conformists duke?!?!?!

its not my style to argue on a msg board, but come on, is the world still this sexist??!?! girls with short hair are conformist eh? "everyone" isnt getting short haircuts, there is still a fair share of girls w/long and medium length hair. long hair or short hair is a preference for males or females. some girls would never in their life have short hair, while others wouldnt dare to have long hair. some guys find long hair sexy, some guys love short hair. but whats most important is what the person whos hair it is, is most happy with. a girl with long hair might be beautiful to you, but would she be as pretty when she is complaining all the time about it, and how she would love to have something more manageable? would she be beautiful then? wouldnt you rather be with a girl who is confident in herself and fun? its very simple, do what you want with your hair, after all, it is YOUR hair. and actually my hair always used to be below my shoulders, and it seems kinda funny that more guys notice me and my hair when its short then when its long. which is proof that not all guys like long hair, and guys do find short hair sexy. and a girls first concern when cutting or not cutting her hair, shouldnt be if she would get more attention, or if more guys would or wouldnt like her. do it for yourself, or dont cut it for yourself, b/c when a girl is happy with her appearence, she displays enough self confidence to get just about any guy she wants.

Hold on a second. I presume that you have read my reply to "Please read" and are refering to it. My message is not that girls shouldn`t cut their hair short, but that
there is a huge crowd of those conforming to present trends. Our society is not as conformist as that of, say, the 1950s, but in recent years, conformity has reared its
ugly head. Go to any high school, and look around. Tons
of guys have caesar cuts with spikes and/or streaks.
How many have long hair? Few have hair that even covers part of their ears. Isn`t that conformity? In the mid-90s, in my school, being yourself was more popular.
Less people wasted their money on cosmetic products
that made them look cheap and wierd; there was more
variety in the hair length of guys, more girls with nice,
natural-looking hair. Then, suddenly, guys with long hair started chopping it. Girls seem to have started putting streaks in their hair more and more. The present situation in hair fashion is laughable.

You say I`m sexist, but I think both sexes should be
appreciated whatever length of hair they choose. I just
made an aesthetic point that few girls nowadays have
very long hair and that it would stand out from the crowd - I feel similarly about guys with long hair. I also
said I don`t the way layered haircutting is done and that
it is difficult to style - a piece of practical advice. Would you be "secure" if your hair looked good when you exited the salon, then messy and hard to deal with in the morning? My point is also that you shouldn`t do stuff just because it`s in style - I`m trying to FREE people not enslave them with rules. And if you read my post, you`ll find that while I like long hair on girls, I also like neat bobs (including angled /elvated bobs with the back clippered). In an ideal world, people would not call you stupid or unprofessional because you are a guy with long hair or a buzz-cut woman. That`s what I think. Are you satisfied?

Hey Duke,

I think YOU want everyone to conform to what you want. Saying people look `cheap and weird` with make-up well that is bull. Everyone is different and has the right to wear whatever they want and dress however they want without your criticism.

And as for everyone following the trends... I don`t agree. Everyone follows fashion to some degree and maybe more people are getting their hair cut because they find it easier. Most people don`t do something because its in `fashion` they do it because they see it and they like it so they try it. Thats what makes a fashion - when alot of people like something so they all try it. And its part of human nature to want to fit in anyway.

What would you call it in the 90`s when supposedly everyone had long hair? That was the fashion then. Times do change you know and just because you don`t like something doesn`t mean its rubbish. If you don`t like it don`t do it but stop criticising others for their choices.

From Petals

I kind of know where Duke is coming from when he mentioned spikes. Duke lives in the fashion capital of Canada where everyone wants to be with it. Where life is so fast you can`t breathe and who knows which is the best way to drive that car in a road pak of sardines!!!!!!!!!!! lol
I live in an area in Canada where people are more layback and it is a farming industry. Where bus drivers can have long hair and most women on the street have hair about the middle of their back and it is not that rare to find women with hair that is longer. But no spikes. Did find some that moved here with shaved heads and the rest of us laugh thinking this will not last long in our extreme cold weather that hair and clothes is so important to keep us warm. I understand what Duke is saying. IN fact when I saw those spikes in his city I quickly walk the opposite direction.

