Re: Enforcing a rigid ideology

1

Ask yourself, "How would Jesus wear his hair?"


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:44 PM
horizontal rule
2

As long as you don't call it "product".


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:47 PM
horizontal rule
3

Are we speaking of soccer superstars or of, say, college professors?


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:48 PM
horizontal rule
4

Not if you wish to travel by air.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:50 PM
horizontal rule
5

how short is short enough? My hair has started covering the tops of my ears, and I rather like it that way.


Posted by: text | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:50 PM
horizontal rule
6

Any day now, my honey is going to show up having cut off all his lovely hair, and I will cry. I've seen pictures of him with ultra-short hair, and he looked like he should be carrying a switchblade.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:54 PM
horizontal rule
7

You know the answer is "no," Labs. Quit trolling your own blog.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:55 PM
horizontal rule
8

Perhaps this post should have been titled Root Causes.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:57 PM
horizontal rule
9

My boyfriend shaved his head. It's his hair and all, but he is sort of pumpkin-headed, and looks better with longer hair.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:59 PM
horizontal rule
10

Yes, I fully support the hipster-hawk, various goth craziness and any other ludicrously impractical hairstyles that a man feels the need to subject himself to. Some of them actually look good, and they're nearly all hilarious.


Posted by: JAC | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 12:59 PM
horizontal rule
11

I've seen pictures of him with ultra-short hair, and he looked like he should be carrying a switchblade.

I'll bet it's the nose; long hair frames and harmonizes large ones. I have a smallish, North Britain nose and I look like a sheepdog with long hair.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:00 PM
horizontal rule
12

I have a soft spot for the fauxhawk.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:03 PM
horizontal rule
13

I've seen pictures of him with ultra-short hair, and he looked like he should be carrying a switchblade.

Some people call it a Kaiser blade. I call it a sling blade, ummm hmmm.


Posted by: My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:04 PM
horizontal rule
14

7 gets it exactly right. I'm this close [imagine a gesture indicating a very short distance] to getting a flat-top.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:04 PM
horizontal rule
15

A flat-out "no" is too dismissive. Yes, it's permissible, if you want to look like a total dork.


Posted by: jmcq | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:06 PM
horizontal rule
16

You may be right, IDP; his nose is not unendowed.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:07 PM
horizontal rule
17

Dude, a flat-top?!


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:08 PM
horizontal rule
18

I second 17. What? You'll look like a giant mesa instead of a giant-Labs-like mountain.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:09 PM
horizontal rule
19

Ack, gotta go!


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:11 PM
horizontal rule
20

His nose is endowed with what?


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:11 PM
horizontal rule
21

Many years ago I wore a flat top. After the cut, the barber would apply butch wax, which was permissible only because it was just for that day and because it was called butch wax. I stopped wearing a flat top when I realized that people who told me it made me look like a psychopath were right.


Posted by: jmcq | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:13 PM
horizontal rule
22

20 -- too late, JM has left the building.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:16 PM
horizontal rule
23

So, I generally read entries through bloglines, and the particular feed I had up shows posts and comments but for some reason not the author. It means I get to play a fun game of "Who Posted This?" Usually I'm pretty close, but I totally guessed Ogged on this one.

Anyway, I think allowances must be made for those who are afflicted with severe cowlicks.


Posted by: mrh | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:17 PM
horizontal rule
24

For a while in college, I had the inverse flat-top -- cut very short in back and on the sides, vertically untamed. My friends called me "Bullwinkle".


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:19 PM
horizontal rule
25

Cala, you of all people know I have a taste for desert landscapes.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:21 PM
horizontal rule
26

I'm old enough to have worn a flat top pre-British-invasion. I remember butch wax; the front hairs were trimmed level after it was applied, for a clean edge.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:22 PM
horizontal rule
27

Everything but the haircut of kings, it seems.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:25 PM
horizontal rule
28

Labs with a flat-top. Lab's future with a flat-top.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:30 PM
horizontal rule
29

You know what? I'll be sporting the same professionally tousled 'do I've had since 11th grade for the rest of my life. I'll embarrass my kids with my outmoded mid-90s slacker look from some band called "Pavement," whatever. But I'll know in my heart that my cowlick will never manifest and the natural volume of my hair will never be realized. I'll do it with Bumble and Bumble Sumotech, and I'll do it without shame.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:35 PM
horizontal rule
30

That guy's got an attitude problem, Cala, although I identified Tiny Yokum, Gus Grissum, and Bob Haldeman on sight before he named them.

