Short or long hair?

[Nightfall]

Used to keep it military short. A few months ago I decided I wanted to give long hair a try. Figure I'll start shoulder length, then probably work back from there until I find something I like. So I'm growing it out for a year or two.

The unfortunate part is that, though I have thick, full hair, it does very weird things. It's like it wants to curl, but can't quite manage it, and so it gives up half-way through. I expect to have to get it chemically straightened or something to maintain a longish hairstyle.

[RoadKingLarry]

After I got out of the Navy I went back and forth between not quite mil-spec and passed the collar for several years.  About 7 and a half years ago I got a position that had no professional interaction with customers or the general public in a professional capacity. I let the hair and the beard grow for 5 years.
A couple of years ago I decided enough was enough and cut the hair. Donated 26" of long curly hair to Locks of Love. Now, during the summer I wear a flat top and just let it grow in the winter.

[BridgeRunner]

About 2" at its longest, these days.  Used to be longer, but it was pain when running, which I'm doing six or eight times a week.

[roo_ster]

A relaxed high & tight flat top, zero on the sides.  It gets cut every MO rather than every week.  I tried to grow it after I got out of the Army but couldn't stand it.

I resemble fistfuls second remark.


I grew it out during college and my long, blond locks went halfway to my *expletive deleted*ss.  The gals loved to fondle it as it was healthy due to the lack of fiddling with it.  Trim it up every 6MO or so and I was good to go.

[roo_ster]

Backwards.  Mullet is short on top, long on the bottom in the back.

"Business up front, party out back."

[Perd Hapley]

As long as I'm in the Army I have no choice, although I tend to prefer the Infantry high-and-tight out of pride for the MOS.

That's what I thought right after I got out.  Back home, I asked the barber for a high-and-tight, but after he was done he told me it was more like a Princeton (or an Ivy League, I forget which, I think they're the same).  Anyway, I told him that was close enough and I've been doing it that way ever since.

2. I have a Drill Sergeant's view of male hair length.

So do I.

That means, when I see guys like this at church on Sunday, Drill Sergeant Voice goes off in my head.  "Look at you, boy.  Yo hair is all long and purty, like a woman's." 



(Go ahead and call the number.  You know you want to.  )

[PTK]

European military haircut from the late 1930s. It's classy.


Plus, on the odd side, it reveals to me every single neo-Nazi I come across. "Hey, cool haircut, but it's supposed to be more like _______. That's how the Nazis did it."

[RevDisk]

I get a "fade".  #2 or 3 on the top, #1 on sides and back. 

Can't stand long hair, I love the low maintenance

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

European military haircut from the late 1930s. It's classy.

Something like this?
http://www.zuguide.com/image/Humphrey-Bogart-High-Sierra.2.jpg
http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/4/46/HighSierra_1.jpg/400px-HighSierra_1.jpg

Buzzed in the summer, grown a bit longer in the winter. Parted when long enough. Very nice when the hair is too short to comb.

[roo_ster]

That means, when I see guys like this at church on Sunday, Drill Sergeant Voice goes off in my head.  "Look at you, boy.  Yo hair is all long and purty, like a woman's." 

I thought I was the only one. 

Then, there were the few times we went to an "emergent" church where some of hte gals (when talking about the guys) jokingly renamed it, "The First Church of the Metrosexual."  Also, the "pastor" had a soul patch and what I call "floppy hair."  In the middle of his emergent-ty muddle of a sermon, I fantasized about smoking the heck out of him and getting him to--tearfully, with racking sobs--shave that rat's butt off his face.

Hey, soul patches have their place.  That is NOT on the face of a SWPL bitter ex-Southern Baptist  with pudding for doctrine.  Samuel L Jackson (a soul-patch worthy face, right there) would have taken a bite of his Big Kahuna Burger and blasted him.

[Viking]

Varies. In high school I grew my hair fairly long (by my standards), unfortunatly, my hair is rather curly/wavy, so it doesn't look very good when it gets too long. After that, I mostly went with the .5mm buzz all over to keep maintanence down, but on occasions I've cut it into mohawks as well, which worked surprisingly well once I found something that could subdue my hair enough to get it into an actual mohawk cut...

[Balog]

I did the traditional "Yay I'm not .mil anymoar!" hair growing out thing. Once it gets to a certain length it does the "bottom half sticking up, top half falling over" trick. Even with tons of greasy product (which I hate) the best I could get it to do was a semi-rockabilly pompadour. Too much trouble; I need a haircut... :)

[mtnbkr]

Clipper cut with 1.5 on the back/sides, and 4 on top.  That's short enough for all the scars (I have several large ones) to show through for a few days before fading beneath new growth.

At 36, I have a touch of thinning at the temples, but no "male pattern baldness".  This is surprising because both of my grandfathers were bald or balding by my age.  As soon as scalp becomes visible between haircuts, I'm going to start shaving my head (much to the chagrin of my wife).  I prefer low maintenance and my hair is too wavy to cover a bald spot, so I might as well embrace the scalp (and scars).

