LONG HAIR: HAIR OR NOT?
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 11:30am by Devin Townsend
Is long hair really cool anymore? Just a question… I mean, I’m not one to judge, because I went bald at 26 and just grew gross hair in protest… but now, if I don’t shave it, I look like fryar Tuck, so me aside…
In METAL, (not GLAM or HAIR metal), but death metal, black metal etc… I understand if a dude has long hair that just hangs, unkempt, like “Fuck you, I ain’t cuttin’ it mom…” but the new bands, you know, the “super extreme, next generation of hyper shredding hate mongering anarchists” that still need a ton of product backstage to keep their manes flowing… I mean, is that cool? All the “hardest” folks I’ve met throughout the years have short hair for the practicality of it, so I’m just wondering your opinions. In 1990, when I was dating, etc., we all used to go to Club Soda in Vancouver with stupid Janes Addiction-type clothing and carefully coifed do’s that we would flick around hither nither whilst chatting up females (usually with the SAME HAIR) while holding our jaws in that particular way that we knew hid our enormous Adam’s apples and whatnot… but twenty years later… um… I don’t know…
Again, I look like a macadamia nut, so I’m not saying one way or another… but what are your thoughts?
-DT
Who fucking cares.
Yeah. Hair is for pussies anyway. I wear a hat.
Totally. Although I do admire the dedication to long hair. I’ve tried and failed many times and realized that a shaved head is plenty metal
bump
Well, I suppose the aesthetics is down to personal taste… though Jim Gillette hair (and Jim Gillette himself) never has been and never will be cool.
“super extreme, next generation of hyper shredding hate mongering anarchists” really is a quote for the ages, though.
Heh, I’m bald too. I started losing hair at 16 and shaved it since.
I’m rockin’ the bald look , ala’ Old Man’s Child. Mostly due to going bald at 26 like yourself. Now, the rest of the band, however…those assbags are all long hair douchers.
long hair rules, using ‘products’ and looking like the dude in the picture is pretty gay though.
Long hair forever.
Devin,
I admire your choice to shave your head, because as a fellow balDING metalhead, I lost the urge for long hair nearly 20 years ago at 17. But damn, man, you’re the only guy I know who could seriously rock the skullet and get away with it – nay, garner praise from fans for it.
My take? A shaved head looks way harder than long hair. Unless you’re somebody like Wino.
Dio also rocks the skullet.
Yeah, but DIo’s skullet is hardly as pronounced as Dev’s was. In fact, lately, I’ve sen a few recent photos where it looks like Ronnie James has been courting the Metal Hair Club for Men. Or maybe it’s just a new style of combover.
However, when it comes to rocking the whole ‘wee elfin fellow’ thing and the ‘metal senior citizen’ thing, Dio has the market cornered. And I mean that with all due respect.
Three words about skullets:
Dallas. Toler. Wade.
Nergal is also a skullet man.
And add Randy Blythe to the skullet club
Long Hair is pretty Bad ass but short hair is just oh so easy so i keep my hair cut pretty short just because of the easiness of it
Buzz the head without a guard every weekend, but the goatee is free to do whatever it wants. Long (non-facial) hair is typically pretty nasty except in a few rare cases – it normally just makes the dude look like the creepy trailer park uncle who never properly hides his furry porn before people visit.
I had long hair in high school coz I hate hair cuts, it’s still long now, but I do hate this new trend of wavey hair shit.
I have the gay wavey hair :(
I hate it but i’m trying to grow it out longer.
well, looks cooler headbanging
I beg to differ
What’s there to say? Unlike you, I still wear my longhaired skullet. No big deal and no statement other than that hair is not a very big issue – nor should it be.
Im not rocking the ultra long hair, but its long enough to get my cereal.
The main reason I have long hair is I just thinks it suits me better. Although then again, if I wasn’t into metal I don’t suppose I would have even considered growing it in the first place.
I’m going bald at 23. I’d shave it off but my skull looks and feels like the surface of the moon. I’m fucked!
I think its pretty gay. Lets all be metalheads and be individual and grow long hair. So its like one huge step back from society, but we’ll all sit in the corner of society looking the fucking same making a huge itchy, dirty, inconvienient, uncomfortable point. So we’re all conforming to ourselves. A point that no one cares about. Metal is a laughing stock cause people just see the slipknot t-shirts and fat chicks with muffin tops on their stupid jeans and worn out newrocks they cant afford to renew, who wants to be a part of that image? Its ugly. I couldnt give a shit about brand names and keeping up with fashon. Oscar Wilde once said that “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months”. And whilst I might not follow the mainstream fashion I certainly dont follow an even uglier and shittier fashion that should define me as a metalhead. Id rather shoot myself in the face.
