# Being a Metalhead without long hair



## leechmasterargentina (Jun 19, 2013)

Couldn't find a better place to discuss this than here.

Short (Not hair) story is that I've had long hair for about 15 years in my life. Being a guitar player and singer, I think I had benefitted from having long hair to build a good image on stage, pictures, etc.

Thing is since last year I've had short hair. Last year, a good job opportunity came and I didn't hessitate a second in having my hair cut. It's true that's been a long time since I have short hair now, but I feel I miss it. This year I left that job and since then I've left my hair to grow. Still not long hair, but not as short as it was.

It had been a long time since my band didn't play live, and this year we went back to the stage. Now, me and my drummer didn't have long hair, and I felt an important part of the show was missing. I know it's all about attitude, but having short hair definitely makes it harder. Perhaps is easier for people who are well-built, or that can shave their heads and not look like an Alien.

I'm 32 years old now, and gotta start looking for a job again. My girl insists that I should shave my goat beard, and I feel it's time too that I get used to going to a hair dresser.

I know most of the responses will be that it's all in the attitude, but definitely looking a guy moving his head with long hair or having beard scores some points when it comes to the show.

I'm not a kid anymore, so unless my music/band provided me the money I live, I know I have to depend on the real world, work, and somehow not to go against the flow in the town I live in.

I think that with the proper attitude on stage, I wouldn't have the need for long hair. Besides, it makes it easier to play the guitar (The hair with sweat covered my face sometimes), it's more comfortable (it is), and it could help me to get a job faster (which means more gear).

What do you guys think?


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## sniperfreak223 (Jun 19, 2013)

I'm a bald metalhead (lost my hair to chemo for malignant melanoma), so I personally think it's attainable, but some others here don't tend to agree...


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## Goro923 (Jun 19, 2013)

My band's singer used to have long hair and jumped around on stage like a maniac. He cut his hair about two months ago: now he jumps around like a maniac but he can see where he's jumping


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## Don Vito (Jun 19, 2013)

I know 2 metal/rock guys in their 50's with successful careers, and still have long ratty hair. One of them is my step who works a translation related job. He looks like Lemmy, but less froggy. Another guy works for some subsidiary company of Google.



Headbanging certainly isn't in your favor


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## Carver (Jun 19, 2013)

ive been pretty much bald for about 2 years, and before that i had dreads to my waiste. it was a strange transition,.. if anything people tell me i look more angry when i play now because i dont have a birds nest floating around me. 

besides, any style of music that requires you to have a certain hat or a certain hair cut in order to be a part of it regardles of your skill... is a stupid stupid scene.. filled with nothing but scene kids, aiming for an image.. you can have your cloting, your trends and your scene, i will just focus on being me.


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## DISTORT6 (Jun 19, 2013)

This area was covered by S.O.D. in the 80's. Words to live by.

UNITED FORCES


It doesn't matters how you wear your hair
It's what inside your head
United Forces stand for all strong and fair
Black, white and yellow and red

UNITED (forces) UNITED (forces) UNITED
UNITED (forces) UNITED (forces) UNITED

Skinheads and bangers and punks stand as one
Crossover to a final scene
United forces and their job won't be done
Until the world can see

UNITED (forces) UNITED (forces) UNITED
UNITED (forces) UNITED (forces) UNITED

No rednecks, no jocks, no macho bullshit attitudes
United forces can't be stopped
No rednecks, no jocks, no macho bullshit attitudes
United forces can't be stopped


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## cwhitey2 (Jun 19, 2013)

I was the only one in my band with long hair...and it wasn't even that long.

My other guitarist had an Afro.... How metal is that?


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## mr_rainmaker (Jun 19, 2013)

GROW SOME HAIR YUPPIE!!!!


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## XEN (Jun 19, 2013)

Metal isn't in the hair or the attitude. It's in the genuine emotion you convey with well crafted music. You want to connect with your audience? Stop banging your head and twirling your hair, and look them right in the eyes. Make someone's night by making your show about them.


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## The Grief Hole (Jun 19, 2013)

Rob Halford, kerry King, Devin Townsend, Phil Anselmo, Crowbar. The list goes on. 
Personally have short hair and we are doing the live rounds in Tokyo. SOD got it right. Its the passion that counts.


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## dcoughlin1 (Jun 19, 2013)

Short hair and a goat beard you say?


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## xzyryabx (Jun 19, 2013)

Do what I did:
Cut my hair for the job interview, grew it back once I got the job!!
Goatees don't seem to go down very well in the corp world though......


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## chassless (Jun 19, 2013)

damn, those rammstein guys are getting old ...


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## necronile (Jun 19, 2013)

chassless said:


> damn, those rammstein guys are getting old ...



Looks like a loreal commercial XD


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## Yo_Wattup (Jun 19, 2013)

Im sorry but bald guys headbanging look like giant penises flopping around.


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## Carver (Jun 19, 2013)

its true, we do have giant penises flopping around.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jun 19, 2013)

Great comments around.

