When I was in early teens I got my first flat top haircut. Razor sharp on the sides, with rounded edges and a bit of a fringe. Back when I was surfing a lot it was a fully functional hairstyle, no care necessary. It was all the rage back in the day. But then when I got to my late 20′s life changed and I grew my hair out, first in a shortish same length neckline cut, then shoulder length cut, finally to a long mane that came a quarter way down my back. My 30′s was the time of long hair, sometimes messy, sometimes neat, but always flowing never pulled back in a ponytail at all, because I found that too restrictive. I found that my hair was a statement of my nonconformity, it showed externally my internal nature that – I always thought – was slightly wild and not to be tamed. Hair it seems can come full circle just like life. Over my last two hair cuts I’ve returned to short hair, tight on the sides with a bit of a fringe. It’s not the old flat top of a bygone surfing age, but instead a modern messy-neat cut being sported by all the hippest trendsetters in the young European celebrity circles.

To look at me you would think me like any mainstream society person, whose life is lived in happy conformity. Once that would have worried me, back in my early 30′s, but now it’s not so important. It seems to me returning to short hair is an external sign of a life come full circle and a change of attitude to the way I live and think about the world around me. 

It does make me think that maybe radicalism is a young mans game.

Andy.

Tagged with:
 
  • http://www.unwesen.de/ unwesen

    So… you needed all those words just to say that you’re growing soft and lazy in your old age?

    Then again, I shouldn’t be talking, with my hair and at my age…

  • http://www.mentalechoes.org Andy

    You know I’ve only just seen this!

    What can I say, except… get a haircut ya hippie! Next thing you’ll be bringing your skateboard to Leiden! Where will it end! :)

    Andy.

    PS: But I am soft and lazy in my old age!

Set your Twitter account name in your settings to use the TwitterBar Section.