So get a haircut everyone.
I think you’re pretty gay. Ha.
Thats not what your mum said
You seem to care a lot about what so called “normal” people think of metal fans. The rest of us really don’t care what they think. And as you say, I don’t give a shit about brand names and fashion either. So what choice do I really have other than to just throw on some jeans and a band T shirt? It’s all I know. Since you seem to shy away from all forms of fashion, enlighten me, what do you wear?
If you wanna wear jeans and a band t-shirt then crack on dude, Im just saying that looking like a metal head isnt for me, with more regards to the hair, since you know… thats what this post is about. It is irritating as hell and looks shit. I cut mine off, it worked for me.
Metalheads have the same level of vanity that attack attack! or bring me the horizon have, its just different values. What makes 5 men swirling their hair around to their music more attractive than short haired people doing it? Kinda sad if thats what you judge your metal on right?
With regards to “caring” “what” “normal” “people” “think”"?” And the rest of “us” not really caring what they think? Well I think thats the wrong way to go about looking at it, and demonstrates my point. We secularise ourselves almost from society in general by listening to metal. This music is the purest form of music there be, lets laugh at the rest of society whilst we listen to mayhem in forrests slaying the noobs and making sure our corpsepaint isnt running in the rain.
Its not that we care what they think, its we care what we think. We dont need society to beat us all up and put us down. We do that ourselves just fine. Just go look at anything on the internet to do with metallica, one of the most successful bands ever. Just not true enough anymore.
Ha!
Awesome post!
And awesome comeback as well
I started losing my hair in college, I’m 23 now and it’s thinning on my fast. Luckily it doesn’t look all that bad. However if I could grow a beautiful mane I would, prefferable for head banging at shows but mainly at church.
keep your head hair trimmed short, but let that back hair go wild!
Long hair over here, and I don’t use products. I’ve actually had several girls tell me they wish they had hair like mine, long and healthy and not processed to death.
Not sure how to take that, but it’s nice getting compliments, I suppose.
+1
I grew mine long from skinhead in 1999 (a girl, natch) and kept growing it after we split up, I mailed her the 6″ tail from my first haircut 4 years later (yeah a bit weird perhaps but I thought it was funny and so did she)
I’d not used shampoo for 15 years and my hair was STRETCHY. Weird but I got the same compliments as you from random people. When I said I didn’t use shampoo they looked a bit confused.
Then last month my fiancee (who likes guys with long hair, natch, but also likes shaved heads which will come in handy when mine starts to fall out) pointed out that my scalp was starting to come off in sticky lumps. Blergh. Now I use shampoo again but it’s a good one. I might go back to hot water one day but I doubt it.
Long unkempt metal hair in heavy bands is fine, but hair that requires anything more than shampoo and maybe conditioner (this includes straightening it) is far too much and decidedly uncool. However, I’m perfectly fine with my short hair. Short hair is cool too as long as it isn’t done to look like one is in a trendy indie band (like Horse the Band that advertises on this site…ahem)
I’ve straightened mine a few times, but I was pressured into it from my girlfriend when we were going out somewhere.
I’m fairly pussy whipped.
I saw the meanest blue haired girl shoving her poor skinny cute metalhead boyfriend at a concert recently. She was really pissed at him! Woo. She smacked him around pretty bad. But he just laughed it off.
emo side-swoop = lots of pussy. (girls love sensitive guys)
I’ll second that motion, my hair’s long enough to do it with a shower, half a tub of wax (my hair is quite unruly so i usually don’t bother). Did it one night and went to a party, and I garnered far more attention from the lady-types.
I hate to say it, but if a band doesn’t swing their hair in a circle (if they have hair) or go crazy headbanging, it’s harder for me to get into it. It’s about the energy though, it’s easier to see that they are thrashing about because the hair is obviously going to follow suit. Ultimately, it is about the energy though. Jean-Michael, the bassist for Gojira has a trendy short buzzed hair cut and he goes NUTS on stage, so no big deal there. If a dude with his hair cut were to just be up on stage bobbing his head a little bit, he wouldn’t look like he’s that into his music so why should I get into his music? Know what I mean? If long hair helps you get your rocks off while headbanging (as it does for me) then go for it, if you have other ways of busting your metal nuts then I’m for that too. I just want to see some crazy shit on stage!