Of what earthly use is such knowledge? If I could purge it, might I be able to learn new things I otherwise couldn't?


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:36 PM
horizontal rule
31

What? 27 is awesome. If I didn't have to finish this paper, I'd be headed to the barber.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:38 PM
horizontal rule
32

Long hair is permissible, but requiring product is not.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:40 PM
horizontal rule
33

just when did you completely give up on dating, labs?


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:41 PM
horizontal rule
34

Labs, F. "The experience of the sublime: or, the flat-top as a desert landscape." Journal of Badonkadonk, 2006.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:42 PM
horizontal rule
35

Labs, a point we tried to make gently, by inference as it were, is that butch wax, necessary to the flat top edge, is a product.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:43 PM
horizontal rule
36

You dirty hippies, I know I'm not the only guy here who uses product.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:44 PM
horizontal rule
37

Product is permissible, if you can pull it off. A guy that can pull off a 50's pompadour with a nice pearl-snap shirt, while snapping his fingers to Hank Williams....well, I get weak in the knees. My heart is all aflutter now.


Posted by: heebie_geebie | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:47 PM
horizontal rule
38

Labs would look awesome with white-boy dreds.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:48 PM
horizontal rule
39

I use no product aside from shampoo and conditioner.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 1:49 PM
horizontal rule
40

Just don't call it product. It's like calling it 'thingy', but pretentious sounding.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:01 PM
horizontal rule
41

If I'm not wearing thingy, I'm wearing a baseball cap or a cowboy hat, and macho hats make up for the ghey.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:08 PM
horizontal rule
42

I thought you frontier kids all wore coonskin caps.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:09 PM
horizontal rule
43

41,42 Right, so that Davey Crockett is almost always depicted wearing one, at the Alamo, which is in San Antonio, is it not? But it's like Custer's long hair, in the famous Annheuser Busch lithograph, a copy of which used to hang in Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap between the men's and women's pissoirs: necessary for identifying the iconic figure.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:14 PM
horizontal rule
44

Don't encourage this. I am thinning, so i basically have two options: close cropped, or completely bic'[?]ed. no reason every guy has to look exactly the same. please don't encourage every guy to look the same.


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:18 PM
horizontal rule
45

Do they even make Brylcreem any more?


Posted by: jim | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:26 PM
horizontal rule
46

Greasy Kid Stuff is now an (excellent) radio show.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:27 PM
horizontal rule
47

That's right people, cowboy hats are not gay. Like 'Smasher says, they make you a macho man.


Posted by: Heather | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:27 PM
horizontal rule
48

Look, short hair is fine and all, but if I cut mine too short, I begin to look twelve. Seriously. It's not okay. So I reject the premise.


Posted by: jhupp | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:32 PM
horizontal rule
49

Do they even make Brylcreem any more?

Not only is it still made, hot women will stomp on you if you wear it.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:39 PM
horizontal rule
50

I use no product aside from shampoo and conditioner.

What is this conditioner of which you speak?


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:41 PM
horizontal rule
51

I remember an Andy Rooney bit where he said that he used bar soap to wash his body and his hair, so you're going to have to do better than that, slol.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:52 PM
horizontal rule
52

Re 51, My mother says that's what my father did when she married him.

Me, I use product. But Labs' rule unfairly discriminates against the curly-haired, who would just be a big balls of frizz without hair cream of some sort.


Posted by: cw | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 2:59 PM
horizontal rule
53

I submit the following resolution: that this blog prefers being better-coiffed than Andy Rooney.


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 3:01 PM
horizontal rule
54

Yes, not using any "girly" products might make you sound macho to your male peers but, if a girl does sleep over at your house and end up using your shower, she'll be very thrilled to find you have some conditioner, etc. if she has to look presentable that day.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 3:01 PM
horizontal rule
55

52: as a fellow curly head, I feel your pain. But the frizz can be easily avoided by simply shampooing much less vigorously. There's no point in taking all the oil out of your hair, only to put synthetic oil back in after towelling off.


