Exactly. Both ways might work just well.

Thing is that guys who look/act like they want to get laid no matter what, usually have less chances than just being themselves.

I grew my hair out when I was around the same age... kept it through high school and cut it about a year ago (I have to admit, I miss doing the Amon Amarth windmill thing at shows still... you can't do it with short hair), if you can get past the stage where it's right in front of your fucking eyes then it's literally all downhill from there, I hated that stage, especially since my hair has this goofy wave thing going on so the ends would kinda curl up and poke the hell out of the corners of my eyes.
having long hair never got me any extra attention from women, but then again I do listen to metal, so i'm inherently ugly and these huge Hungarian eyebrows and my oddly shaped Czech nose don't help much.

YEAH!!! And jocks are stupid, and girls are gross! EWWW!
LET ME BE WHO I AM!!!

...because it's so obvious I said anything contrary to points 1-3 by simply pointing out how much some of you are overreacting in defense of your long hair. Grow up, please.

Because some people can actually get annoyed when someone tries to tell them who to be, but if someone having different ideas than you is a reason to say "grow up" (without doubt saying that with a majestic voice in your cardinal clothes and standing on a mountain), then, well... guess who should probably grow up.

Look, I had long hair for a long time. I've also exercised since high school. I slept with a lot if women when I had the hair...but it was a gimmick. A fetish. I got girls who saw my long haired rock "look" and I got those type of girls most of the time. It was mechanical. I didn't like it but at the time I had the stupid "yeah man ill always have long hair" attitude that young people usually do. Eventually though I was like "this is so fucking childish". I started working with/for/around way more richer and successful people. Suddenly my juvenile approach to life faded away.

I cut it last year and since my appearance now has 'universal appeal' and not just long hair fetish shit, life has really changed completely. Fuck, one girl I was friends with for 6 years, who I never hooked up with, jumped on me literally 2 weeks after my haircut.

I don't have a purely sexual agenda with how long my hair is, I'm just saying....this shit happens. It's a material world here in the States. Deal with it.

The answer's you, Liberation. I love how you manage to annoy such a varied cross section of metal-archivers, takes quite a unique skill..

Hair being so insignificant a thing is precisely what makes it particularly annoying when someone makes some value judgments based on that alone. You're blaming the wrong side in taking hair too seriously here. Though I'm not sure if this really happens all that much; I have short hair. But if it does, then it's perfectly understandable how someone might take it as a sign that the person making the judgment is a worthless piece of shit. Being willing to fight for your right to have long hair (in the workplace or whatever) is taking the thing too far though, I agree. Who cares. Quiet resentment is much healthier anyway.

had long hair from the time I was 18 cut it off when I was 25, went ten years with cutting it and keeping it short, now its long again and its not as thick as it was before but at 38 I'm glad I've grown it out again. I don't give a shit about getting laid or impressing women. I like looking like a long haired bearded pale skinned viking! Fuck what anyone else things!

As a guy who used to have long hair, I can safely say that I could have short hair for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy. That said, I think a nice full beard looks great with long hair. I agree with the bulking up thing as well, being super scrawny with long hair is never a good look.

edit -
I'm starting to see a recurring pattern with your posts - usually when someone disagrees with you, you find a way to belittle them and make it look like they're being unreasonable (even though at the very least half the time they're not) and then stick this little dude at the end .

I cut my long hair before I turned 18 and never regretted it; just too much of a hassle really. People in this thread are whining way too much. This mindset that not having long hair makes you a conformist is the laughable kind of strawman I didn't think I'd see on here at all. Seriously?

I've been growing my hair since I was 16, so four years straight without a real haircut in August. I recently started straightening it as well, after many years of not really doing anything with it aside from parting it down the middle. The way I do my hair like this is after towel drying it I rub something called Moroccan argan oil into it, then I blow dry it while brushing it. Then I straighten it as usual.

When it comes to potentially cutting my hair, the only time I seriously thought about it was last Thanksgiving. I decided against it mostly because of the oncoming winter, and I was lucky I kept it as we got a horrendous blizzard in February that left so much snow it didn't completely melt away until mid-April. If I ever do cut my hair, I'm shaving completely bald.

Coming from a fella whose almost 30 I can hand-on-heart say that it doesn't matter what you wear, or how long you grow your hair, nor any of that crap. I've had enough experience to know that sometimes people are douchebags wether they're 'normal' or not, just do what YOU want to do and let the snide comments fly over your head.
Before you know it you'll hit 30 (and it does happen) and end up looking back at your life wondering why you gave a crap about what complete strangers think about anything, although it has to be said that maturity also catches most males up by their mid-20s. The emphasis on seeking affirmation by socially acceptance becomes less externally and by experience you concentrate more on your efforts in creating personality and life-lessons than external persona. I still wear the odd band shirt with jeans but mostly it's canvas shoes and plain dark-green/brown shirts, my hair is also cut short now which was a sacrifice at the time but I just look at Nemtheanga, Kvarforth, Ihsahn or Bruce Dickinson for inspiration in relation to knowing that you don't need long hair to listen/play metal music.

