wear my hair

I have had long hair, on and off, for twenty years. I like it long and I wear it proudly, but I am not sensing the love that I used to see for long hair about fifteen years ago. Back in the dark ages of American fashion, long hair on men was all the rage. Women of all ages wanted it and were willing to do anything to get their hands in it. The men with the long hair, walked the planet as demi-gods and could punch their own ticket to playerland. As a young man in my teens, having long hair was my ticket to a whole new world. I was so used to women wanting me that to this day, every time I see a woman wearing spandex, sporting fluffy bangs or who is married, I just assume they want me.

I wore the long hair from it's heyday into the dark days of grunge where it was still acceptable, but not widely. The women that were attracted to me were less feminine and more thoughtful and the lovely spandex skirts gave way to nasty long underwear and combat boots. Not that I discriminate, but it wasn't as fun.

I finally gave up the ghost in the early nineties so I could take a job with Disney. They had a company policy that required that no male have facial hair or long hair or piercings, etc. The idea then was to be a family oriented business and the message that Disney wanted to convey was that if you had long hair, a beard or a pierced ear, you shouldn't be accepted into any family, Disney's included. Only bad people looked like that.

For the next ten years, the hair was all over the map, never long again, but noticeably different. I looked like everyone else, but the number of women interested in my hair was noticeably different. It was if the old Sampson legend was true and I was weak... I guess Disney was my Dehlila - there is no depth of evil that they will not sink too.

Today, my hair is in phase one of the hair restoration project. It's down to my shoulders, which is the second true measure of hair length. The first being, "It's in my face! Yecch!" Then "It's down to my shoulders.", which is followed by, "I can grab it behind my back" and it ends at, "It takes two hours to dry." I am not sure that I want my hair to get back down to "I can grab it behind my back", but I do want to see it around my shoulders. I know that the effect it had on women is lost, but I enjoy my hair and feel that as long as I can see it growing then I must be alive.

I am shocked that so many people still associate long hair with dirty, pot smoking, lazy, worthless, heavy metal, loser. It's odd to think that in this day and age when all things are becoming amalgamous that the length of one's hair would be enough data to pigeon hole them. I can't say that I am above this problem, I still see people in Birkenstocks and think they're hippies. I see baggy pants and gold chains and think good dancer, bad credit. I don't feel any of us are above this but it's still shocking to think we haven't progressed as far as we thought we had.

My long hair has never been so much a fashion statement or political statement as a personal statement against barbers. I have a scar on the back of my head from a pair of scissors that missed the clump of hair and instead took a chunk of flesh. It was from that moment on that getting me into a barber's chair was a real task. The hair continued to grow and fashion caught up with me, as it so often does. The long hair that I have now is more laziness inspired. I do have a haircut lined up for Tuesday, but I think that long hair, on stage, in front of Mormons should really send that Disney message, which is so strong in my shows, right on home.