Hair Apparent

[Acktion]

I'm from the school of-and before I say this I am prefacing it with this is how I was raised and its my take, I am not demeaning others, just want to clear the path of the PC ranters-

For me guys that style their hair and spend as much time in the mirror as women are "pretty boys" There's days I shower at the gym and just run my fingers through mine. As for coloring it? I am not that vain and fact is if my old man found out he would buy me a dress.

Heh. In my younger days, I played Willie Defensive End. I wasn't all that quick with a 4.9 40, but I tended to get the job done since pads didn't slow me down much.

I remember one game, their tailback had this long braided hair that you would usually see on a cheerleader sticking out from under his helmet.

Now, as I say, at only a 4.9 time on the 40, I wasn't that quick, and at Willie (weakside), I was usually running them down from behind and I wasn't too proud to "horsecollar" or whatever to stop them before they reached the line.

I didn't think about it too much during the game itself, but the next day when we watched the film the guys (and coaches) made a game of counting how many times I brought him down holding nothing but that braid of hair (23 out of 25 solo) and coach cracking wise about "If he'd had short hair, you never would have caught him Acktion."

While my dad and your dad had a lot of the same thoughts, I think it was that game that stood out in my mind any time I saw a guy with long hair. And probably had more to do with why I kept it "high and tight" until several years later, when I might add I was no longer involved in competitive athletics.

 

[lovecraft68]

Heh. In my younger days, I played Willie Defensive End. I wasn't all that quick with a 4.9 40, but I tended to get the job done since pads didn't slow me down much.

I remember one game, their tailback had this long braided hair that you would usually see on a cheerleader sticking out from under his helmet.

Now, as I say, at only a 4.9 time on the 40, I wasn't that quick, and at Willie (weakside), I was usually running them down from behind and I wasn't too proud to "horsecollar" or whatever to stop them before they reached the line.

I didn't think about it too much during the game itself, but the next day when we watched the film the guys (and coaches) made a game of counting how many times I brought him down holding nothing but that braid of hair (23 out of 25 solo) and coach cracking wise about "If he'd had short hair, you never would have caught him Acktion."

While my dad and your dad had a lot of the same thoughts, I think it was that game that stood out in my mind any time I saw a guy with long hair. And probably had more to do with why I kept it "high and tight" until several years later, when I might add I was no longer involved in competitive athletics.

And now you have all these NFL players with braids down to the middle of their back But that's okay pretty soon it will be flag football and no one will get hurt.

I keep mine short, but mainly because its thick and does not grow long it grows up. If I let it go I get a white man's afro.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yes, this is entirely one of my points, and why I think it is so interesting that we put so much stock in the stereotypes of women's locks.

If a woman has blonde hair, it means that she is like this. If a man has blonde hair, it means nothing.

Depends on context. Being a blond meant something in 1930s Germany, for instance...

One thing I noticed from the Bond novels was that Ian Fleming seemed to have a dislike for redheads. Le Chiffre, Drax, Goldfinger, Scaramanga - all described as redheads. Maybe others too, I can't remember.

I occasionally use natural hair colour as a racial cue or a signifier of age, but it's rare that I'd mention it. Hair style and dye can be useful character signifiers - e.g. the closeted lesbian who says "screw this, I'm getting a butch cut and dying it blue" just before being called in for an interview with a homophobic boss.

 

[SecondCircle]

I'm neither supporting nor condemning men who style their hair, just stating that it can and does indeed happen, and would be plausible enough if I read it in a story.

I've known dudes that spent a lot of time on their hair. As much as a woman would. I don't understand it, and I couldn't imagine doing it.

But it's one thing for a guy to spend an hour on his hair and another thing to just take five minutes and look presentable.

I think that could really point to how a guy's hair defines his character in a story. Style more than color. Is his hair carefully combed to go with thst suit? Does he have long blonde locks that barely touch his SOA cut? Is he balding? Vain enough for a combover we can see through? Shaven? Does he have hair that could keep time to Master of Puppets? Military fade?

Color may not mean a whole lot for a guy, but every way a person presents his or herself can speak to their character.

 

[patientlee]

Mmm. Don't recall seeing that on Lit stories, no. In fact, the only place I can remember reading such a line verbatim was probably Laurell K. Hamilton.

I suppose rather than squaring the result to arrive at P, we could change it to a logarithmic function of g(g-1) where g would be tied to the gender wearing the coif in question.

