A Hairy Story!

I was a teenager in the early 1960’s and long hair was a very natural style to have at that time. Many of you may recall from an earlier Post that, after complying with corporate image expectations for around 40 years, I had decided to take advantage of retirement and once again grow it!  It was going quite well until earlier this past week!

Long hair has some inherent control issues which need to be addressed (not news to you ladies!), and I never liked the ponytail look on guys. Sweatbands do control the hair and are appropriate in some situations, but my desire (and comfort level) was with giving my hair the freedom to do whatever it wanted to do… and therein was the problem!

My hair strands are quite fine, and the aging process was certainly thinning them out on a regular basis, both of which culminated in many unruly and distracting individual hairs! I really did like the long hair look and was  happy with the way it was developing. I was even prepared to put up with the annoyance of an occasional hair irritating my face but, when it interferes with my sleep, I am less then accepting of the situation!

A few nights ago, I woke up around 1:30am with hair irritating an eye. A quick “brush off” with my hand resolved that, but then I woke up about an hour later with hair irritating my nose and mouth. The decisions was then made to exercise my authority as ruler of my body and, in the morning, I loaded our clippers with a No. 2 (1/4″) head and cut all my hair off!

Could I have resolved it in a less drastic manner? Perhaps, but I not only resolved the sleep issue but also the day to day irritations. People who know me really well, will also acknowledge that I generally don’t procrastinate once a decision has been made. From my perspective, I have “a thousand” things that I want to do, and so doing them right away and moving on is my preferred “modus operandi”!

Once Carol knew what I was about to do, she thought a pic would be a good idea (below)

Feedback? Well it would appear that Ray really doesn’t care what I look like as long as we are friends. Carol thought that cutting it all off made me look younger. Now if only I could persuade this body to act younger! 🙂

36 thoughts on “A Hairy Story!”

  1. Mmm… that thin-hair problem that comes with age (I’m in my 60s), I know how it is. When I was a teen I had a fringe for a very brief time and even after getting rid of it, it never completely grew out, so even now I get short bits getting into my eyes. That said, I’m not going the bald-head route… but good for you for choosing to do that!

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  4. Hubby always has a number 2 cut, and when we thought I might need chemo, we were going to cut my hair short first so that the change wouldn’t appear quite so drastic. I’m pleased to say I still have all of my long hair which is usually dragged back into a ponytail as it’s easier to manage than blowing all over the place!

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  5. I have and always have had long hair. I can’t imagine myself without it. I have been scared by one of my hairs unexpectedly brushing my neck or shoulder, I close the car door on my hair often, and I have hair everywhere in the house! The price to pay, but I love it! 🙂

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    • Now therein is the problem! I am doing my best not to slow down but additional naps, and regular breaks from any projects that involve manual work, are getting more and more necessary! 🙂

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    • Thanks a bunch! I had successfully forgotten about “Holy Joe” marching the school corridors; cloak flowing behind him, and emitting the occasional grunt as he passed a boy! 🙂

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  12. Strange how our lives seem to run parallel, even though we live almost 14,000 km apart. Do you think this is a retiree thing? I also let my hair grow out, getting rid of the color (from a bottle) and the corporate cut. This week I started getting irritated in just the way you described and I walked into the hair salon and asked for a “Beatle haircut”. The hairdresser immediately understood (contemporary age) and now I have a nice bob with no hair to irritate my eyes and tickle my nose. I also plan to write a blog about this – for my Afrikaans followers though. I quite like the ponytail look on men, but then, I also like the marine cut. So, are you going to show us an “after” photo?

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    • Hi Hester. From my perspective, it’s an ongoing balancing act between what I can do due to being retired; what I want to do, and what is practical to do. With hair (as with many things), I learn the hard way! As for an after photo? Of course… just not too sure when. 🙂

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  13. My hubby has had long hair since high school. Yes, most of the time it is in a ponytail for work.
    One Halloween, he decided to shave his full beard off! He looked 10 years younger and not at all like himself. All evening he’d walk towards me at the bar, and it took a bit to register it was him. 🤤 I couldn’t imagine if he cut his hair short!

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