Female hairstyles on men

[Departed Member]

Not exactly sure where this thread should go, but this seemed the most likely place. I have short hair and have no desire for long hair, not even past 2 inches for personal reasons, i.e. I just don't like having long hair, but for those who have long hair, this link presented something interesting. A hairdresser (female I think) got some dudes with long hair to have their hair done up in different styled "up-dos" typical of females and have pics taken in order to bring awareness to the fact that men with long hair don't have many styles for them and its taboo for men to have styles typically seen as "female."

Would any of you guys with long hair have any desire to have what are typically or traditionally seen as more "feminine" hair styles like those presented in this article?

http://twentytwowords.com/men-with-long ... t_facebook

If I had long hair, I don't know that I want to fiddle with all of it and take the time and spend the money to do such...which is really why I choose not to have hair past 2 inches on the top: too much hassle otherwise. But, like clothing, I don't really think there is anything inherently "feminine" or "male" about hair length or hair styles; just like clothing, it's mostly cultural/societal.

[Kirbstone]

This would interest a certain age group only. My question then is: Why bother?

As for me, my few white strands have long deserted the top!

Tom

[STEVIE]

I'd agree there is an age element to this idea.
However, If we can assert that clothes don't have gender, then how can a hairstyle?
If you have sufficient tresses, why not dress them up or down to suit yourself or your latest skirt?
When I had more hair in the distant past, my style of choice was a shoulder length "bob".
That was certainly a copy of the feminine, only fashion dictated "no comment".
Until we get past the idea of exclusive female/male trends, I doubt we will ever achieve "fashion freedom".
Must say there wasn't much to commend the article, I sensed a p****s take, but I could be wrong.
Steve.

[crfriend]

That was an interesting view. Thanks for posting it.

I've got long hair, and whilst I usually have it in a ponytail, I've been known to show up with it braided, and I restrain it with fanciful things like bows and other ornaments. Sooner or later, I need to try Kilted John's tactic of using a scarf tied as a bow for it.

One of the most amazing effects I've ever seen with it was after I took it out of a braid that Sapphire put in when my hair was still damp, and the way that it was wavy for a while afterwards was wonderful. Naturally, it's ruler-straight.

[Taj]

I've had long hair off and on. Currently it's growing back out for winter and I'm planning on leaving it long again. I just prefer it over business cut short. I didn't care for the up-does for my own look. A long shag is OK. My hair is naturally wavy and I've been called, "Ma'm" when approached from behind with it long. It's no big deal to me, but the beard surprises them. I'm perfectly comfortable with what Jung called my "anima."

[Kilted_John]

Carl,

Go for it. Sooner than later.

Re: the hairstyles, I sometimes do a bun, but that's about it. The rest of the time, it's in a horsetail that usually extends to the lower back...

-J

[Couya]

In the late 60s - 70s, most of us had long hair; some kept it tidy, but without going to the extremes of putting it up or decorating it with baubles or bands.
I eventually cut mine short again because it was thinning out, straight and difficult to keep in shape, but since women had been wearing their hair shorter and shorter, oh! how effeminate I felt with nothing round my neck! Yes, you young folk, there was a time not so long ago, when men had more hair than their womenfolk, and long hair looked masculine, and short hair did not.
Whenever I see old photos now of men with plenty of hair framing their faces, I almost fall in love ... well, not quite, but I do feel nostalgia for those times when men were good-looking and wore stylish, colourful clothes -- even if they were all bifurcated!

Martin

[Couya]

There are two Spanish tv series going on just now, one based on the life and times of Isabel of Castille. Several male characters have long hair, king Fernando of Aragon looking particularly handsome with plenty of curly bushy growth framing his face.
Another series, pure fiction, set in the renaissance period, has every style imaginable. The hero has long untidy hair, his teenage son likewise, whereas his servant and confidant has about 2 millimetres of stubble, and his arch enemy about 2 cm, no more, and the latter's son about 3 cm, but short back and sides -- a bit too 20th century, imho. The female characters all have masses of long hair, loose or tied up. The most striking is the arch villainess (does that word exist?) who has long hair in a different style every week, usually very elaborate and always most becoming.
In Spain, the y put on a lot of rubbish, just as they do in France, but at least they choose good-looking presenters and actors here, so it is always easy on the eye. To avoid the rubbish, I generally pick and choose from what is available on internet.
Martin

[Sinned]