Yeah, well, last year it was real good because I went to the interview and it was my decision to cut my hair after I got the job. Thing was I was going to work in the mountain, at 4,700 meters high, temperatures below zero celcius, and 12 hour shifts. Of course, I didn't have time to take care of my hair or wait until it was dry after a shower, for example.

It's all attitude, but something you can deny is that it looks freaking cool when a band/audience moves their long hair around. And yeah, no way I'm shaving my head cause headbanging that way definitely looks like a moving dick hahah


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## pink freud (Jun 19, 2013)

I don't miss having long hair. It was getting old having hair blow into my mouth at the slightest amount of wind.


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## The Grief Hole (Jun 19, 2013)

I forgot Nile, Dying Fetus and the dude from Immolation.


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## Nile (Jun 19, 2013)

Devin Townsend too.

Don't shave the beard. The beard is metal as .....


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## hairychris (Jun 19, 2013)

Had long hair, cut it off in 92, and not long afterwards when Phil Anselmo chopped his off it suddenly became "acceptable" for a full time metalhead to have short hair.

This is the case in parts of the UK anyway. In other parts of Europe the long hair is still pretty much a required part of the uniform! You have to learn how to headbang differently or you do end up looking like a prat.

I grew it back in mid 00s, cut it off again when hair started thinning on top. Seeing scalp through the pony tail is not a good look IMO.

I'm aged over 40 and currently have short, kinda scruffy hair and the full Brian Blessed beard. Then again I also wear band shirts to work, and I work for a multinational advertising agency.


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## CrownofWorms (Jun 19, 2013)

It's funny how other metalhead elitists judge you by the length of your hair. "HEAVY METAL IS NOT A FASHION, YOU WEAR WHATEVER YOU WAN'T" butbthen they go on to say "I CAN'T TAKE THE BAND SERIOUSLY, BECAUSE THEIR VOCALIST HAS A V-NECK AND SHORT HAIR" or "THAT BAND USED TO BE SO GOOD WHEN THEY HAD LONG HAIR" or ".... GENE HOGLAN, HE'S TOO FAT, .... TREY AZAGTOTH, HE NEEDS TO EAT SOME MEAT" 

It's not a fashion show, yet you are 100% asnine with what you wear is "metal enough"


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## Goro923 (Jun 19, 2013)

My brother plays drums in a locally well-known Heavy Metal/Thrash/Power band, and the singer has pretty long hair (the way they think they look on stage is RIDICULOUSLY important to them). He got a job recently on the condition that he cut his hair... so he wears an elaborate wig contraption to work


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## Carver (Jun 19, 2013)

this whole thread reminds me of growing up, Are you punk enough?! hes more punk than i am. how indy can you really be? Please.. stop inviting walls into wide open spaces.. leave that shit to the hipsters.


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## RustInPeace (Jun 19, 2013)

Im a project manager in construction, so I have to be/look fairly professional in dealing with superintendents, generals, etc. I've actually been growing my hair out for the past 6 months because I just don't give a .... anymore. Business is about results, not what your hair looks like.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jun 19, 2013)

Goro923 said:


> My brother plays drums in a locally well-known Heavy Metal/Thrash/Power band, and the singer has pretty long hair (the way they think they look on stage is RIDICULOUSLY important to them). He got a job recently on the condition that he cut his hair... so he wears an elaborate wig contraption to work



LOL, use a wig?? hahah

Thing is, many here say it doesn't matter the hair, but having a band I feel me and my drummer lost some of the "Metal band look" when we cut our hair. It's just that, and I don't have a problem in going on stage with short hair, but it was definitely awesome to headbang with long hair!!!

I know I can let it grow afterwards, when I have the job already, but I'm 32, hair only gets thinner...hahah, maybe I won't have long hair again.

But at least I was in a band where I could headbang with long hair


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## jbab (Jun 19, 2013)

This.


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## CrownofWorms (Jun 19, 2013)

I'm just seeing bald guys. Short hair is bad ass too


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## HUGH JAYNUS (Jun 19, 2013)

years ago i used to braid my hair like Head did in the old days of Korn. then i kind of just got sick of long hair. but long hair never played any part in my stage presence. im alot like Adam D. from KSE. goofy as ..... my other guitarist has long hair, but doesnt have much stage presence. but the rest of us all have short hair. 

i think the whole "metal look" only really helps if you are the just stand there, kinda guy. otherwise it doesnt make a fvck


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## Demiurge (Jun 19, 2013)

Tried growing my hair long in high school and it looked awful: it would curl-up at the ends like freaking Mary Tyler Moore, made my face look fat(ter), and it was too much maintenance. I wish I could pull it off. Now, I can't stand it much longer than near-buzzed.


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## erotophonophilia (Jun 19, 2013)

Nothing is more metal, than the skullet. Part of me knows I'm going bald, but part of me says f**k that.


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## kamello (Jun 19, 2013)

0:37 

Gojira - Vacuity (Live at Vieilles Charrues Festival 2010) - YouTube


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## leechmasterargentina (Jun 19, 2013)

erotophonophilia said:


> Nothing is more metal, than the skullet. Part of me knows I'm going bald, but part of me says f**k that.



