Writing Prompt #2: Hair: Grow It, Show It!

 Prompt: Pick a person, place or thing and write about it.

Hair: Grow It, Show It! (DRAFT)

“You could write a novel about my hair,” my husband Michael says, when I tell him I want to write about his hair. I laugh. 

Michael, always a renegade, has his own “sober style” he seems eager to have others see. Hatched out of the Covid pandemic in 2020, he decided he would no longer go to the barber—“It’s not safe,” he told me, and he clings to this reasoning three years later, post-pandemic, like a newly minted alcoholic in recovery might fear going to a bar (which he now avoids too). 

So today, 58 year-old Michael has amassed very long, wavy, often wild, silvery-gray Irish locks, that I observe are twice as long as my own. Is this some modern-day role reversal of the sexes, I often muse, and then vacillate from threatening him to cut it all off or I will, to throwing my hands up and letting out a big sigh. 

Why does Michael grow his hair, what does it mean, is his hair used to rebel, to attract or dispel, or is it just something to twirl (as he does) as a means to control nervousness or anxiety? Is there some deep thing going on here? Samson and Delilah anyone? I thought I better ask.

“It wasn’t any great, ideological thing,” he tells me, when I ask him why he has grown out his hair. “I just wanted to try something new. It wasn’t a huge philosophical choice,” he continues. “Not cutting it is one less thing you have to worry about.”

I decide to dig deeper. He adds that having his scalp feel normal is a plus. “My scalp prefers to have long hair. It isn’t as dry, so there’s this natural, practical part,” he says.

And honestly? He just started enjoying how it looked.

“It’s also freedom, man” he laughs. “You know, like how motorcyclists feel about their bikes.” I smile. “I’m totally free. One hundred percent natural. Honestly, at first you notice it, and then you just start enjoying it.” 

Then there’s the other people that notice his hair and comment. “I had someone at a hockey game say, ‘That’s some crazy ass wild hair,’ ” Michael says. “So you’re definitely not going to be not noticed.”  Women have come up to him in Walmart, telling him to keep growing it. “I think they act like it’s seeing Jesus,” Michael explains. “They tell me not to cut it.”

As his hair has grown (it’s now past his shoulders), he has gone through different style phases. There was the pony tail phase, the head band phase, and now Michael is sporting braids. I ask him why he likes the braids so much, and he points to his fascination with historical French duelists with side braids and American Indians wrapping their braids around leather straps.

 ”It looks other-worldly,” he points out. “And there’s all these historical time periods where cutting the hair wasn’t even an option,” he adds, and that intrigues him. Michael says his current look of two French braids, one down each side of his head is just the “first level.” In the era of the French duelists, he tells me, they had a small braid down each side and a ponytail. Something for him to try next?

Finally, he tells me about something he coins the “Brotherhood of the Hair.” I perk up. What, pray tell, is this? 

“Men sporting long hair is not very common,” he explains. At least not what he sees. “I don’t look for it, but you can’t help but notice it when you see men’s long hair because over 95% of dudes have the short hair cuts.” He then tells me about an encounter he had with a long-haired roof worker down the street who he met when he was out walking the dog.

“Nice salad,” the roofer yelled down to Michael. “You’ve got some really nice lettuce.” Erm, salad? I ask. “Oh, that’s slang for long hair,” Michael replies. I could tell he really appreciated the roofer’s compliment. And then there are the ice hockey guys he watches, many famous for their long hair styles. It’s a rallying point, of sorts. “You see these young guys having fun with their hair and you think, Why the hell not?” Michael says. He wants to join in on the good time.

So will he ever go back to a barber again? “I think about getting some color to cover my gray,” he says. Hmm. I tell him his silver is very distinguished. I’m not sure he buys that, but something tells me the Brotherhood would agree with me. Or maybe not—could be the younger guys would root for Michael dying his hair blue. Shhh, don’t tell him. I’m not ready for that yet!