PS Not much else can pitch a tent like the way a gorgeous female singer can swing her hair in a circle…check out 1:45 (or any video of Marta from Bleeding Through)
https://luna.philau.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.cabins.com/usa/va/va_luray_024/va_luray_mtnret_024.html
That link requires a username/password.
My bad, copy n pasted the wrong URL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHJQporXysE
just yesterday i went to the haircut place with loud rock music and band posters everywhere. i have long-ish hair and just needed a trim for a job. and you’d think these would-be rockers would actually know how to do that but noooo bitch chopped my shit off. i look like pat sajak. little emotional about it.
To each his own.
I’m trying to grow my hair long, down to my shoulders at least. Right now it’s stuck in the in-between stage. So either it speeds up and grows long enough to put in a pony tail before I have to get a real job. If not, i’ll just shave it again. I’m 21 now, i’ll give it until i’m 25. That seems fair.
Long hair is over rated. When the douches in Metallica cut their hair the first thing I thought was “is that your biggest beef with these guys right now? Seriously?” A lot of guys with super long hair are just trying to hide their insecurities behind a facade of macho-toughness anyway.
Lol @ Skullet.
For my part, I let mine grow until I get sick of it and cut it off – usually, once it’s so long I can no longer exit a room in a huff without getting my hair caught on the door knob, jerking me BACK into the room. This is mostly because I’m too lazy and cheap to keep cutting it. I try to be mindful not to windmill in crowds, as the whip-action is likely to injure the unsuspecting and unwary.
Wait, you were polling dudes. FML.
BTW, I’ve spent the last 20 years in blissful denial that Nitro ever made music, having (for the most part) having successfull repressed it. Thanks, Devin. Geez…
I personally like long hair, sadly I have short hair because I can’t tolerate growing it… nor do I feel like finding a look that suits me while growing it. Maybe in a couple months I’ll feel like finding a look until my hair gets at least shoulder-length. I also like short hair if it suits the person.
i have long hair and until this post, it had never occured to me that i could put product in my hair. why would i do such a thing? thats what a girl does.
“super extreme, next generation of hyper shredding hate mongering anarchists”
i’m wonder exactly to whom is devin referring to with this comment. I have particular candidates in mind, but i think i refrain from saying….
i have a similar query about tattoos. seeing a lot of the young bloods in those nonsensical dangling modifier named metalcore bands, can’t be older than 22 with full sleeves down to their knucles and stuff up on their neck. i’ve got not a small amount of ink, nothing like full sleeves, and all of it is very symbolic or has personal significance. so i wonder with all these guys, i mean…..does that mean anything to you? chinese characters up on your neck. do you even read chinese? or did you just do that to be cool? i mean, thats premanent man.
yeah d00d its premanent
Though, upon reflection, I think a better article would be “INSECURE MACHO TOUGH-GUY ACT: METAL OR NOT?”
“NOT HAVING TATTOOS: METAL OR NOT?”
NO TATOOS…
fuck them… they are forever …
so it is a big no-no for me…
Tattoos are awesome to me! If you don’t want them don’t get them. If you love them be proud and show them off. Tattoos don’t make or break “metal”, but getting them just because you think you have to or because you are weak if you don’t is SO fucking lame.
I don’t think I “get” tattoos. Like, what’s the point? I don’t hate tattoos or anything, some of them look really good, I just don’t really understand why anyone would want to get one, or how they would even decide on something they actually wanted dyed permanently into their skin.
Same here. I don’t “get” tatoos either, peircings too. Especially the people with their whole arm/torso/whatever completely covered. I think people just do it to look br00tal and further outcast themselves from society which is fine by me btw…i just can’t wrap my mind around the idea of a permanent marking on my skin that won’t mean anything to me in 10 or so years.
“BURLY METAL DUDES WITH TINY LAP DOGS AS PETS: METAL OR NOT?”
Fuck, I think I’m onto a whole website premise here.
