Thinking about starting a ponytail!

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motionclone

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Anyway, I think possibly some comments in this thread might be generated by younger people.
Well yeah we cant all be old timers!!
 

Henro

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Well yeah we cant all be old timers!!
It's a two sided sword. If you are older, you know you made it this far. If you are younger you know you are younger, but don't know how far you are going to make it.

It's just the way life is...still, if I personally could repeat it, I probably would elect to start over and take my chances....LOL but true?

I think...maybe...have to think about this a bit more...thinking back I don't see anything major I would change if I could.
 

jyoutz

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George Washington had a musket, and owned slaves too.
Your point is ?????
That it’s not something new, or a negative thing like some posters have commented. My hair is kept too short for that, but if someone chooses this, I have no business casting negative comments for an individual choice.
 
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chim

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I don't care how someone else wants to wear his / its :) hair, but must admit having certain impressions because of it.

There are few options for me. MPB started 30 or more years ago. As my forehead grew higher and higher it seemed like a waste of money to make trips to the barber. We have one of those DIY clippers we used on the boys in their younger years. Out came the DIY kit. The thinner my hair got, the smaller snap-on guides I used. I'd rather eat a .44 than do a stringy looking comb-over. The main goal was not to look like Bozo. For the last 10 years I get a haircut every day. Each morning the Norelco starts around my Adam's apple and goes all the way back to my collar (skipping the eyebrows, of course).
 
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skeets

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To each his/her own,, I have been hig and tight since my first hair cut, I hit boot and the barber said boy you aint got enough to clip. Still high and tight, well as high and tight as it can be,, Which reminds me I need a hair cut
 

Biker1mike

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Damn, I am so confused.
Almost traded my afternoon cigar and bourbon for a bowl and a sangria (yuck) .

As to not responsible , that may very true but, the US government still managed to give me a decent clearance. Talent and a little smarts were more important than my ponytail .
 

Biker1mike

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To each his/her own,, I have been hig and tight since my first hair cut, I hit boot and the barber said boy you aint got enough to clip. Still high and tight, well as high and tight as it can be,, Which reminds me I need a hair cut
I may have met that barber. Nah, that can never be proved. Social media did not exist way back when. FBI files , now those pictures are most likely in long term storage. Never protest unless you want you really want your picture taken.
 

Henro

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Thinking back, I can only remember getting two formal haircuts over the last 50 years. One was when in Germany in 1972, when traveling around Europe with what turned out to be my wife to be.

The second was while walking a pilgrimage route in Japan, from which my screen name came. That was probably 25 years ago.

Hair never meant much to me...probably because when younger i had so much of it. lOL

I still remember when getting a haircut when probably 12 years old. The barber commented to the other barber, "look at this kids hair! He will never go bald!" Yes a true story. Funny how you can remember some things from so long in the past.

And not where you put your car keys ten minutes ago!
 
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skeets

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I may have met that barber. Nah, that can never be proved. Social media did not exist way back when. FBI files , now those pictures are most likely in long term storage. Never protest unless you want you really want your picture taken.
If you spent any time at Camp Perry Great Lakes you most likely did :)
 

motionclone

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As to not responsible , that may very true but, the US government still managed to give me a decent clearance. Talent and a little smarts were more important than my ponytail .
The US gov gave this psycho dude a security clearance too..lol Sam Brinton. Then he/she/it/they/them/duh went on to steal stuff.

profimedia-0483481961-764x1024.jpg
 
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NCL4701

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Interesting topic. I think (just my opinion) ideally we would not judge others (not very realistic) or if we do it would be based on their true character, their ethics, their intentions, their heart, their actions.

But in reality, appearance in dress, grooming, posture, facial expression, overall body language all are factors in the judgement commonly referred to as “first impression”: that time before we know someone well enough to form opinions based on more substantive qualities. And there are many we (or at least I) interact with whose paths don’t intersect with ours frequently enough to ever develop that more substantive information.

Point being, whether you consciously acknowledge it or not, you do send messages about yourself to others by how you dress and that includes your hair (if you aren’t bald and have that option).

If you don’t believe it, consciously pay honest attention to your own thoughts for a while. You’re walking in a downtown city type area on a warm day and pass a somewhat out of shape guy in a nice suit, short close cropped hair, walking the other way looking kind of distracted and hurried. A few minutes later you pass a fit guy with beanie, ear lobe expanders, a ring in his lip, wearing a coat that could hide a AK-47 or two, and he’s not trying to hide he’s paying attention to you. You don’t know either one of them at all. Externally maybe your reaction is the same. You going to pretend internally your reaction is the same? A little more on alert with face jewelry man? Maybe not judging the second guy but maybe you just happen to think you might have left your reading glasses in your truck so you need to check your shirt pocket which just happens to get your hand a little closer to that pistol under your own jacket?

