyle during the day. My motivation for the choice depends on a lot of factors. I far prefer wearing my hair down (like I'm doing today) but yesterday I wore it up. Why? I had just washed it, it looked terrible (damp and frizzy), and I had to go out. So I wore it in a nice tail with *three* ponytail bands all in a row (so it looked like a 1" cuff). I wore my hair tied back or in a bun for much of last week because I was trying different tieback and bun styles for a *huge* meeting late last week. It was at a very conservative place (not a typical IT/Engineering workplace) so I was trying to find a hairstyle that was honest to me but minimized my 'coefficient of longhairedness' and wouldn't frighten off the military-types at the meeting. The week-before-last I wore my hair tied back for several days because it was brutally hot and humid. So there you go, a non-answer to your question! On average I wear my hair tied back about 50% of the time. Having said that, I am self-employed (and the boss is cool about long dangly hair).