Thanks, Dianne. Renee, you`re making the same mistake - understanding what I am saying in a
superficial manner. I am trying to advise adopting a new look because you think it would improve your appearance, rather than just because it`s all the rage. I`m NOT trying to make everyone look the way I
want, but I believe that people should not be pressured to confom to fashion. I quoted the mid 90s as
a time when more people looked like themselves, not as one where everyone had long hair. I had friends
with a laudable variety of different hair lengths. When I said people didn`t waste money on cosmetics,
I didn`t mean makeup, but hair dye/bleach, substances whose use makes your hair high maintenance, phoney, and makes you risk baldness (don`t believe me? look at the hair bloopers board) If you want to do this kind of thing, I don`t put you down, but approve of the apparent fact that more women seem to use hair color products than are content with their natural color, and that the trend is passing on men too? No way! I have a right to my opinion. And I don`t insist that someone is a conformist automatically by taking on
a fashion trend, but that many people are blindly following fashion trends because they have conformist tendencies. Here`s an example: I am now wearing jeans, as I have worn most days for ages. I like jeans.
Jeans are currently in style, and someone could say, you`re a conformist, Duke. But if I`m glad jeans may make me a little fashionable, my comfort and personal liking of denim on my lower body is paramount: in 1999, khakis were all the rage, but I didn`t start wearing khakis, because I didn`t like them, nor do I think I`d be comfortable in them.

When people on these boards ask for advice, I just say what I`d do in their situation. I`m for human freedom, not constraints. In case you have any doubts, I would not hound a girlfriend/wife to stop dyeing hair or trying to "forbid" her use of it, of course she has a right to do with her own hair what she wants, but if asked my opinion, I wouldn`t lie to her that I like it. I`d expect similar treatment from her).

Again, I am not trying to pressure people to do or not do anything, just stating what I like, and encouraging them to put being themselves above what the fashion industry expects of them. Do you realize that stylists can charge more for layering hair than for a simple trim, and that gazillions of dollars are made by the cosmetics
industry by promoting color processing of hair?

Duh! What is this making the same mistake thing? huh? eh? wait a second Canadians say eh and Americans say huh or is it vis a versa? lol
I was coming to your rescue. Okay fine I will put away my super woman flying cape away and stop changing in the telephone booth. lol Wait a minute I think I am more like Xena. lol. Plus I wasn`t name calling you or do I really care what is your thoughts. I didn`t stop and wonder about them nor I was looking at your thoughts in a superficial way. Yes I did understand what you were saying.

Now for more serious thoughts I will add that at times I have noticed many times it is difficult for people to post their thoughts on the message post not because of them or anything of the sorts but everything to do with the areas we live.
For example people will say that it is rare to find long hair women and yet in my areas they are everywhere but again I live in a very conservative area where spikes is a major no no and older ladies would lock their doors but in your area people would be used to it. Yes in my area there seem we have this pattern of woman dying their hair in two diffirent colors and it seems to be very popular. Why? I have no idea.

Well yeh I see your point Duke and I`m sorry if you thought I was misunderstanding you.

And Diane thats pretty sad that in the area you live in `spikes is a major no no and older ladies would lock their doors`. I find that very very intolerant and judgemental - and that sounds like those old ladies are trying to make people conform to their tastes.