Posted by: text | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 3:08 PM
horizontal rule
56

54. Not to mentioned being thrilled that he'll look presentable, too. I'm all for men using products (like this elusive "conditioner") just in moderation. You shouldn't actually see gunk in someone's hair, but that's easy to avoid with a couple day's practice.

Tip 1: If you lean your head on a window and have made it opaque by doing so, you've used too much.
Tip 2: Link in 49 = EW. I'm surprised Stomping Woman hasn't fallen on her ass, standing on a Slip n' Slide like that.


Posted by: Heather | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 3:25 PM
horizontal rule
57

49: I can accept the inference that she's hot, but what's the cash for?


Posted by: hermit greg | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 3:55 PM
horizontal rule
58

#7 gets it right.

I would add that I've learned a lot about product from Ogged.


Posted by: Invisible Adjunct | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 4:38 PM
horizontal rule
59

Hmm, I do use liquid soap instead of shampoo occasionally. No conditioner.


Posted by: David Weman | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 4:40 PM
horizontal rule
60

IA! I miss you.

Osner and Langue Hat in that thread too.

Apparently Ogged cuts his own hair.


Posted by: David Weman | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 4:50 PM
horizontal rule
61

That's a low blow, Adjunct, and one not soon forgotten. Not to mention that I only write about shampoo and conditioner in that thread, neither of which counts as "product" as we're defining it here.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:00 PM
horizontal rule
62

Do you still cut your own hair?


Posted by: David Weman | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:02 PM
horizontal rule
63

Weman -- Os/ner am I.

(No conditioner -- shampoo and soap.)


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:03 PM
horizontal rule
64

I only write about shampoo and conditioner in that thread, neither of which counts as "product" as we're defining it here

Did I miss that? I would have thought conditioner counted as product, if meant to have at least a residue left behind, as it usually does, and changes the appearance of your hair. Or must "product" be by definition that which is applied afterwards?


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:06 PM
horizontal rule
65

Yeah, all men should have exactly the same hair, and it should conform to military regulations. If we can't maintain rigid gender hierarchies, clearly the terrorists have won.

I'm going to go tell PK I've seen the light, and he has to let me cut off his hair or his penis tonight. The choice is his.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:10 PM
horizontal rule
66

A woman staying over might be thrilled to find conditioner...unless it's in the shower boobs.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:13 PM
horizontal rule
67

B, I'm glad we finally see eye to eye.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:13 PM
horizontal rule
68

I'll tell him that it's all your fault, Labs. I'll make sure and send you pictures.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:23 PM
horizontal rule
69

wtf is wrong with using 'product'? Apart from, you know, calling it product?

I wear my 'product' with pride.

I have naturally wavy hair that's starting to get thin around the temples. Even though I wear it cut really short, if I don't put a tiny dab of wax or something similar I look like I have pubic hair growing out of my head.

And if I had longer hair, I'd be quite happily sticking all kinds of wierd gunk in it. Hair cuts that require wierd gunk in 'em can look fine.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:30 PM
horizontal rule
70

69: I don't want to spell this out, but men aren't allowed to care about physical appearance in many ways (basically those which don't involve working out to improve your actual health). Otherwise the feminazis win.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:35 PM
horizontal rule
71

Waxy pubic hair is superior to plain. Noted.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:37 PM
horizontal rule
72

re: 70

Yeah, but what do I know. I use moisturiser and 'product'. I am clearly carrying 'metrosexual' cooties!

Also, caring about 'improv[ing] your actual health' is also pretty unmanly. There's a bunch of academic research on the ways in which some aspects of male gender identity literally kill guys -- because worrying about your health is unmanly.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:39 PM
horizontal rule
73

Now that my Bumbling & Bumbling has been exposed, I'm free to say that I'm probably the only person in this thread to ever have had Oil Sheen in his hair. I was in South Carolina, you see, and needed a haircut, so I walked until I found one, which turned out to be what you Americans call a "black" barbershop. I got a fade, and oil sheen, and lots of funny looks, both during and after.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:41 PM
horizontal rule
74

What's the difference between Oil Sheen and activator?


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:43 PM
horizontal rule
75

We're currently in flux about what aspects of male appearance can be worked on. Cf.James Bond and some typical modern man.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:48 PM
horizontal rule
76

What's the difference between Oil Sheen and activator?