Damn! that looks awful...Looks like a scarecrow for chicks.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jun 19, 2013)

kamello said:


> 0:37
> 
> Gojira - Vacuity (Live at Vieilles Charrues Festival 2010) - YouTube



Exactly, that's the attitude!


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## Vhyle (Jun 21, 2013)

I used to have long hair, and I miss it. I loved having long hair.

The only reason why I got rid of it, is because I enlisted in the Army. If it weren't for that, I'd still have my locks.


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## Yimmj (Jun 21, 2013)

I dont think there should be any negative feelings about hair length among metalheads, i cant grow mine out because of my job, but that doesnt mean im less of a metalhead than the next guy!!


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## Hollowway (Jun 21, 2013)




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## MontaraMike (Jun 21, 2013)

I am 53 and growing my hair long again. My wife hates it long, her parents hate it long, some of my friends hate it long... but I LIKE IT! LOL!


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## JonWogoman (Oct 28, 2020)

leechmasterargentina said:


> Couldn't find a better place to discuss this than here.
> 
> Short (Not hair) story is that I've had long hair for about 15 years in my life. Being a guitar player and singer, I think I had benefitted from having long hair to build a good image on stage, pictures, etc.
> 
> ...



So this is just my two cents and take it for what it's worth. I just recently turned 45 and have been putting things into perspective for several years now and this is what i came up with on this subject. I had long waist length hair back in the day around 95-96, and it was a lot of work, people loved my hair but then of course they are not the ones who had to take care of it. If you have long hair you know how much work it can be. My best friend who at that time i spent all my time with had the same hair. In high school I wore metal t-shirts everyday, had a black leather biker jacket i wore all year even in the summer time and i covered my walls with heavy metal posters. I felt like i had to follow that stereotype. Then one day after i had graduated from high school decided for a change and had it buzzed completely off. That was a huge change and i lived my life in a different way. I have been skin bald by choice since 1996 and along the way changed my appearance several times. I came to realize that its what is on the inside that counts. I may have changed my appearance but i am still the same person who treats people the same way.

I have worked in a professional in long term care for 15 years now, I have tattoos and a bald head and no one treats me differently because my appearance does not change the way oi treat people. I'm still a metal head but also have other music interest as well. No one cares nor should you. It's what's in your heart that matters. It has to do with a lot of confidence. Stereo types are just a way to keep you tied down and prevents you from being your self. Also, do you really want to be friends with someone who says you have to look a certain way to listen to the music you love????? At the end of the day it's you that has to be comfortable in your own skin, don't let someone else tell you your wrong because your hair is'nt long enough. I would love to see those same people tell Kerry King or Rob Halford they are not metal because they don't have long hair because that's what they are saying right? Live your life, don't live it through someone else. I guarantee you you will smile more, by the way I listened to Pantera on my way home last night and Crowbar on the way into work this morning!


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## JonWogoman (Oct 28, 2020)

mr_rainmaker said:


> GROW SOME HAIR YUPPIE!!!!


You Rock brother! love the snarl! thats a perfect snarl to rock a bald head!


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## mpexus (Oct 28, 2020)




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## DrakkarTyrannis (Oct 28, 2020)

Can't relate. #WigLife


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## Nicki (Oct 29, 2020)

.


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## possumkiller (Oct 29, 2020)

Fuck long hair. Fuck goat beards. 

The only way I will ever grow my hair is if I start going bald. The Devin Townsend skullet is the only way to go bald gracefully with dignity.


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## SCJR (Mar 26, 2021)

I don't have kids to feed and I did what I could to find a job that wouldn't make me cut my hair. Working from home now so definitely not an issue and if anything I need a trim.

This shit is powerful man, I just can't cut it!


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## Demiurge (Mar 26, 2021)

I'm ignoring the truth espoused in my post in this thread from 8 years ago and am just letting it grow out. I have to do _something_ about my inexplicably-growing forehead.


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## mmr007 (Mar 26, 2021)

Wear a wig....seriously. If its that important to you. There is a guy at my work who is transgender and keeps his hair very long....but Monday through Friday he wears a suit and tie and wears a short hair wig that looks very very real. So if you need that for a job and yet struggle with losing your metal identity on stage then there you go...give it a try.


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## thebeesknees22 (Mar 26, 2021)

I used to have long hair. Then I got a bald spot at 24 and shaved it all off. I don't miss it, but long hair was a lot less maintenance. It takes me like 15-20min to shave my head, and I gotta do it like every other day. Super annoying. ....but as a dude that went bald at an early age, I like practically age 5 times slower than my peers lol

I've looked mid 30's for like 15 years now. I call it the patrick stewart syndrome. You just don't age. 

All ya'll with hair will just get older looking faster with all your grays coming in.


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## High Plains Drifter (Mar 26, 2021)

I had super long hair until one night a fan grabbed hold of it and wouldn't let go. Lost a good chunk of it and decided to cut it back after that incident. Sucked for a while but I got used to it.


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## Steinmetzify (Mar 26, 2021)

Waist length hair until I was 21, cut it when I got married. Haven’t had it any longer than 3 inches since, and most of the time shorter than that. 

Still a metalhead.


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