For a ponytail? Probably depends on where you are. I’m not a world traveler, but just in this little state I live in, a ponytail on a man gets a much different reaction in Hot Springs, NC than Fayetteville, NC.

I know my ex-military and law enforcement friends, for the most part, would be a bit put off if I showed up somewhere with a ponytail. My biker friends and retired co-worker buddies wouldn’t care one bit. A man bun would result in either ostracization or intervention by all.

It’s not so much whether wearing a ponytail, or man bun, or whatever else, is good or bad. It’s more that you have to consider the venue and be realistic about the message, not so much that you’re sending, but what message is being received. Is it a message you want to send? Do you give one tiny shit? If you’re good with the message or you don’t care, have at it. If you’re not, don’t. But don’t fool yourself into thinking your appearance isn’t sending any message at all.

I recently got into a discussion of this with a friend whose high school daughter was pushing to wear what he considered inappropriately provocative clothing, in his view because she enjoyed the attention her appearance garnered. He and his wife weren’t on the same page and his daughter was not in the same songbook. They were all three in what amounted to a pissing match that was just causing strife but no real solution. He called me a couple weeks later after he and I spoke about this message sent/message received thing. Said they had a discussion about what message she was sending and why as well as what message was being received. It took all of them a few days and more than one conversation to define. He, with a man’s perspective, and his wife, with a woman’s perspective, were successful in educating her on the message being received, which wasn’t exactly what she really wanted, what was an appropriate message, and how to accurately relay it to the recipients.

You’re not a cute teenage girl. Do what makes you happy and if you do it and don’t like it, cut it off. Just don’t pretend others will pretend it ain’t there.

Oh, and for something like a security clearance or fitness for a job or any scenario requiring real judgement of character, I would certainly hope there would be a much more thorough vetting process than a review of hairstyle. Although outward appearance so extreme as to indicate mental illness is pretty hard to overlook, even though @motionclone has pointed out an exception.

Edit: And yeah, wife is watching something insufferable on TV tonight, I’m obligated to attend, thus this extremely lengthy post. My apologies…
 
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Biker1mike

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The US gov gave this psycho dude a security clearance too..lol Sam Brinton. Then he/she/it/they/them/duh went on to steal stuff.

View attachment 100613
Yup, never trust a man (?) that shaves his head !
The latest traitor stealing secrets did it with an Air Force Uniform on and short hair.

Just goes to show that you can not judge a book by it's cover.
 

motionclone

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Yup, never trust a man (?) that shaves his head !
The latest traitor stealing secrets did it with an Air Force Uniform on and short hair.

Just goes to show that you can not judge a book by it's cover.
yeah but that airforce guy with short hair used to have a man bun ill bet:cool:
 

D2Cat

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Henro, are you a non-conformist or an amateur exhibitionist? Or, maybe like the cute teenage girl NCL4701 mentioned, just trolling to see what you might snag?
 

NorthwoodsLife

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I went through the same thought process. Retired now and I always had short hair. Saw a Sean Connery movie where he had a gray pony tail. It didn't look bad. I thought, why not let it grow and grow.

But...

Then I quit drinking for a few days. And it cleared my mind of such foolishness. I don't smoke pot, why would I want to look like I do.

For me, it's crew cuts or a shaved head until the grave. Almost no maintenance. No messages sent to strangers
 
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Biker1mike

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clipped...
I don't smoke pot, why would I want to look like I do.

For me, it's crew cuts or a shaved head until the grave. Almost no maintenance. No messages sent to strangers
What does a pot smoker look like ?
If I lined up with 4 or 5 of my friends and asked for you to pick out which if any smoked pot you would most likely get it very wrong. BTW, I am the only one with longhair the others are buzz cuts or high priced salon hair styles.
Without seeing my picture here and asked for you to pick out which of the same group has the tractor(s) and cuts wood you would most likely be wrong again.

If a stranger gets some message by my hair or type of clothes that is their loss.

On the flip side there is one of them that wears a suit/tie and goes to church every Sunday but I would NEVER EVER trust him with a firearm. He is just bat shi* crazy at times.
 
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