I don't know, Shaft, what's activator?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:49 PM
horizontal rule
77

Did the fade with oil sheen look good? Mr. B. gets so annoyed at the local barbers because they don't even know what a fade *is*.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:54 PM
horizontal rule
78

Hey, Bumble & Bumble products are the fucking shit. I even use them, against my strict doctrine of not spending more than $3 (recently revised to $4 due to inflation) on any makeup/hair-related/cosmetic item.


Posted by: silvana | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:54 PM
horizontal rule
79

It's a hair-care product that African Americans use (I think) to keep their hair from drying out. I've only ever seen it used in spray form, but here's what google finds. I'm not sure if Oil Spot is the same thing. I can't figure out why you'd need activator, though.

(I actually spent a couple of years in my teens thinking that black sweat smelled different, because I didn't know about activator. True story.)


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 5:58 PM
horizontal rule
80

Clownæ is 0sn-r? No kidding? I've got to start keeping an index.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:01 PM
horizontal rule
81

Did the fade with oil sheen look good?

No, it looked fucking hilarious.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:02 PM
horizontal rule
82

I'll see your fade and raise you.

I once had my hair done for a formal event in Las Vegas. Despite my VERY CLEAR instructions, I ended up with a big ol' Las Vegas teased bouffant. Which I washed out as soon as I got back to the hotel, and wore my hair the same goddamn way I do every day.

Mr. B.'s mom was all, "you can't wash it! You'll waste all that money!" Mr. B. said, "Mom, she already has."


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:06 PM
horizontal rule
83

Guys should not be imitating women with the obsession with product. It's totally crazy to spend the amount of time & care on your hair that some women do.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:09 PM
horizontal rule
84

re: 83

Using some kind of stuff in your hair doesn't necessarily mean spending a lot of time on it.

My hair dries in 5 minutes. So I wash it, towel it. Rub pea sized bit of wax through it. Ruffle. Done.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:12 PM
horizontal rule
85

Ruffle.

That's so gay, Matt.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:34 PM
horizontal rule
86

I don't use conditioner. It makes my hair look weird. I don't even comb my hair. Once I start getting too much bed-head, I go to the barber.


Posted by: joe o | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:37 PM
horizontal rule
87

I hear they have combination shampoo/conditioners these days.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:39 PM
horizontal rule
88

That two-in-one conditioner/shampoo combo stuff is worse than not using any conditioner at all. Stay away, fellas.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:40 PM
horizontal rule
89

OMG - I posted 88 before I saw 87. I can read your mind!


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:40 PM
horizontal rule
90

Using some kind of stuff in your hair doesn't necessarily mean spending a lot of time on it.

Indeed, that's true. I was more responding to the general sentiment that men should emulate women in the hair products department, because while there are plenty of ways to do hair in 5 minutes, there's also plenty of ways to spend too much time & cash on it.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:47 PM
horizontal rule
91

Hey tell you what I like is the Neutrogena. It keeps my dandruff at a steady dusting rather than its natural blizzardy proportions. I am never sure though whether I should pronounce it noo-troh-JEE-na or noo-TRAW-jen-a.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:48 PM
horizontal rule
92

The first pronunciation is correct.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:48 PM
horizontal rule
93

It takes all of five seconds to apply "Supreme Magic Move Hard" and it makes all the difference.


Posted by: dagger aleph | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:51 PM
horizontal rule
94

ATM


Posted by: dagger aleph | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 6:51 PM
horizontal rule
95

Mr. B. gets so annoyed

wait...Mr B is black? This is getting so confusing.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:09 PM
horizontal rule
96

Young Hegelians use Neutrojena.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:17 PM
horizontal rule
97

I use gel for a couple of weeks after I get a haircut, because my hair tends to stand straight up on top when it's shorter. Once it grows out enough that I don't look like I've rubbed a balloon on my head, I generally stop using the stuff. Just seems like too much trouble, considering that my normal morning hair-styling routine consists of drying it with a towel after I shower. I don't even own a comb or a brush.


Posted by: Matt F | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:18 PM
horizontal rule
98

Bet you didn't read my mind on that one, Becks.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:18 PM
horizontal rule
99

I will need to click over to SB's joke explaining blog...


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:23 PM
horizontal rule
100

95: What, you don't think I'd marry a black man? Racist.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:31 PM
horizontal rule
101

And PK dyes his hair?