Chris

[RocketMan]

Short, usually matching what I wore in the Corps.  Sometimes the wife has to nag me to visit the barber when I stretch out the visits.

[Doggy Daddy]

Shaved, because:
1) I'm cheap
2) I hate taking time for haircuts
3) If it grows out, it's gray.
4) When it's gray, people think I'm my wife's dad
5) Dying it would just look wrong.
6) I'm too cheap for dying it

DD

[Tuco]

(Go ahead and call the number.  You know you want to.  )

I was always slightly amused by this phone number of a long dead televangelist-

1-800-338-3030

[brimic]

I keep mine clipped as short as possible.
Its always been really thin and doesn't look good longer.
I'm balding on top, so keepingit clipped short looks better now.
My scalp is really oily, so longer hair makes me sweat more and ads to the oily/nastiness.

[Chrissy]

That's the other reason I keep it short, it starts to go all afro on me if I don't.

I've known quite a few people who had "brillo" type hair when it was short, but then they grew it out long and wow, what a difference.  My ex actually had horrible hair as a teen when it was short (saw proof in pictures).  By the time I met him, he had grown it out and had long gorgeous hair almost as long as mine and straight as an arrow.  If he cut it short now, I'm sure it would become brillo again.

For those trying to grow your hair out, YES, there is definitely an awkward stage where the  hair is too long to be considered short hair and too short to be long hair, may stick up, look odd, etc., but don't give in.  Let it grow a few more months, and you'll see it won't stick up anymore, won't look odd, it just has to re-invent itself.  Or maybe even have it styled, put long layers on the sides or some other thing to help get it through that in-between, awkward stage.  Most girls I know like longer hair on guys.

[Nick1911]

Most girls I know like longer hair on guys.

I've actually discussed this with my wife - she's just the opposite.  When we first started dating, I had longer hair - probably mid-to-lower cheek level.  One day, I got it cut to about military length.  #2 and #3.  Later on, my wife confessed that she couldn't believe how much better I looked with the short hair cut.     For me, that's another incentive to keep it short. 

[Northwoods]

As often as I can get my wife to cut I do.  That's usually about every 8 weeks or so.  My hair grows very slowly though so while 6 weeks is about when I want it cut, 8 weeks is not too bad.  She'll usually refuse to go shorter than a #5 on top, unless it's hunting season.  Then she'll bow to my year-long desire for a #2 or 3 on top.  The back and sides get cut to fade nicely into the top.

I tried a pony tail in college.  My hair is so fine that it really doesn't work.  Plus after more than a year it was only barely long enough to get 1-2" or so into the pony tail.  And I never could get the hair close to my face to grow long enough to get into the tail.

I have had a moustache for probably 12-14 years now.  I had the goatee and soul patch as well for several years.  My mom said I looked like either Trotsky or Mephistopheles, depending on her mood.  'Course back then that just encouraged me to keep the look. 

[CAnnoneer]

I used to keep it in an old-fashioned "choir-boy"/business cut. But, high testosterone and genetics thinned the top over the years, so this year I threw in the towel and went for electric clipper #2. It is finally out of my face, I am impervious to wind ruffle, I don't need a comb, and it makes me look 5 years younger. My girl cuts it for me every two weeks and thinks I look sexier that way too (with obvious consequences).

Since others are discussing views on other people's hair, I think the proper way is long hair for women (shoulder length or longer) and short hair for men. Pony tails are for sporty teenage girls, not for fat middle-aged balding men. Mullets affront my eyes.

[Grandpa Shooter]

I have basically kept my hair the same since 7th grade.  Parted on the right, ears showing and tapered up the back.  In 1974 grew a beard and other than giving my skin a break, have had a beard ever since.  Was passed over in job opportunities because of the beard.  Don't be skeered, its only a beard.

My Lady (now wife) likes my hair longer, but since I wear hats every day, as it grows it looks more like a wig/hat, so I keep it appropriately short for wearing a hat.  I agree that long hair on women is more attractive to me.  Somehow the short boy cuts on women gives me the creeps.

[Cromlech]

All throughout school I had anywhere from a 'number 2' down to a '0' on the old clippers.
For 3 or 4 years I grew my hair out until it was more than halfway down my back. Started getting bored of it (plus I was balding), and now I shave it fully with a Mach 3 whenever I can be bothered, which is every 1-3 weeks between shaves. So it never gets much longer than a number 2 anymore.

[longeyes]

Start short (Caesar), end long (John the Baptist). 

Repeat as necessary.

[RoadKingLarry]

I was a slow learner with the pony tails, did it twice.
Caught it under a creeper wheel working under my truck. First time I was just plain stuck for almost 20 minutes. Second time, I just gritted my teeth and pulled myself loose.
Then I still wore it long for almost another year.