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Ok here is my situation....
I'm a 22 year old male who has been "trying" to grow my hair long for 2 years now. Every time it gets about to the bottom of my eye I get mad and cut it all short again, just to be dissapointed I did....and so the cycle goes on...Anyway, I have really thick wavy hair. I really think It would look good long....but In the process of growing it long it looks so crappy. I get all these flips every which way and I just can't bear it, so I cut it. I've tried all the gels and such, but it takes so much I feel like the fonz, hahaha. Hats were never a big love of mine either. I really think that If I could get a decent haircut style that is suitable for growing it out that would help a lot. I always go to great clips or something and they just look at me like I'm an idiot when I ask advice for a style. When It's short I usually part it to one side, but as it gets longer It looks funny if I do a side part, and a middle part seems to give ,me all the flips which I so hate. If I could just find a decent style until it got long enough to weigh down the flips I think I'd be ok. Please...any help??? I would like to do this before I get even older...haha. I guess my hair is about the same thickness and color as lorenzo lamas had his on renegade if theat helps out (if anyone watches that show besides me!)
I'd say most of us on here have seen Renegade. Some of us have probably seen every episode. :-)
My hair is very much like yours, and I experienced the frustrations you're going through. If I parted it on one side it would bunch up on the side without the part so much I'd look lopsided. And if I parted it in the middle, I looked like that lady on Laugh In.
Don't trim it! A trim will neaten it up for the moment, but when your journey to long hair is complete, you will have suffered more and longer for it. You want to grow your hair through this awkward stage as fast as possible, and that means no trims. Particularly with wavy and curly hair, where ends don't show they're not exactly even, trims serve no purpose at all.
What worked for me was to comb my hair forward until it grew to a point it blocked my vision. Then I began to comb it straight back on the top and gradually transition the direction of combing to "down" on the sides, so as to keep too much from piling up on top of my head. In time my hair got long enough that it parted itself in the middle in the shower, and by that time it had become long enough it looked fine if I left it with a center part.
Hair like ours is much more susceptible to being caught by the wind than straight hair is. The mildest breezes will catch our fuller hair, and the shorter strands all men have that never reach a pony tie will wiggle loose and outward on the top and sides of our heads and then waft away in the wind. So a pony tail doesn't really work unless you really gunk your hair down. But don't disdain your fuller hair - celebrate it! While wavy and curly hair won't ultimately give us the length that straigh hair would, it gives us bulk up by the head to die for, because it puts our hair up where people notice it most. :-) Unlike some of the straight haired guys, we never have to moan about our "limp" hair.
So yeah, you're going to be a hairier looking dude. Accept that image, and accept that your hair won't look the same all the time - it is going to be moving around. One of the beauties of long hair is precisely that - its life! - and your hair will be more alive than most.
You mentioned not liking hats. Well, hats don't work that well on guys with our kind of hair anyway, because our hair doesn't present any friction when rubbed upwards on the side of the head. So soon as the wind comes up, unless your hat has a chin cord, it just blows off.
So once your hair gets long enough to reach the band of a bandanna, carry one. When you're outside and you don't want hair blown in your eyes, or in your mouth while eating, you'll be glad you had it. I keep about ten of them pre-folded in a band, and anytime I leave the house, I grab one that matches my shirt. I stuff it in my front pants pocket or my shirt pocket if I have that kind of shirt on, and if it gets windy, dude I put it on.
Hang in there man, and several months from now, you'll one day look in the mirror and it will hit you - "Hey, I'm a longhair!" And you'll be a bushy one, too!
Hey, I go for that!
Okay, I'm female, but I had to reply - I'm afraid I have to disagree with the advice not to trim, in this case. Regular trims during the growing out phase is essential, especially with wavy or curly hair. My hair is similar in texture to yours (cowlicks all over the place!) and I have spent the past 25 years of my life alternately wearing my hair short, and then growing it back out. So, I have some experience, here. If you tell a decent stylist you want to grow your hair out gracefully, and have a photo of what your ultimate goal is, that stylist can help you look good while you grow out. YOu don't have to trim very often - maybe every 3 months or so, depending on your hair. But, believe me, a good stylist will be able to give your hair some shape as it grows out, while leaving you the length that you are working so hard to grow. And, if you have some shape to your hair as it grows, you are less likely to get fed up with it and just get it chopped back off. Find a good stylist in a regular salon, someone who will work with you to reach your goal - places like Great Clips and Hair Cuttery are inexpensive, but they make their money on volume, and, unfortunately, this means they emphasize speed over quality - also, there seems to be a high turnover in staff, so you can't get continuity with a stylist. Spend a couple more bucks on a decent cut and you will be much happier. Good luck, keep it growing!