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:33 PM
horizontal rule
102

What?


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:35 PM
horizontal rule
103

Well, if his dad is black...


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:38 PM
horizontal rule
104

re: 97

Yeah, when mine grows out a bit I generally stop using wax. I also don't own a comb or a brush.

And despite the 'moisturiser' comments above, I don't even bother using soap on my face. Cold water, mostly.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:43 PM
horizontal rule
105

So are you just googleproofed all the time now, or are you worried students will find out about your grooming habits and fish recipes?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:48 PM
horizontal rule
106

I've been using Trader Joe's peppermint liquid soap lately for shampoo. Not very fancy, but it's really nice.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 7:52 PM
horizontal rule
107

You know what grooming products I don't understand? Kiehl's. They just make all their employees at the store wear white lab coats, like they're scientists or something, and that allows them to dupe people into paying four times as much as they'd pay for a regular brand.

I had Kiehl's hand creme and it separated in the hot weather, so there was an oily film on top. And the reason people like the shampoo is because it's extra-foamy, but that just means there's more glycerin or whatever in it.


Posted by: dagger aleph | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:05 PM
horizontal rule
108

This body scrub is the best stuff ever. I rarely wear makeup but I'm a total sucker for all kinds of moisturizers and shower scrubs. Ellie's comment upon using my shower when she came to visit: "Jesus Christ, Becks. How moist does one person need to be?"


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:13 PM
horizontal rule
109
I hear they have combination shampoo/conditioners these days.

The shampoo/conditioner combination is neither fish nor fowl.

You've been warned.


Posted by: Invisible Adjunct | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:33 PM
horizontal rule
110

As an additional warning, fish and fowl are also both suboptimal hair treatments.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:39 PM
horizontal rule
111

And styling your hair with salmon is gay.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:41 PM
horizontal rule
112

Especially in a curry sauce.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:42 PM
horizontal rule
113

Well that's going a little far...


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:42 PM
horizontal rule
114

You just married a black man for the street cred. Also, he looked so pale when I met him.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:44 PM
horizontal rule
115

I hate makeup, but I look like death warmed over without it. Philosophy is not good for the skin, and I think I've aged four years on this chapter.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 8:46 PM
horizontal rule
116

People need to be more sensitive to those of us with Naturally Bad Hair. My hair, if less than 3 inches long, stands straight up and out, if longer than 3 inches, hangs straight down, and grows too fast for any styled sort of buzz cut to last more than two weeks. Even with large amounts of gel/mousse/spray and lots of time spent styling, a "normal" haircut only stays styled for an hour or two and then turns into moppet Anakin Skywalker. As such, I have only two non-product-using options: skinhead or ponytail. I've spent most of my adult life with one or the other, but since I had a job interview last week, I am now using both a perm and lots of product to get the visual effect of one of you normal motherfuckers who doesn't have to care about your hair.

Since I'm doomed to prissiness anyway, which is least haram at the mineshaft?
?skinhead (pale whiteboy sunburn problems)
?ponytail (air of pretension and/or geekiness)
?perm with product (time consuming, expensive, and the attempt to look like I don't care is ultimately unconvincing)


Posted by: Big Ben | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 9:11 PM
horizontal rule
117

Oh, Ben, life has dealt you a bad hand. Go with skin.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 9:33 PM
horizontal rule
118
My hair, if less than 3 inches long, stands straight up and out, if longer than 3 inches, hangs straight down, and grows too fast for any styled sort of buzz cut to last more than two weeks.

I'm all about rooting for the underdog, but honestly, I'm having a hard time actually visualizing your hair care dilemma. Less than 3 multiplied by greater than 3 equals a skinhead with a ponytail?

Yeah, definitely go with skin.


Posted by: Invisible Adjunct | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 9:49 PM
horizontal rule
119

AI, hi. Based on a recent posting of hers, you and LB should get together and compare relatives named Mary-something and Eileen.

Just to fulfill the stereotype, I can report that I've gone a month at a time without using any hair care product at all, including shampoo. I usually do rinse my hair in the hottest water I can stand about once a week.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 9:58 PM
horizontal rule
120
Based on a recent posting of hers, you and LB should get together and compare relatives named Mary-something and Eileen.

Mary-Who? Never heard of her.

