Do you or have you ever worn your hair long?
He still has longer than normal hair, shorter around his head and longer in the back but without looking like a dreaded mullet. He also sports a ZZ Top beard and makes appearances as Santa Claus.
What age are or were you at the time?
He began growing his hair longer in high school and although he has cut it off and on throughout the years, it’s still longish.
What made you decide to grow your hair out?
Initially rebelling against his dad, then grew to enjoy longer hair.
If you you used to have long hair and now don’t, what was your motivation for getting it cut?
He’s cut it several times throughout our marriage. A couple of times have been at my request, another time he cut it for his dad’s funeral. It’s longish again now.
1) Do you or have you ever worn your hair long? (If yes, please also answer the following too.)
Yes, so on we go to the next questions…
2) What age are or were you at the time?
Mid-30s, I would think. Can’t pin it down exactly, but that’s close enough.
3) What made you decide to grow your hair out?
There were a few reasons. First, I just wanted to see what it looked like. My hair had been short forever–I wasn’t allowed to have it long when I was a child–and I was curious to see what it would look like.
Secondly, I was getting a little miffed with my job. I had tried to be a good little corporate citizen, always presentable in a shirt and tie and whatnot, but I obviously wasn’t going to get anywhere at this one company, no matter how good I was at my job or how many times I wore a tie. So, it was nice golf shirts and clean jeans from there on in. Along with that little bit of rebellion came the long hair–but always neatly washed and pulled back into a ponytail. In spite of my frustration with an inability to get ahead at this place, I kind of liked it and didn’t want to get thrown out of there until I decided to leave.
Interestingly, my hair once got me a job as a movie extra. They needed long-haired and bearded men as background guys in a western some years ago. I had a few weeks before the audition, so I quickly grew a beard and got the job.
4) If you you used to have long hair and now don’t, what was your motivation for getting it cut?
Not applicable. My hair is still long (to mid-back maybe?) and in a ponytail.
1) Do you or have you ever worn your hair long? (If yes, please also answer the following too.)
Yes
2) What age are or were you at the time?
I first grew it out when I was 15 (1987) and pretty much kept it long except for a couple stints until I was almost 26 (1998). At it’s longest it was halfway down my back. Been short ever since (see #4)
3) What made you decide to grow your hair out?
Lazy, rebellion, trying to go against my image as the smart nerdy kid and overall I just liked it. I’d grow it long again if I could.
4) If you you used to have long hair and now don’t, what was your motivation for getting it cut?
After going to a couple interviews with it neatly in a ponytail I realized it needed to be cut. Afterwards same suit, same interview answers, all offers. Male engineer + long hair + Houston don’t mix. No opportunity to grow it long since then so I make up for it by playing around with facial hair styles. My wife also met me just after I got it cut and doesn’t like the pictures of the long-hair me so once I retire I’ll have to fight that battle.
What can I say? It was the '70s. I guess I was being countercultural. The actual result was that everyone thought I was a girl.
I don’t remember; it just got shorter and shorter through the years. I’ve had the “small boy regular” haircut for probably 20 years now. And probably always will, at that.
Currently wearing it long, it is just past his shoulders.
He started growing it out the fall of 2004 (6½), after having it cut in the faux mohawk style that summer. It was cut quite short then and it’s taking a long time to grow out, but he’s persisting.
He wanted to look like Legolas from LOTR…or Robert Plant.
His current goal is to get it to the middle of his back.
1) Do you or have you ever worn your hair long? (If yes, please also answer the following too.) Suredid.
2) What age are or were you at the time?
I started growing it when I was about 13.
3) What made you decide to grow your hair out?
Same reason anyone does anything when they’re 13 – because it’s cool and you want to set yourself apart as an individual (exactly like all your friends).
4) If you you used to have long hair and now don’t, what was your motivation for getting it cut?
My wife and I had separated, and I felt I needed to make some sort of changes in my life. The separation didn’t last, but the short hair did. I’d actually like to grow it back, but I can’t bring myself to go through that awkward stage where it touches your shoulders and then curls back up. Man, I hated that stage.
Now I just concentrate on growing my beard longer.
At various times throughout my life, including now (I’m 47)
At first, it was because I could. Growing up, my much older brother always took me for haircuts and got me flattops. As soon as I was allowed to grow it out, I did.
Most recently, I lost all my hair during chemotherapy a few years ago, so I grew it long as soon as it came back. I missed it!
I started growing my hair in later high school, which for me was 1973 - 1975, and wore it fairly long through college and a couple of years after. Around that time I started to go bald and then long hair just didn’t work so well for me. Especially after I learned what mullets were, and what they represented to many.
Rather sadly, it looks to me as though the whole long-male-hair thing has totally run its course; I hardly ever see a male of any age with anything other than traditional short hair, what the barbers used to call “the regular boy’s cut”. Almost the only exceptions to that are creative professionals and those who are old enough to have grown their hair during the 60s or 70s, or both.