Come on dude?? This ia a hair thread.. Lapdogs?? WTF
As for me at least, I have short hair. Because thats what suits me. I dont have a problem with it. And neither do the ladies. (insert momma’s boy joke)
Either way you slice it, if you got this guy,
http://media.courierpress.com/media/img/photos/2009/05/13/20090513-230803-pic-479702344_t607.jpg
compared to this dude, (fyi thats Steve from The Faceless)
http://media.photobucket.com/image/the faceless steve jones/xxxdarkestshadowxxx/shows/thefaceless11.jpg?o=1
Who would you rather go see based on hair? lolz
Sorry the link got fucked :-(
http://media.photobucket.com/image/thefacelessstevejones/xxxdarkestshadowxxx/show/thefaceless11.jpg?o=1
Hope that works…
If not…..fuck it! lol
Personally, I adore long hair. But bald is rockin’ too. :D (You certain pull bald off better than I ever could. xD)
I got long hair but not to look cool, I think I look a lot better then I did with shorter hair or when I was bald.
I think the only time my long hair looks cool is when I head bang
I’ve always thought that it shouldn’t matter. If the music is good, then image is irrelevant. There are a lot of bands out there that have to shadow their shitty music with an ultra-cool “look.”
On a side note, I went to an Opeth show a couple of years back and there was this dude with waste-length hair that was banging his head off. The poor nerd behind him was getting hit in the face by the excessive locks, which resembled unruly bullwhips in the air. I still laugh my ass off thinking about that poor kid who was clawing with his little hands in front of him, trying to dodge the hair with this retarded bug-eye look on his face. Why didn’t he just move? Metal shows are always a hilarious social experiment.
long hair takes too much time to maintain, fuck that. besides, i tried to grow it long and its just curls and looks fucking lame.
i grow my hair about shoulder length, then cut it all off and repeat. gotta change it up
Devin, you resemble Joe Satriani now. And that is quite alright.
What is exactly is with the whole movement against men who actually keep up with their hair? I’m certainly not spending three hours in front of a mirror every morning, but I do keep my hair healthy and nice looking, and if I’m going to some sort of formal event (or getting married), I even do that thing you all hate so much, straightening. My hair, because of actually giving a shit, looks better than the hair the vast majority of other men have. And I have not had a single girlfriend ever ask me to cut it, and if I did cut it now, I’m pretty sure my wife would kill me. I don”t get what’s so uncool about caring about your appearance.
Long hair ftw. Bald or shorthaired people look like idiots when they headbang at gigs.
I reckon that short hair would be waaaay easier living with (and might even get me laid eventually) and I’ve given it some serious thought. It’s just that if I get my hair cut and I look like an idiot then it’d take 2 to 3 years for me to grow it back!
It’s a big risk but it might work out.
“Bald or shorthaired people look like idiots when they headbang at gigs”
Um, no they don’t.
“and might even get me laid eventually”
Who’s the real idiot? Pussy > looking “cool” headbanging
lol
I fucken LOVE long hair (especially my own) I love when it gets pulled as well ;-) I also have a bald fetish (I’m a chick so I mean on bald guys) so I guess I like both extremes. As for Devin, I am glad he got rid of the skullett.
Well, there is hair care products advertised all over this web site … so the hair product people must know something about Metal Heads that we must be in denial about, heh!?
You want to rebel against something? Do your own thing. Stop wearing black leather stuff and long hair ’cause if you do that to “belong” then you are living for others! … oh wait, that’s how Grunge killed Metal the first time around.
My friends freak out when I go to metal shows w/ my Hawaian shirt … like it matters!?
I believe it is time for Devin to tattoo his head!!
metal or not, long hair keeps me warm
as for products?
lather, rinse, repeat & condition once a week & im set
I have long hair I’ve been told by beauticians I have nice hair so im not cutting it any time soon
Long hair is great as long as yours doesn’t get stuck to me as your fat ass awkwardly headbangs at a show.
It’s spelled “friar”.
How often do you get to correct Devin Townsend’s spelling?!
He’s Devin Townsend, whatever way he chooses to spell something automatically becomes correct. Just check the Devtionary.
My hair is short… the wife prefers it that way. And after wearing a wig on Halloween (my buddy and I dressed as Wayne and Garth… I was Garth) I decided I’m keeping it that way. That shit was in my face the whole night and it drove me crazy.
Shaved head is cool, you look evil and all, but headbanging is just not the same without long hair…
Yeah! A bowling ball on a spring!
Your have long hair, short hair, which whaever works. But i hate when dudes have to iron their hair, Really really,
damn emo kids should be forced to get haircuts
Long Hair is cool and so is product. Most people with hair more than 1/2 inch long use product. It’s funny cause hair is obviously a huge deal to most people. It’s almost as big a deal as skin color. Read the elitist posts here.
