Hippie Post: On confusing the hell out of people by having long hair!

I never really enjoy the realisation that I need to go clothes-shopping (not least of all because I am far more coltish than clothes-horse, and so finding proper-fitting clothes can quickly become a bit of an adventure).

However, that realisation can in turn prompt far more amusing ones.

Such as this:

I am one of those people who can wear annoyingly ridiculous amounts of rainbows, without anyone ever even suspecting that I’m not actually straight (or assuming that I’m just a Lady Gaga fan).

This is endlessly entertaining, to me.

And even more hilarious is the very-related way that hippies, former hippies, and even people with just Epic Hippie Experiences will automatically gravitate towards me.

For example, there’s an older gentleman who frequents my workplace and flocks in my general direction — because he could tell at a glance that I would be the one to appreciate his tales of activism and protesting back in the sixties and seventies. (He was right.)

And quite possibly my favourite exchange I have ever had with a customer went roughly as follows:
 
 

Jacey: [has hair in two very very long braids and is wearing a daisy-printed shirt as she attempts to ring a customer up]
Customer: “[stares at Jacey, and then suddenly, Storytime commences without warning!] In 1972, I was hit by a car…”
Jacey: “…oh my!”
Customer: “[insert something about non-disciplining parents and being sent down the street to buy a hamburger and finally carsmack here] …and then these flower children formed a circle around me and I forget what song they sang but–”
Jacey: … [is trying very hard not to laugh, as she already knows full well where this is going]
Customer: “One of them looked like you!”
Jacey: “Yeah I hear things like that a lot. :)”

 
 
I really don’t think that is ever going to make me stop giggling, to be honest. There’s at least a short story in there somewhere, I’m sure, and one day I will find it.

I just naturally seem to give off Hippie Vibes — but it does help that I do have the Long Hair (long enough to be deserving of capital letters, by this point).

Having Long Hair is actually a bit of a fascinating thing, I’ve discovered. When you have as much hair as I do (mine is approaching classic length, if you were wondering, which means to the tops of one’s thighs), you tend to be automatically seen as one of two things:

A hippie, or the ultra-conversative religious sort.

…

Let’s consider the dichotomy of this for a moment.

A hippie, or the ultra-conservative religious sort.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love how confusing this is.

(I don’t, however, love society in general’s viewpoint of “If you have long hair, you automatically aren’t an independant, opinionated woman!” but that is a discussion all its own.)

It amuses me even more when you consider that, while I certainly am a hippie, this fact actually had absolutely nothing to do with why I grew my hair out. I grew my hair out, and continue to do so, because I like having long hair. It’s not any sort of statement beyond “I feel more like myself when I have my hair this way”.

(The summer before I turned seventeen, I had long hair — not Long like it is now, but still long. My long hair, however, was very damaged due to different factors, and began to fall out until I essentially had no choice but to go from waist-length locks to a chin-length bob. I am not ashamed to admit I cried, despite how infrequently I do so otherwise; and for all that everyone told me how well I wore the short hair, it did not suit me at all. Growing it out again was like a silent sigh of relief, as the longer it got the more I felt like myself, and so I just…didn’t stop. It’s that simple.)

Although I suppose it probably does say something about me that I feel most like myself when I apparently resemble a flower child, whose reaction to seeing a small boy being hit by a car is just to surround him and sing.

But the real point of this post is what an amazing opportunity for research there is, in the social ramifications of having long hair in today’s world, where it’s now having long hair that tends to attract stares and copious amounts of confusion.

And I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the issue, my dears!