Why must you try so hard to kill me?

 

[Swilly]

I'm from the school of-and before I say this I am prefacing it with this is how I was raised and its my take, I am not demeaning others, just want to clear the path of the PC ranters-

For me guys that style their hair and spend as much time in the mirror as women are "pretty boys" There's days I shower at the gym and just run my fingers through mine. As for coloring it? I am not that vain and fact is if my old man found out he would buy me a dress.

Ditto. I can shave, shower, dry off and be dressed in under five minutes. And I don't get any complaints.

 

[Handley_Page]

Ditto. I can shave, shower, dry off and be dressed in under five minutes. And I don't get any complaints.

It's a good while since I managed that.
But it was good while it lasted.

 

[Ewobbit]

"Flowing ginger locks down to an apple ass caught my attention. I craned my neck from my bench in the middle of the mall to see if the rest of the package was inviting. As if on cue, the passing object of my fancy turned to cast a look over the shoulder...

I shuddered at the brown beard on scarred cheeks as evil eyes decorated with three tear drop tattoos glared my direction."

Yeah, I dunno. I think depending on the situation, a guy's hair could matter quite a bit.

 

[NotWise]

How did this drift up to hair on the head? I'm confused.

There was a time when I had long, wavy hair, like over my shoulders and down my back. It was the 70's. I'd go to bars looking for women and once in a while some guy would hit on me from behind, thinking I was a girl. They usually got pretty disgusted when I turned around. I had (still have) a moustache, and at the time sometimes had a beard as well. What was really weird to me was when that didn't turn them off.

I met my wife because of the long hair, but I had to lose it when I needed to look more professional.

A friend of mine was an athletic, "black Irish" woman who previously lived in Santa Cruz, Ca -- reputedly the lesbian capital of the US. She was a runner and above all practical, so she kept her hair short. Then she was hit on by dykes in the Santa Cruz bars, so she grew her hair long to avoid their attention.

Hair sends a lot of signals.

 

[Asbel]

More often than not with unimportant characters, I just stick with what works for their ethnicity, but that takes a backseat most times to the artistic representation needed. I always, ALWAYS, always have one character with a shade of dark hair and one with a shade of light.

It's definitely a common theme in my work to have light and dark. Black and white, hard and soft, opposite ends of the spectrum in everything. I'm not really sure why I do it. If anyone's checked out what I've been writing, it's pretty apparent, though, because the main character has bleached white hair and the love interest has black.

Aside from that, light and dark shades are usually used to denote a specific state of mind. Cute, innocent girls are shades of blonde. Rough tough dudes have dark hair ranging from brown to black. Walking on the edge of social acceptance? Dyed fucking blue or some shit.

 

[le_kitty]

Interesting thread... resurrected.

I'm a little tired right now so I didn't read everything clearly. (Coffee's waking me up) What I picked up is that it's either; hair colour implies personality or it doesn't. Someone earlier said stereotypes colour our first impressions whether we want them to or not. Gold!

Having said that, whilst there is some truth to some stereotypes, I don't think there is any truth to ones about hair. The only thing it truthfully implies is ethnicity and culture. Which brings us into the realm of style and demographics.

Nobody said hair is an asset? Or hair is a weapon? Or did I miss it.

The question was what hair meant to us.

Hair's an asset. It's also a nuisance. But I'm not going to cut it. Most of the time I don't even wear it down, but I like having the option of leaving it down. Why not? There is something very appealing about long hair. I take care of my hair, personally, and about once a year now at the hairdressers. Though given that I pin it up more than half the time, you wouldn't be able to tell.

I usually make my characters brunettes... they're the majority and statistically speaking, physically most relatable. Somewhat ironically for me though.

Blondes and reds seem to feature more for men.

Lets see... how do I feel about hair on other women... well groomed long hair always draws my attention. I did find a woman with short red curls incredibly cute and attractive once. I think it was a combination of the colour and the style. It's the only instance I can think of where the colour really stood out for me. Personality wise, 'sweet' came to mind and it had less to do with hair than voice. But in the end 'determined' would've been a better descriptor. Though, I stand by what I say and do not think one red haired can speak for all red hairs.

Blonde... has never drawn my attention. Then again, statistically I also bump into less blondes. It seems to be a choice colour dye for some people. Why I cannot fathom except the social appeal. In which case... it's unattractive.