I'm sorry, John, but going a month without shampoo is just going too far (though in what direction, I'm sure I cannot say).


Posted by: Invisible Adjunct | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:06 PM
horizontal rule
121

119:Oh man, with straight very fine hair to the middle of my back, I have to shampoo and condition every other day or I go from blonde to brunetter. Also the pony tail I wear in public picks up neck sweat.

Never had a chance to rebel 40 years ago; always had jobs required crew-cuts and Princetons. Delirious to be now rebelling against a tightass fashion-slave crew of overurbanized twenty-somethings. Hippie? ewwww! Far out man.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:19 PM
horizontal rule
122

I had seriously been considering going back to skin after the job interview process is finished. The sunburn issues are a major hurdle (Bandana or cowboy hat? I just can't win.) And I know from experience that if I ever change my mind, growing it back out means a year of looking like ass, so I may go the McManus hippie route (and the ladies say I look sexier with hair. Who am I to argue?)

No one understands my pain. Maybe I should dye it black and let it hang over my eyes to express my alienation.


Posted by: Big Ben | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:22 PM
horizontal rule
123

What, like Chris Gaines?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:28 PM
horizontal rule
124

I never said Mr. B. was black; 100 was, if you noticed, written in the subjunctive tense.

The man is German for god's sake. He just likes his hair faded sometimes. Don't ask me; I'm continually trying to talk him into growing out the curls a bit but he seems to enjoy going for the extremes: either very short or metalhead long.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:33 PM
horizontal rule
125

A good word, please, for JR Ligget's bar shampoo - Andy Rooney-approved, but doesn't actually fuck up your hair. Plus it lasts forever.

Somehow it took me until age 23 to realize that I look best with quite short hair (although it's too fine ever to stand up). But I'm too lazy to actually get it cut often enough. Regardless, a real barber can generally give you a cut that requires no "product" (Darwin's losers excepted, of course).


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:33 PM
horizontal rule
126
The sunburn issues are a major hurdle (Bandana or cowboy hat? I just can't win.)

You can win, if only you'll attend to the importance of SPF 50 sunscreen, which must be applied regularly, rigorously, and religiously.

Jesus, lad, but I begin to think you're your own worst enemy.

Just as red is the new black, so too is skin the new hair.


Posted by: Invisible Adjunct | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:36 PM
horizontal rule
127

124: I think you mean the subjunctive mood.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:39 PM
horizontal rule
128

No one understands my pain

I think we do.


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:47 PM
horizontal rule
129

I didn't mean to make this thread about my Darwin's loser hair problems, but I suppose you can never have enough discussions of the problems of neurotic white boys.

Sunscreen doesn't smooth out over stubble very well, and leaves me with lots of sticky white goop on little hairs without really providing scalp protection. And I thought the whole point was to get to a place where I didn't need to slather gunk on my head. These are the dilemmas that consume my waking hours.

128:
Helmet hair just compounds the problems.


Posted by: Big Ben | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:50 PM
horizontal rule
130

You can get a spray-on "sport" sunscreen that is not gunky, and is about spf 30. You just have to carry the bottle around and apply it fairly often. Sort of like Dennis Hopper's character in Blue Velvet with the gas tank, only with a much smaller bottle, and without inhaling.


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 10:59 PM
horizontal rule
131

127: Yeah, okay.

128: Wait, that's you, Ben? And you're griping about your hair? It looks fine, stop being neurotic. (Also, btw, one solution for fine hair that tends to lie flat is to color it. You can have "highlights" put in that basically mimic your real color, or just go for the full head o' dye, and the color won't change noticably but it'll dry out the hair shaft and give it more lift. Labs will call you a sissy, but whatever.)


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 11:09 PM
horizontal rule
132

Labs will call you a sissy

This would be the guy with the window treatments?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 11:18 PM
horizontal rule
133

131: It's me on a good day a few years ago when I had a magazine camera crew making sure I looked OK for the photoshoot. I used to really like that picture but in this context it seems so...earnest.

I didn't know about the styling potential of dyeing. I'm living in a very metrosexual country, so maybe I could get away with that.

I like the idea of dennishoppering the sunscreen though.


Posted by: Big Ben | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 11:18 PM
horizontal rule
134

I've had my hair really short for most of my adult life. Every time I try to grow it out, it reaches just-above-collarbone length and then just stops growing. What the fuck is up with that?