There's lots of indications of long hair for men and in LOTR most of the characters have long hair ( Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas etc ) as does Conan the Barbarian to name another. Then there's series such as Cadfael. In fact any programme that is set anywhere past the Victorian era the characters have long hair ( Georgians, Miiddle Ages, cavemen )! I had long hair in the sixties and have had sometimes in between. I currently have long hair but as MOH commented last night it is currently a different comb-over. I am getting the normal "solar panel" on the top as I have had for about the past ten years or more but it is only thinning very slowly. I have noticed that I have fewer hairs than I used to have. I'm not vain bout my hair - I have it in a pony-tail as MOH says that just down makes me look feminine whatever that means. Combine down with a skirt and she says that I am definitely trying to look like a woman. I am not!

As for the article there's only the last one the "Desperately Vintage" that to me is more overtly feminine. If I met any man on the street with any of the styles a) I may not even notice and b) I may see then have a thought or two and then dismiss the notion. In fact, much as I would if I met another man in a skirt! Never thought about feminine hairstyles but would a pageboy or a beehive or a Farrah Fawcett suit a man? I don't know. It may depend on the context ( formal, evening party ), what they were wearing and the individual's character. Am I that bothered about hairstyle? Not really, I have it long because it covers the growing solar panel and I suspect that if I get it cut I will look like the millions of other men with growing Male Pattern Baldness and I don't want that just as I have similar reasons for wearing a skirt. Thanks for this PB - food for thought.

[scooterskirt]

I have long hair that I usually wear in a ponytail, but I would like to find out how to do something else with it. I do braid it once in a while and the waves/curls that you get after you unbraid are awesome, but they don't last too long

[Departed Member]

Interestingly, the Japanese Samurai/Bushi had an up-do that looked somewhat similar to the looks in some of the pics shown in the article.

Look at this image of the Samurai and their hair style; it's clearly an up-do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai#me ... period.jpg

Men wearing up-dos and wearing pleated maxi skirts over bifurcated clothing. Wow! Of course, the Japanese quickly got rid of these things when they "Westernized" in the late 19th century after America forced Japan open by threatening to bomb Edo. Such things were seen as "delicate" and "feminine" compared to the masculine Wafuku (Western clothing). Take a look at the difference between the two images below of Emperor Meiji before Westernization and thus masculinization and after adoption of Wafuku.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Me ... tenno3.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Me ... mperor.jpg

And then of course there is always the curls and bows in mens hair of the late 17th century and 18th century, whether wig or actual hair on the head. So what would be considered "feminine" hairstyles of today were considered masculine in past centuries. And those Samurai were no wusses, either. I wouldn't want to mess with them.

[JohnH]

I think those feminine hairsyles are a bit fussy for me. I have hair longer than my shoulders. When I dry my hair with a hair dryer I use a 4 inch round brush to ensure the hair curls inwards instead of outwards. Then I use a 2 inch round brush on the ends to help the hair curl inwards. That's all I do with my hair - no ponytails, buns, or braids for me. My wife on the other hand has her hair much shorter so she can spike it, and she spends a lot more effort to achieve the spiky effect than I do with my hair.

John

[rick401r]

I too have hair that hangs past my shoulders. However it is quite frizzy. I use one of those ceramic hair irons to tame the bush and make it somewhat straight.

[Ralph]

I like to grow my hair out mostly because I hate getting haircuts (strict dad issues from childhood, and I'm a miser who hates paying good money just to wave a pair of scissors around for ten minutes). But once it gets past my shoulders, I get tired of the extra maintenance and getting it in my face and my food and using four times as much shampoo... so I end up going in cycles, three or four years to grow it and then cut it back to my ears and start over again.

Once it gets long enough, it just gets tied back in a ponytail (hooray, at least THAT is socially acceptable for men nowadays. One barrier down, 999 more to go). I haven't the time, patience, or coordination to do anything else with it, although I like the look of the "inverted" ponytail where you flip the end up through the loop made at the top, and sometimes I'll tie the longer sides together but leave the center back hanging down between them.

I would definitely not want the hairdos on that page, even if someone offered to do it for free. "Fussy" as described above is exactly the right word for them. I prefer my hair as natural and maintenance-free as possible.

Interesting concept though! I sent the link on to a couple hairdresser friends (interestingly, both male (and as far as I know, only one of them is gay)).

[dillon]

I liked the braids and if ever able to grow my hair out again, I will try it. Right now the hair in my ears seems to grow faster than that on my head!