I grow out my hair simply because I think I look better that way. Rob Halford doesn’t have any goddamn hair and that guy is metal as fuck. Neither does Scott Ian.
Yeah.
Either way is cool if you can pull it off. But if you have a strangely mis-shapened head then skin bald might not be your thing.
Keep the hair short and grow a beard.
I grow long hair because I want to and I don’t give a care what anyone anywhere thinks is cool or “metal” or anything. I use shampoo and conditioner and some product to control frizz and I get layers in my hair and sometimes I even braid it. Do what you want, guys – it’s your hair.
dont care i love my fuckin hair
I’ve had long(ish) hair since 2004. I’m thinking about cutting it at the start of 2010
I want long hair very badly but mine just wont fucking grow! I guess its just the retard in me who wants to headbang winmill style.
same thing, Tanner, but it’s so boring to wait till it’s grown so i always cut it short in my own style (well actually it’s not really my own, but i’ve seen not so many people with such hair here in my village, so…). actually i even wrote a song about difference between short & long hair some time ago, thats how hard i wuz thinkin bout it then.
I hate the feel and look of hair so I shave my entire body.
I have hair that is down to the small of my back, and I love it. People comment all the time on how nice/healthy it looks, 95% of the girls I’ve dated since I started growing love it, and I think it’s way more fun to headbang with long hair. It really isn’t a huge hassle either: it takes me 5 minutes to braid it on workdays and 1-2 minutes to comb after a shower on weekends or days I leave it loose. I suppose that is more than doing absolutely nothing to short hair, but well worth it for how much I enjoy my hair.
Poor Devin, all worried about air (or lack thereof…) ;)
Who cares about the hair? As long as the music is good you could be headless for all that i care.
I have dreads. yay, length and low maintenance.
I had long hair in school (halfway down my back).. Cut it when i was 19, and haven’t tried to grow it since.. Short hair is easier to look after(do nothing).. I hate brushing hair to get the knots out!!..
And being from Australia it gets too hot in summer with long hair.
I had long hair for 10 years and loved the look but it was a bitch to maintain. I finally got sick of having to put tons of product to prevent flyaways and shit so I shaved it. I don’t have a weird birthmark or misshapen cranium so it’s all good.
I spent years growing this hair, so there’s no way I’m admitting it’s uncool.
Long hair can make an ordinary guy look gooood, but I really don’t think that there’s any real point in saying ‘long hair=metal, everything else=lame’.
Personally, I love it, but I also loe people who do what they think is good, not what other people, or even the music they love, tell them they should. As long as it’s clean, I’m down with it.
Fuck long hair, i have a long beard.
Metal chicks think long hair is hot, believe me.
Long hair is great, except when you’re at a show and your neck gets pulled back because it gets caught between your back and the person behind you.
Other than that guys seem to dig it, and I think it looks better – but then I’m a girl. And I prefer guys with shorter hair over long by far.
Not sure it has anything to do with how ‘metal’ you are, though…
I’m 35. Had long hair since i was 17. Just never liked the way i looked with short hair. Don’t particularly give 2 shits what other ppl think about it. I have long for me, no-one else.
In metal: Beard is the new hair.
Well what happened is when I was 15 at summer camp the girls all loved to run their fingers through my long hair. So it became imprinted upon my mind that long hair is a good thing.
But if you have a substantial cranium you get immediate respect if you’re bald because it’s obvious the brain encased thereign should rightly posses a high level of functionality. Potentially.
So it’s all good.
I’ve had long hair for years. I do have to use some “product”, but thats because it’s curly and sometimes doesn’t sit down, so to speak. I make sure it looks good though. About 5 years ago I cut my hair for a job, and regreted it. That said, not every dude can pull off long hair. It’s like how some girls look stunning with short hair, but some don’t. To each thier own man.
I started growing my hair out like 9 years ago, and while I always wish it was longer, it’s definitely long for a guy. It goes down to around my shoulder blades on my back.
I didn’t grow my hair out to be metal, I happen to like how it looks, and it just feels right to me to have long hair. I don’t think I would look good with short hair. And since I am a metal head it just kind of works out. Kinda sucks though since I want to work in an office but have long hair and a gotee. Ah well.
Viva long hair!
Sorry ladies and metalmen, Dragonforce cant make it because they lost their hair crimpers at the airport