Posted by: dagger aleph | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 11:26 PM
horizontal rule
135

Split ends?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 11:56 PM
horizontal rule
136

Split ends make your hair stop growing?

I distrust your folk wisdom ever since you were wrong about salt.


Posted by: dagger aleph | Link to this comment | 08-10-06 11:59 PM
horizontal rule
137

You are right to distrust my folk wisdom, but I think split ends do make your hair stop growing. Does anyone out there know?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 12:03 AM
horizontal rule
138

Good Lord, man, it's not a plant. Hair growth occurs in the follicles. How could split ends make hair stop growing?


Posted by: jmcq | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 12:15 AM
horizontal rule
139

re: 105

It's more laziness. Easier than switching back and forth - I can just 'remember info'. It's only semi-googleproofing anyway.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 12:33 AM
horizontal rule
140

124: Yes, it was the subjunctive mood, which indicates there would be a reason for us to believe that Mr. B. would be black (since assuming otherwise makes us racist, even in the joke), and that presumes that you haven't mentioned he's German 900 times during the World Cup or posted pictures of your cute little blonde kid.

137: It wouldn't make it stop growing, and it would have to be really damaged to break off enough to keep up with normal hair growth. But I've noticed a similar thing with my own hair; the longest it will grow is just below my shoulder blades. Maybe hair has a point past which it won't grow or grows very slowly, but I'm not sure how that would work.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 12:37 AM
horizontal rule
141

137,140:Yeah, there was blog discussion a while back. It is genetic, and has to do with how long your hair follicle live and how often they are replaced. You can maybe can add an inch with hair care, but you are either Crystal Gayle or you are not.

My hair has been middle of my back for five years, in a point. Straightened out, it looks shorter. Haven'
t had a cut for seven years, just won't grow longer. Each person has a maximum hair length.

When I go crazy Atkins, I think I gain an inch on the sides.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 12:45 AM
horizontal rule
142

yeah, its the same reason your eyebrows don't get 5 inches long and hang odwn over your face, but you can grow a beard down to you bellybutton piercing.


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 1:19 AM
horizontal rule
143

How about hair that keeps growing in volume but never gets longer?


Posted by: David Weman | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 1:33 AM
horizontal rule
144

143 -- the hair starts out at length 0 so for it to grow in volume, it would necessarily have to get longer. And I can't imagine hair getting much more than a few tenths of a mm in diameter (that's a few hundredths of an inch to you) so I don't see how it could grow much in volume at any point without getting longer.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 6:07 AM
horizontal rule
145

Maybe he means your existing hair stays at a constant length while new hair springs into existence and gradually grows to the same length, creating a greater volume of same length hair.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 6:27 AM
horizontal rule
146

(since assuming otherwise makes us racist, even in the joke)

Well yeah, that's why I phrased it the way I did.

and that presumes that you haven't mentioned he's German 900 times during the World Cup

What, there are no Germans of African ancestry? Racist. (God, I just can't help myself.)


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 6:31 AM
horizontal rule
147

re: 146

What, there are no Germans of African ancestry? Racist. (God, I just can't help myself.)

Not to be a pedant or nuffink, but for a long time there weren't. German citizenship laws made it, until recently, damn near impossible for someone not of German descent to become German (by citizenship).

Hence all the Turks who'd lived there for 3 generations but had no citizenship rights.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 6:48 AM
horizontal rule
148

I had a girlfriend in college whose hair just wouldn't grow past her collarbone or get particularly thick, no matter what she did or how long she went without a trim. At the time, I had the monster mullet that hung to the middle of my back, which I think frustrated her since it grew crazy fast. Still grows just as thick and quickly though, for obvious reasons, I no longer sport that look.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:05 AM
horizontal rule
149

for obvious reasons

I'm not picking up on this.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:09 AM
horizontal rule
150

The obvious reasons? Try going to a job interview with that hair. It's less of an obstacle than having a tattoo on your forehead, but not by much.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:15 AM
horizontal rule
151

Try going to a job interview with that hair

Reckon they would be too much in awe of your massive cock to even notice the hair.


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:24 AM
horizontal rule
152

I might have been willing to offer you the job, but I would have wanted to interview the mullet separately. Did it have any special skillsets?


