Long hair and the way it is.

Long hair and the way it is.
Posted by Kevin C on January 30, 2001 at 21:24:53: Previous Next

I had long hair that I loved very much. I believe that I am what Bill calls a born long hair. Then the end of college came. The amount of pressure to cut it was insurmountable and I caved. That was a year ago. I still have short hair and it hurts.
People do not understand. There are not words or analogies to describe it to them. Often I am given weird looks when I show a passion to look the way I truly want. Some tell me that I have a choice, my answer to that is "How is short hair or unemployed an option?"
I want to grow it back. I am in an office environment where I am the youngest employee. They still wear ties, although none of the customers do, and they laugh when they see that we still do. I am in a cubicle for eight hours a day with little contact except for when I go get more coffee. No customer ever sees me, but I must wear a tie. Sometimes I think that I am the one who is making a big deal of it, and if I did it quietly no one would really care. But when it gets a bit shaggy I get glances at my hairline and a most uneasy feeling when I am called upon or given a review.
I want to try to grow my hair out again but I am afraid that someone will say something then there will be “The Choice”. It is one I cannot bear to make again. There are others in the office that would ally with me but they have no more power than I do.
I wrote to a local radio lawyer and he said that Missouri is an “at will” state so they would have a hard time firing me over hair, and to grow away. I asked the HR gal what that meant and she said that if they wanted to fire me that morning, they could just as I have the right to quit then too. How does this help me?! I can see perhaps how I could play as though the job is as important to me as they are making me feel, but I don’t know if I could keep a straight face, what with bills and all.
I have betrayed myself and the community of longhaired men that I represented for eight wonderful years. What is a guy to do?



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