Whatever you choose just remember it's YOUR life at the end of the day, do what makes YOU happy and confident.

I've been growing my hair out for a while, and it has reached that kind of awkward "in-between" phase. I do really want to grow it. It just sucks that girls keep telling me to cut it. Still, while I might get along a bit better socially with shorter hair, that just seems boring to me, and I suspect people might change their mind when I achieve my badass viking look.

Huh? That sounds like bullshit.

Indeed, if I don't wash my scalp it quickly becomes itchy and disgusting.

I had mine down to my waist, full on thick/curly style. Got laid plenty. Then I cut it at the age of 30. Went a few years looking like an extra from Triumph of the will - actually got more negative/sketchy reactions that way. Apparently nothing screams "questionable politics" like a neat and tidy looking haircut with steel-rimmed glasses, Neofolk shirt, camo pants and boots haha. Decided I didnt feel like myself without it so growing it back. It's long enough to tie back now so the worst is past.

Long hair and beard?

What you think: badass viking

What they think: Jesus Christ



Seriously, I had the "you look like Jesus!" remark when my hair wasn't even long enough to touch my shoulders.

I wanted long hair in high school but after about two or three years of fighting with cowlicks I realized I can't have long hair and gave up. Sometimes your body just doesn't agree with you and that's that. If you happen to have any cowlicks, I'd say screw it, not worth the fight. Just a thought.

My experiences regarding short vs long hair in the sex debate is that while I had long hair the women I did meet were very passionate about long haired men. It was like their fetish. With short hair more women has expressed interest.

So I'd say my look appeal to more women with short hair but that the ones who liked me in long hair really liked me in long hair

I guess my hair would be considered in the awkward stage. I have to keep my hair at least somewhat longer, because I look very awkward with short hair- large forehead and a rounder face make me look goofy as hell if I want to cut it. I haven't wanted to totally grow it out though, as that is a lot to deal with every morning, along with school rule issues and the fact that I take a lot of shit as it is.

My problem is that I get cowlicks and such, and it looks rough if I don't work with it. If I work with it and keep it combed and all, I can pretty easily pull off a kind of slacker/stoner/70's cowboy look. Seeing as I'm from Texas and still have the whole cowboy look going on, I'm trying to work my hair into the "Outlaw Country" look, but I'm not sure how well that will go.

I'm also a bit too chubby for my liking, but that's a different thread.

Some people called me Jesus in middle school because of my long hair, and people still make that comment from time to time, but it's pretty rare.

Go for it.

In a job interview, as long as you present a clean image (tying your hair back should do) you will have no problem. Hell, I saw lawyers rocking the Nergal's haircut. You don't have to look like a junkie or a hobo, that's all.

And about getting laid, look: if a girl likes you, then she won't care about the hair. And if she doesn't like you, then cutting your hair won't change that. It may sound cheesy, but it is what it is.

I used to have long hair, I cut it two years ago, been sporting the boring buzzcut since then. At first, yeah, it's far more confortable and all, but having long hair is awesome. I have a cowlick (and the widow's peak to boot, but that is cool) but when the hair is long enough, the weight of it just make it dissapear. I'm growing it again, but I still have a long way to go.

haha, I could never look like a viking, my hair is too dark, and besides, my face is not rough enough to pull it off. Anyways, with my glasses, I know how I look with long hair -> http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/251 ... +Paris.jpg

no badass viking or cowboy, but looking like kakko, hey, nothing wrong with that

Besides long haired cowboy, I could go for the viking look, but I'd need about 4 or 5 more inches of hair before I even got close. And my beard would have to be a ton thicker. I have some half assed side burns, but that's just because I don't want to waste time shaving them.

The huge and massive variety of 3 annoying people who appear to behave like straight from 4chan. God, I feel so overwhelmed and immature.

(Sorry for the pointless post, but this made me laugh.)

You're being far more annoying than he is, actually. Cut it out.


You didn't think you'd see it here... and you haven't, because no one has said that. It started when some stupid douchebag said "cut your hair or you'll never get laid!", which is textbook conformism, and others were just reacting to that. No one has said that having short hair makes you a conformist, only if you do it when you otherwise wouldn't "to get girls".



You're an idiot.

For real. I think it's funny that people are suggesting that having a mainstream haircut will get you laid more like it's some sort of sage advice - of course looking MAINSTREAM will get you laid more, there are a hell of a lot more people in the main stream, including women. That's why they fucking call it mainstream. The point of having long hair as a dude in the rock/hippie/metalhead contexts is it's a big obvious symbol that you don't want to be in the mainstream, despite the social pressures to conform. Now, obviously those pressures are a lot less serious than they were 50 years ago, if your long hair is clean and well-maintained it's not going to prevent you from getting a job, but as we can see from this thread there certainly is still plenty of pressure to cut your hair, sadly even from fellow metalheads. Trust me, as long as your area has a decent counterculture population, long hair shouldn't seriously hinder your sex life at all. If your sex life sucks, the problem probably isn't your hair.