At least it seems so in the U.S. OTOH, while recently rewatching Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, I was struck by how nearly all the boys, or at least the ones who had prominent screen time, were wearing their hair long just as American males did generally in the 1970s. Is long hair still fashionable in England? Or is that just the way teenage male actors like to wear their hair?
Got tired of it. My hair gets wild and curly when it’s long, and I never liked it in a ponytail. (Thought about dreads for a while, but jeez! A white guy with half grey hair in dreadlocks? I thought twice about it. Good thing.) I just decided I looked better with it shorter, and it’s easier and faster to wash.
Do you or have you ever worn your hair long? Yes, varying from just past shoulder-length to the middle of my back
What age are or were you at the time? ~25-33
What made you decide to grow your hair out? A whim
If you you used to have long hair and now don’t, what was your motivation for getting it cut? Another whim (plus it was a nuisance to take care of)
That’s a bit flippant, but it’s the truth. I generally don’t pay much attention to my appearance beyond trying to look reasonably well-groomed, but every now and then I get bored and change something at random–grow a mustache or beard, then shave it off, switch between glasses and contacts, wear funky-colored contacts for a while, things like that. There was even a brief period when I had long, anime-ish red hair before it went back to auburn.
Yes. It’s long now, for the first time in my life.
I stopped getting it cut a couple of years ago, and i’m 37 now.
Inertia, as much as anything else. I never said to myself, “I think i’ll grow my hair long.” I just neglected to get a haircut for a while, and as it started getting longer, my wife told me she thought it looked good, so i left it. The ends are now down between my shoulder blades.
I’m thinking about cutting it again. Sometimes i like the way it looks; other times i think i look silly. It’s definitely a pain in the ass at times. Requires more frequent washing, greater care, etc. And it gets in my face. And, if i’m not careful, in my food.
When I was 10-15, I’d let it get long enough to start getting in my eyes. Then I’d get it cut.
I didn’t grow it out, I just didn’t bother to get it cut frequently.
Now I get my hair cut every two months, about, with a no-guard electric razor. Last June I had my head completely shaved, and kind of liked it,. I’m not sure whether I’ll do it again, but if I do it’ll probably be after school ends.
1> yes (not long-long - it’s about 4-6 inches)
2> from 26-28.
3> I decided my hair looks better when I go ahead an let it grow out and curl up. I used to cut it quite short and my wife didn’t like it. Plus, haircut every 3 mos beats haircut every 3 weeks.
4> I will probably cut it when I start officiating college football. Some supervisor at that level will probably tell me it doesn’t “look good”. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll probably cut it when I get tired of how young it makes me look.
My hair is currently very long, past the shoulderblades down my back but not the longest it’s ever been. It grows very fast and is developing streaks of gray at the temples.
I was about 19 when I started growing it out. I went to catholic school and hair below the collar was forbidden, so I wanted to try it out and I was also involved with performing at Ren Fairs so it made sense. Turned out when long I have wavy loose curls that look good.
I did shave it down to about a quarter inch buzz a couple of years later (21) to help treat my psoriasis, when that treatment didn’t work I went back to growing it out. The general consensus was I looked either like a skinhead or Drew Carey with short hair, longer was much better.
Do you or have you ever worn your hair long?
I had it down just past my collar.
What age are or were you at the time?
Probably 23 or 24.
What made you decide to grow your hair out?
I just wanted to see what it would look like, and I was too old (and too single) for anyone to be able to stop me.
If you you used to have long hair and now don’t, what was your motivation for getting it cut?
I looked stupid. (It took a while for me to figure that one out.)
Defining “long” as “ears not showing”, I’ve worn it long at three different times: from 18-19, again from around 23-24, and then finally from around 30-34. It was longest that last time, as I got no haircuts for two years, and then only trims to keep the ends even for the next two years. Pictures here!
3) What made you decide to grow your hair out?
Rock & roll, dude! I just like my hair long.
4) If you you used to have long hair and now don’t, what was your motivation for getting it cut?
The first two times I cut it off were for job reasons; I’d had a job or been in school, where long hair was allowed, but was looking for a new job and wanted to make a better first impression. I’ve been a career cook, and while some restaurants are fine with long hair, many aren’t/weren’t, especially the corporate chains. The last time I had it long, I grew it because I could; I was unemployed and living in a homeless shelter at the time, and I thought I’d just let it grow to see how long I could get it. I eventually got a job where they let me keep my hair long, and so I let it keep growing.
As it happened, when I was having the above photos taken, my photographer friend snapped one picture from behind. I saw that pic, and in the middle of all that thick, luxurious hair was an obvious bald spot that I hadn’t known existed. I thought, “that looks really stupid” and decided to cut it short. Then I took it a step further, and this is how I’ve worn it for the last six years or so.
