Apple Sider: I need some grooming advice. For the last few years, I've worn my hair really short. Number three clippers at Supercuts. I have pictures of myself finishing a marathon and I don't mind the short hair. But, for the past four months I've gone without a haircut and have grown a beard. The beard is staying. Now about the hair. I have a big thick head of wavy brown hair and no signs of baldness. If I let it grow out, well, I've got another month or two of wildness before it starts laying down into shoulder length waves. I haven't grown my hair long for a few years but in the past the ladies really liked it. I work in a fairly creative profession so its not like I'm some beauracrat or something. My question: long or short?

DFO: You didn't mention your age, Apple Sider. I'd guess fortysomething? Few men can pull off the long-hair look at that age, although some try -- and they probably get backing from the femmes in their lives. After wearing my hair long, at times, as a college kid, and going 5 or 6 weeks between haircuts because I don't like going to barbers/stylists, I'm finally starting to enjoy shorter hair. I'm glad the long-hair look for men has become an endangered species, particularly among men 30 and over. But that's me.

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