Posted by: Felix | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:33 AM
horizontal rule
153

I was at Eckerd's the other day and saw a package of bluntly named "Bald Man Head Wipes".


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:39 AM
horizontal rule
154

That's so gay, Matt.

Yesterday on the S-Bahn a gay guy told me that a lot of Nazi statuary, with all the muscled dudes standing around together being athletic and muscled, was "really gay", and I wasn't sure how to react.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:46 AM
horizontal rule
155

147: I don't know when Germany started granting citizenship to immigrants, but I remember learning in sixth grade how to say. 'Ich komme aus der Türkei' and the teacher explaining about the Turks in Germany and how it had been a big problem 'sort of like racism in the U.S.' (Hey, we were sixth graders.) This would have been in '89 or so.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:51 AM
horizontal rule
156

Labs: I'm assuming you're kidding about the flat top. If not, don't do it. Really, such a very, very bad idea.

(Not that they can't look fine on some people, but you'd look unutterably strange.)

And there's nothing wrong with product. I, myself, have never sucessfully mastered a beauty routine other than washing with soap, picking the tangles out of my hair with my fingers, and letting it air dry, but I'm terribly unevolved and shouldn't be emulated by anyone. But as long as you're not spending inordinate amounts of time on it, there's no reason not to put gunk in your hair.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 7:58 AM
horizontal rule
157

Hey LB, how was your day of being pampered?


Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 8:01 AM
horizontal rule
158

LB, do you say that because of my monstrously large head? You're only encouraging me, you know.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 8:01 AM
horizontal rule
159

Too blond is the problem. Blond men with crewcuts look like Nazi propaganda, and not in a good way. Being 6'20" only accentuates the problem.

If you're going for unattractively frightening, then it's a look.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 8:13 AM
horizontal rule
160

Maybe Labs will look like Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner. "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion" could be a great pickup line.


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 8:33 AM
horizontal rule
161

That's the look I aspire to. Plus the very possibility of owning something called "Butch Wax" (which, ironically enough, was my screen name during my pornographic film career) is quite exciting.

Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner is so, so awesome, and such a great pickup routine. "All these moments will be lost, like tears in the rain. Time to make out."


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 8:53 AM
horizontal rule
162

had been a big problem 'sort of like racism in the U.S.' (Hey, we were sixth graders.)

Had been? We read in class some pro/con editorial thing from the Tagesspiegel about whether or not Berlin should accept refugees from Lebanon, and the con guy ended his article by saying that even today the Turkish immigrants signal with their piss-poor German and constant wearing of weird clothing on their heads that they just don't want to integrate. Which many in the class found a little distasteful.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 8:57 AM
horizontal rule
163

I can't believe Becks' bald man head wipes aren't getting any love.


Posted by: silvana | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 8:59 AM
horizontal rule
164

Dude, then go for it. I'm just saying that your reviews on RMP are going to lose some chili peppers.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 9:00 AM
horizontal rule
165

I imagine that racism didn't die with allowing immigrants to become citizens, b-wo.

But in sixth grade it was probably best to hear that it was comparable to an American problem and Germans were working on solving it than having it presented as a weird German racist thing. My high school German teacher and I are reasonably close friends now, and he's remarked several times that he feels like he spends most of his time denying that German means Nazi.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 9:12 AM
horizontal rule
166

Ouch. You know how to hit where it hurts, LB.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 9:13 AM
horizontal rule
167

'FL is really smart but he looks like a Nazi with his haircut and it distracted from the learning environment, i.e., dead violinists.'


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 9:14 AM
horizontal rule
168

163:
Buy bald man head wipes!
Summer scalp sweat scraped away --
Nice again to rub.

There you go.


Posted by: Felix | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 9:28 AM
horizontal rule
169

147: Oh yeah, that's true. And Cala's German teacher wonders why people still think Germans are Nazis. (Joke! Some of my closest relatives are German!)

154: I would imagine that you should have laughed.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 10:03 AM
horizontal rule
170

166: They teach us these things in law school: "Then quick, while he's wincing -- go for the wallet!"


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 10:26 AM
horizontal rule
171

Men shouldn't be able to define "product" more precisely than "something that does something to your hair".


Posted by: ptm | Link to this comment | 08-11-06 12:54 PM
horizontal rule