I know Renee and I agree with you about judging people how they wear their hair. We as human being no matter where we live often judge people the way they dress or what they do with their hair or which part of the city they live etc. That sort of thinking really shows up when we work etc.
I wouldn`t say that older people are trying to make people conform to their tastes but has to do with the area that is conservative. Most older people are pretty sharp as a tack and have so much knowledge to share with us that would easily enrich our lives if we listened to them.
Having a conservative area been like that seen the starting of the provinces and Canada you know lol. I am sure that in certain areas of the USA it is the same way and I seriously don`t think it will ever change. It is part of everyone upbringing, their chidren and their grandchildren.
Sadly enough we use to be a city where crime was very low and now crime is higher and we hire experts from the states and in other areas to get rid of gangs etc. so that in itself really affects the way people would feel how a person wears their hair. We use to have skin heads here and sadly enough every person that shaves their hair is automatically classified that they must be a skin head. That in itself can be very difficult when we go to work and find our co-worker come in one day with his head shaved and everyone would like to know what is the reasons and yet noone wants to judge because the co-worker is a nice guy but yet those skinheads .............
I think that crime really dictates what we want to see that is supposely normal looking and comfortable in our area. I think that the area and history really has a lot to control our thoughts. We are still on of the few who reallly holds on to our Queen of England etc.

Well hey just so you know I`m from Australia and I don`t think the gang problem is as bad here (well not in my area - maybe down south) but there is alot of crime still.
Most people don`t think of a certain look/stereotype for the crims though.

Firstly, just wanted to write to duke that in the 90`s (and early through till the late 90s at that) I was cutting my hair with layers around my face (incredibly easy to maintain in my hair) and was getting highlights. I still have the same length hair, and up until Wednesday it was the same colour even! Does that make me a conformist? I don`t think so... cause I was doing it when apparently nobody else was, wait, does that make me the one who started the whole trend??! LoL..... Hmm

Secondly (on a less pooey note!) I am from Australia as well, and sadly, people do kinda still judge people with hair styles, but luckily not as bad as in other places, obviously! I really don`t think there is a really bad gang prob in Australia, esp not where I live! Maybe in Sydney or in a bigger city though.

I recently dyed my hair with fudge colour (I bet only Aussies will know what I am talking about!) and dark brown. I dyed my hair brown, gorgeous colour, and with a few streaks of fudge red. The red is really full on and looks more pink. It`s REALLY cool! But I work in a supermarket and a few older people get a little intimidated by it, and today some old dude pointed at my hair and screamed "and look at her!!". Kinda made me upset. But, the amount of compliments I have gotten...wow!!

I am going to dye it again soonish, cause I don`t think I can stand the attention, plus I really like a lighter colour. I am going to do a cap of highlights, and put a rinse of a coppery colour over that. Awesome.

Anyways, enough of me.
Bye bye. =)

Diane, I said Renee was not understanding, not you. I acknowledged your coming to the rescue for me, and thanks again. I am tolerant of everyone, whether they have spikes or not, whether or not they color-process their hair. I`m just giving advice.

Renee, apology accepted. It`s often hard to know just what a person is aaying. And Kimberlina, no, I don`t automatically label you a conformist. You are clarly following your own tastes, but I`m talking about the multitude - not all of it but many. Remember when tons of women rushed to the salon to look like Jennifer Anniston? That`s a mistake some make, assuming that just because a style looks good on one person, it has to look good on everybody else.

 i KNOW THIS THREAD IS VERY OLD,BUT I HAVE TO ADD MY 2 CENTS. THIS WAS POSTED IN 2001! IN 2006,THE NEW CONFORMIST TREND IS TO HAVE BLONDE HAIR.EVERYWHERE I GO THERE IS A SEA OF FAKE BLONDE WITH BLACK ROOTS SHOWING. INSTEAD OF JENNIFER ANISON,IT IS NOW PARIS HILTON OR PAMELA ANDERSON THAT PEOPLE WANT TO LOOK LIKE. (OR JESSICA SIMPSON) I DO NOT PUT ANYONE DOWN FOR THIS,JUST POINTING OUT THE FACT THAT BRUNETTES ARE A DYING BREED! IN ANY STORE ALMOST EVERY MAGAZINE COVER HAS A BLONDE. PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS TRY TO DO WHAT'S "in" BECAUSE IT'S HUMAN NATURE TO WANT TO FIT IN.

Well said Jules!