Inspired by the current thread about dealing with gray as well as my spousal unit’s obsession with going bald…
As a teen, I wanted the long, straight, parted in the middle style that was so popular when Cher was first seen with Sonny. I had the straight locks, but it’s always been on the fine side, and it just wouldn’t grow much longer than shoulder length. I did years of sleeping in curlers, trying for the appearance of luxurious, cascading tresses. For a period in my 30s, I went for light auburn out of the bottle. I tried perms, I tried different cuts, I tried blow dryers and hot rollers variously over the years, and I finally gave up.
At 62, it’s fine, thinning, not graying yet, and apart from shampooing every other day and getting it cut when I can’t stand it any more (like right now) I do little more than comb it. Long ago, I resigned myself to not having the cascading tresses, and as long as it’s clean and out of my way, I just can’t be bothered with it. I’d rather do other things than fuss with my hair. All told, I bet I don’t average 10 minutes a day dealing with it. And when it goes gray, so be it. I honestly don’t care enough to bother with coloring. I can’t even figure out what kind of cut I like.
Now I put it to the Teeming Millions: Is your hair an important part of how you present yourself? Do you have fun with colors and cuts? Do you want to project a certain image? Do you like it to be “just so”? Is it something you do because of your job, while secretly longing to be more like I am? Do you really enjoy doing up your 'do? Have you or would you just shave it all off? (I don’t think I have a good head shape for bald.) Feel free to share your age… or not.
Okay, I’ll try. I don’t give a damn about my own. I was fairly thin by 30 and pretty bald by 40, but it didn’t (and doesn’t) bother me in the least. Now I liked long straight hair on women and my wife tried to oblige me, but her hair was (and is) naturally very curly. Eventually, I realized that that look just wasn’t hers and now she keeps it relatively short and very curly. Now I like the look.
Not at all; I was actually fairly glad when most of it fell out. I always had this super-thick curley hair everyone seems to have loved except me. It was a pain to care for/clean and it always looked like Hell because of how often I wear motorcycle helmets. There came a day when my doctor wanted to put me on a medication “but I hesitate because it could cause you significant hair loss”. Doc ---- GIVE ME A FRIKKIN DOUBLE!! I got no issues with the idea at all!
Now my beard on the other hand I would protect to my last breath. Even at my age I do some odd trims and shapes sometimes and I did go with some stripes colored in once. But hair is just a total meh to me.
It’s there. It has just enough curl to look messy but now I just go with it and don’t fight it. I’ve been dyeing it with henna for about 30 years now. I shaved it all off in my 20s and let my natural colour grow in and realized it was as boring as I remembered, so went back to colouring it.
It’s been everything from blond to black, shaved to long. I usually let it grow out for a few years, and then get bored and annoyed with dealing with long hair and then cut it short. Then I get tired of having to get it cut all the time to keep it looking presentable, and grow it out again. It’s long now, and easy enough to deal with.
I like it when I think my hair looks nice, and sometimes make an effort, but mostly, I just let it do what it wants and try to get it cut regularly so it doesn’t look too raggedy.
It’s very important. I wouldn’t want to go permanently bald, but at the same time, I do cut the majority of it off every so often, then grow it back out into an Afro. No dye, because it’s already perfectly dark black.
I do have a full beard, but only because shaving every day is a pain in the ass. Besides, once you’re past that awkward scruffy phase, there’s little to no incentive to go back.
Since I’m the gray(ish) mare that started the other thread it goes without saying my hair is important to me. Not because it’s my crowning glory but just the opposite. I grew up in SoCal among beautiful blondes with long straight hair such as FairyChatMommentioned and they and their hair in no way resembled mine. I went through torture trying to achieve that look and this was before all the styling products and whatnot we have today. After 40 years I had just started to get an acceptable look going and then boom; ugly silver strands started popping up. My face still looks young (or so I’m told) and if I had *nice *gray I wouldn’t sweat it. In other words, it’s not really the color gray = old lady; just that I had enough darn trouble with my hair without trying to figure out how minimize this new, inevitable turn of events.
I really like my hair. I think it’s a fun accessory.
It’s long enough (bra strap length) to do lots of different styles, but also looks fine if I just wash it and let it go. I dye it red (have for like 20 years) but not always the same shade. Sometimes I dye the part underneath in the back black or purple.
At 47, it still the medium thickness it’s always been, but dryer so I have to wash less and condition more. I’m starting to get some grey, but mostly you can’t see it because of dyeing it colors.
I love my hair. I have long, thin, curly hair. I keep it long because otherwise the curls are too tight and I have no control. The length relaxes it a bit.
I’ve had a long lifetime struggle with my hair. It’s extremely curly and thick. My mom never knew what to do with it and I didn’t want to do anything with it so it was awful when I was a kid. It took me until I was about 25 to actually get a good cut and start taking good care of it.
