Men's Fashion: Head to Toe

In examination of men's fashion, I thought it appropriate to begin a series I like to call 'head to toe.' In this series I will be touching upon the different aspects of men's fashion, history, present and possible future. I consider it only fitting we begin with the head.

There is much to be said concerning the head when speaking of fashion. The top is normally covered with hair which is usually cut and styled in various ways as an expression of fashion. There is the face, which is usually also groomed and/or adorned in such a way as to express the fashion of a man, whether shaved or not shaved, uni-brow or two brows and yes even makeup or no makeup for some. Then there is the brain in which is housed within the head, of which makes the decision for the particular person as to how he would present himself. I consider this part to be most important and as we continue to explore this subject we shall see the effects of history and society upon the brain that cause us to make the decisions about our appearance.

Let us first consider the hair upon the head. For men, this subject can become quite controversial and debated. It takes no experts, scientists or encyclopedias to realize at present the overwhelming majority of men have some type of short hair cut. For the rest of us, we sport a cut of a longer length and style which varies. Though there is not a lot of information out there about men's hair styles in history, anyone who has ever looked at a history book realizes a lot of men used to don longer hair and even styled it different ways. Some men even wore wigs. I won't go into much detail of the history, as everyone should do their own research, but it seems a lot of men had long hair until the time of Alexander's Grecian kingdom when soldiers decided it was better to cut the hair short so that their enemies could not grab it in battle. The Romans followed suit. It seems interesting to note that longer hair styles for men really picked up again around the beginnings of the Reformation. Why is it that today, short hair dominates men's hair styles?

A lot of blame for disapproval of long hair on men is placed upon religion. I myself have heard many a religious church goer dictate that men are to have short hair and only women grow theirs long because that is what the bible says. If such people can even quote the bible, their reference is usually 1 Corinthians 11:14 which states, "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" yet these same folks fail to continue reading to verse 16 which states, "But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." There is no such commandment against men having long hair and why would there be? If so, the Word would be in contradiction for Nazarites had long hair, Samson, Absalom and others. This is simply more false doctrine that seems to spread out of perpetual ignorance stemmed from those who would rather listen to a preacher than read their own bible. That is another subject all together.

I find it interesting that in this web site, spiritualabuse.org, the author mentions from Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia 1993 edition regarding hairdressing that, "The Germanic and Celtric tribes of northern Europe wore long hair and beards; short hair was a mark of slavery or of punishment." Are we slaves? Well, yes, most of us are, with very few exceptions and if you do not believe me stop paying your income, property, sales, real estate and the other unmentionable taxes and see what happens. That is another story altogether. The old saying that, "all roads lead to Rome" appears to be true regarding this subject as well. According to the same above web site, the author quotes from the Encyclopedia Americana, 1990 edition that in the nineteenth century, "Both men and women cut their hair very short, like the Roman emperors....." Rome still wields a heavy hand upon the earth and if you don't believe me then consider all the nation's leaders who regularly travel to the vatican just to bow and kiss the ring of the pope. That is another topic for another time as well.

It seems I ran a little long in exploring the hair part of the head. There is much more that could be said but I leave that for another time or for you to explore. I do hope that I have sparked your interest in a bit of male grooming and to question the motives behind it all. I trust I have not lost your interest. Next time I will continue talk of the head, beginning with the face. I hope you will join me.