Saturday, February 28, 2009
The End of An Experiment
For the better part of 25 years, I assiduously maintained my personal appearance in accordance with Navy Grooming Standards (well, mostly--now and then I got a little shaggy, and the beard growing contests surely violated the regs...). Since I retired from the Navy at a relatively young age, I figured, what the heck...maybe I should grow a little hair for the first time since I was in high school. Some of you have seen the result, and I think we can all agree, it was a dismal failure. Longish hair and high foreheads (read: receding hairline) just don't go together too well, unless you're teaching "The Sociology of Small Groups" at Brown University. And so yesterday, I got a haircut, returning myself to a more traditional coiffure. I will leave the flowing Andrew Jackson mane to my far less good-looking brother Tom, who seem to have fooled himself into thinking he can pull it off.
Quitter.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up with a barber for a father followed by four years in the Marine Corps and an additional four years in the Air Force I had little opportunity for lengthy hair.
ReplyDeleteI made the decision to return to civilian life on Christmas eve of 1968.
I decided to allow my hair to grow for the first time in my life and had visions of Jesus type shoulder length locks that would waft in the winds on the beaches of Hawaii.
But much to my dismay, my hair rather than becoming lengthy grew into kinky type curls which made me look more like a native Hawaiian or Samoan to the point that my older brother (a Beautician) asked me where I had gotten the Afro.
Alas, reality has such a cruel way of throwing cold water on our fantasies.
CW, allow me to welcome you to the real world of the hirsutly challenged.
CW's hair -- worth a post since he commented on my back-hair on my Facebook page. He visited my battalion on an exercise at Camp LeJeune. One of my officers (a lieutenant) asked, "Hey sir, is that guy a warrant officer?" I asked the lieutenant if he thought CW was a warrant officer because of his radar technical knowledge. He said, "No. I thought he was a warrant officer because his hair was so long."
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a LOL moment.
Have you considered a mullet?
ReplyDeleteAs your eldest, best-looking brother, I can say you looked pretty good for an old man.
ReplyDeleteJust tagged you in Facebook in a shot that shows off my favorite of all of your fancy hairstylings...
ReplyDeleteFrom your teenage years through your 30s you did look pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI think you look better with your ollie north look than the tom clancy
ReplyDeleteI am SO glad to hear of your new 'do. I am so much more a fan of short-haired CW than the shaggy one! Leave the long hair to the female sibling.
ReplyDeletei have the beard-thing going... gotta say i'm enjoying it... was going to shave it back about the same time the groundhog saw his shadow, i figured 6 more weeks wouldn't hurt
ReplyDelete