robglazebrook.com

For those that have missed it until now (largely my RSS subscribers, I’d suspect), my Flickr feed dost lie not: I have, after an extended hiatus, rejoined the ranks of the short-hairs. The picture above and/or to your right further attests to this fact, if you’re still too lazy too check out my feed.

Some people have responded to my haircut by asking, “why?” Others have responded by asking, “why?!” I’ll try to answer them both fairly briefly and fairly honestly (both being difficult for me).

First and most importantly, I was ready for a change. According to my personal image archives (my only real memory of self), I’d had long hair in one version or another for going on three years now. I don’t often maintain the same appearance for longer than a year or two. Without change, I get antsy. This perennial desire for change is the reason I have a tongue ring, earrings, nipple piercings, and a tattoo. On the positive side of things, it was also a driving force behind my decision to lose weight four or so years ago, and the reason for me taking up racquetball, and probably also one of the reasons I seem to have a really difficult time getting addicted to things for more than a couple of weeks at a time. It also effects smaller changes: my new glasses frames a couple years back, my return to contacts after a long time without, my switch from khakis and polos to jeans and tees, and so forth and so on. I seem to mentally equate staticity (I think I’m making that word up) with stagnation and a type of spiritual death and decay. This will undoubtedly cause me myriad problems in the future. :)

Second and still rather important to me, I’m hoping for a favorable response to the change amongst the fairer sex. Those of you closest to me know that, despite all rumors to the contrary, I’ve been in a bit of a dry spell relationship-wise for the last year and a half or so. Now, personally, I happen to think I look pretty decent with long hair, at least once you get to know me and my personality. However, a lot of women are initially turned off by the idea of a guy with long hair. And negative first impressions can be a royal pain in the ass to move past, and people are rarely even given that opportunity. I know a lot of you are thinking that this is a horrible reason to decide to alter my appearance. Shouldn’t I change my appearance singly and specifically to make me personally happy? Absolutely! And you know what would make me really happy right now? Someone of the opposite sex to cuddle with and confide in. Besides, I’ve always looked at things this way: I only have to observe my outside appearance when I look in a mirror or glance at a photo, which amounts to what? Five minutes out of a typical day? (Okay, okay, maybe ten *grin*). Everybody else around me is stuck looking at me for a much larger percentage of the time. Is it really so bad if I decide to try to make their experience a pleasant one?

Thirdly and of least importance to me, I’m probably going to have to start interviewing for legitimate jobs starting this February, and the process would probably be helped along by my having short hair. It couldn’t hurt to get a sneak preview of what I look like with short hair before I’m forced to shear myself for a career.

So… what does everyone think? I only realized the degree of the change this morning when I walked through my bathroom on my way to the kitchen and started at the strange face in the mirror. :) One important thing to remember is the change might always be an impermanent one… my hair grows pretty fast, and my mom/hairdresser assures me I’ll have my hair for many years to come.