Now I’m at peace with my hair, and I make it look decent. I get it highlighted once a year, I get it cut every 3 months, I spend money on some good product. One thing I don’t need to do is fuss over it aside from cleaning it. It’s a wash-and-wear sort of deal. No blow-drying, no brushing or combing, no curling irons or straightening irons. I just gotta keep it clean and cut.
It also looks like shit in humidity and wind and when it gets a bit too long. Nothing I can do to stop it. Do I often look like the crazy lady with the crazy hair? I’m sure. I just deal with it.
Hmm… well, I don’t go for styles and cuts, I’ve kept the same, basic, relatively low-maintenance look for most of my 50+ years. I’ve been fortunate to be blessed with very thick hair that grows long, but that’s luck, not anything I worked at to achieve. I haven’t gone grey (yet) and if I follow in my father’s footsteps may not for another 20 years.
On the other hand, in 2005 when I spent a week in the hospital due to a very serious illness and my hair started coming out by the handful I was still much more upset at being sick and unable eat normally than what was happening on my scalp. About half of it fell out, but evenly, so really it was hard to notice if you didn’t already know me. Maybe if it had been more patchy baldness I would have been more upset.
I’ve long thought that if I woke up tomorrow with my hair falling out and eventually became totally bald I’d be upset (I mean, WTH would be going on with me to cause that, right?) but I’d get over it. I’d miss it, but I’d probably try to find something positive to focus on, like not needing to spend time brushing/cleaning/braiding it and how much cooler it would be to be bald in summer rather than carrying around a thick bush on top of my head, right? If I got cancer and was told “the treatment will cause your hair to fall out” I’d say screw the hair, I want to live. I value my life far above my locks.
So… important in the sense it’s part of my look but there are a LOT of things more important in life than my hair.
I always envied those with thick hair full of natural body and curl. I suppose people who had that wanted my poker-straight strands.
I think part of my disdain for my hair could be because I’ve never had a really good cut, whatever that is. Frankly, the thought of paying a hundred dollars or more for a haircut offends my frugal nature. Occasionally, I toy with the idea of finding a good stylist, giving him/her free reign to give me a flattering, low-maintenance cut, then taking lots of photos that I can take to the Hair Cuttery and say “Make me look like this again!” I’ve also thought of going to the beauty school near me and letting them have their way with my head.
I’m salt ‘n’ pepper gray, and my standard haircut leaves me with an approximate 5-day stubble, at least with the parts that still grow. So, no, I’m not picky about hair.
I’d rather do it this way than have a stoooopid comb-over, or worse.
I still have thick, luxuriant, blondish-brown hair on my head at 55, with just a hint of gray. My full beard is nearly all gray now, but still not as copious as the hair. Aside from my head, I’m not a very hairy guy. (My son, at twenty, resembles a gibbon ape.)
I’m not particularly vain about it, but it’s nice to be able to flaunt it at 30-something guys at work who call me “old man” because of my taste in music, books, film, etc. “Yeah, but which one of us has more hair?”
Best response was from a friend (married with two kids): “Well…I had hair when I NEEDED it.”
It’s important to me, but I feel that I am inept about managing it. In my teens and early adult years I let it grow until it was long enough to sit on, and twisted it up in a bun whenever I was going to leave the house. Then I grew up and needed to get a real job, so I went to a real salon and got a real haircut.
I’ve kept that up ever since, and I obediently follow whatever styling advice the Haircut of the Moment requires, but I’m not good at it. I can spray things on and dry my hair with a paddle brush. Or not.
I do love my hair, though. When it was long, that length really meant something to me (what, I’m not exactly sure). After my daughter was born it changed from unremarkable medium-brown to a really dark ash brown, and I am pleased as punch. I always wanted darker hair.
No grays yet. I always say that I won’t dye it until I need to … but man, am I looking forward to it.
only inasmuch as it’s still up there. Otherwise I’d look like a giant thumb.
however, if it ever starts to go, I’ll probably just let it go and deal with the thumb-ness. Though by my age, if it hasn’t started to leave yet it’s probably not going to.
My hair is receding fast. I’m beginning to come to terms with growing old, so it’s losing importance with me, but even more than my gray beard the disappearing hair still makes me feel old. And when I see my brothers, one younger, one older, and they only have a ring of hair left, I feel like the hair on top of my head is the most important thing on earth, because it means I WON!!!
My hair is very important to me, especially now that it’s long.
I always had short hair as a kid - truth be told, it was because I liked going to the hairdresser and getting the attention. Also easier to tease/spike/spray etc. in the 80’s. But it’s naturally wavy so super annoying now that teasing/spiking/spraying is out of fashion. Keeping it long weighs out the waves.
I started going grey at 30 and have to dye my roots every 5 weeks. I haven’t seen my total natural hair colour since I was 14. My husband asks only two superficial things of me: keep my hair long and don’t let it go grey. He makes all my dreams come true so no problem-o.
Do you really enjoy doing up your 'do? Have you or would you just shave it all off? (I don’t think I have a good head shape for bald.) Feel free to share your age… or not.