For my part, I haven't had a haircut in 7 years, and I'm in a long-term relationship with someone who would probably kill me if I ever got one.

Same with HellBlazer, except it's 13 years instead of 7.

I've only had sex once (in case you hadn't already guessed by my awesome cool-dude excessive post count)... and it was when I had long hair, and I hadn't showered in at least 2-3 days at the time.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

I can't even remember what all I posted here since I stopped reading the stupid shit being posted after a while, and have since only read the last few posts made, but I still think hair is terribly unimportant, both from the perspective of people who think it will get you laid if you have a "conformist" hairstyle (ew), and that of the people who think their hair makes them who they are! and need to care-post the fuck out of the issue when someone teases them about it.

I just know from experience that my hair didn't "really" define me, in spite of how much I felt it did at one time (for many, many years--I never trimmed it at all to cut off split ends or anything, which is only one reason it never grew longer than it had, and it was already pretty well reaching the top of my ass when I cut it).

I mean, I shaved my head except for a little "baby curl" in the front, and wore it that way for about a month, if that illustrates my point about not considering haircuts ("mainstream"/"conformist" or otherwise) important/worth taking seriously or considering too fucking deeply. I never cut my hair to get laid (so much for that if I had), or because I wanted to be accepted by anyone. I did it because it was right for me personally.

So is growing out hair for others. I'm perfectly aware of this. My posts here are more of a caveat about "trying to define yourself" outwardly, and a warning to not dress it up like a mega-tool would, which is just showcasing to the world how much you do care what they think of you... but said in an admittedly catty (read: harmlessly sarcastic for the sake of humor) tone that I imagine only really sensitive people can't recognize.

Funny thing, a lot of people (specifically my mother and female friends) were upset that I cut my hair. I actually felt sort of guilty about it, despite how much I needed to get rid of it. It might've made me look "pretty", but it never made me feel handsome.

I can never get past the middle phase. For one, it's very annoying because I have dark, thick, and wavy hair, which is really hot in the summer. Second, all the women around me, including my girlfriend unfortunately, incessantly bug me about getting a haircut, so I eventually get fed up and just do it.

Get a mullet. Short in the front, long in the back.

That's manly long hair.

In a relationship, compromises have to be made sometimes, but tell this girl to get over it! and then tell her stupid friends that the world doesn't revolve around their inane and laughable perceptions.

I mean, I care about my girlfriend far more than my hair, so it's not like it's a big deal. It's much more comfortable and take much less effort to manage now, so it's a win-win. Also, I never said it was her friends; it's actually more so people's mothers, including my own.

Haha, oh man! Well i'm glad that you formulated your own decision! Just sucks seeing people change over girls...and their mothers. I'll agree that short hair is definitely more managable and less maintenance, but headbanging...JUST doesn't look right! To me at least. When people with short hair "headbang", to me it looks like they're performing some sort of Limp Bizkit boogie ritual.

...How on Earth do you have trouble with ladies when you have long hair? If anything long hair has got me more attraction from women. Not that I'm particularly fussed, either way.

What you meant to say was "business in the front, party in the back".

Also, don't forget the obligatory porn stache, hotpants and tucked-in white shirt with ripped off sleeves.

Heh, must be you because I'm 25, my hair is at my waist and I've never had a problem getting laid.

There's a difference between having long hair and it looking like shit and having long hair that is well maintained, a massive difference.

I have long hair and I really enjoy having it. I may one day shave it, but I don't give that idea too much thought. I think it's silly how defensive people are being about their hair length choice. Many successful people have long hair and whatnot. I'll admit that they are usually limited to psychology and academic fields with a few in research and medicine and not many beyond those fields. There are also many long-hairs who sell weed and live in their mom's basement, but I have met more people with short hair who do that simply because more people in general have short hair. It really doesn't matter. I enjoy having long hair. I have no idea if I'll keep it forever, especially since there is a lot of baldness on my mother's side of the family.

If I do have any appearance attachments, it's facial hair. I don't ever want to not have at least a goatee and preferably a full beard. Does anyone else feel this way?

Yep. I've had a full beard for years and can't fathom the idea of it not being that way. Even in the past when I had less beard, and was less attached to it, the few times I did decide to go clean for a change would immediately evoke total regret. At least facial hair comes back quite quickly.

When it comes to attracting your significant other of choice, the matter of long hair is it being clean and well kept. If it looks like you're in a glam metal band, its a no go, but if your hair looks like a shampoo commercial, your fine.

Honestly, if she's that worried about the length of your hair, there might be other issues. If they ask you to change something about yourself, they probably don't like you.

Go for it man! i started growing mine about 10 years ago and haven't looked back! like people have said above the biggest tip is to trim the split ends regularly. youtube it if your unsure about it