I should say up front, perhaps not surprisingly, that I like men with long hair, but not to the exclusion of men with short hair. I just think that it should be acceptable within society for a man to wear his hair in whatever way allows him to express his own personal choice and in a style that suits him.
I work in the fashion industry and everyday I am surrounded by images of great looking men and women who symbolise what we consider beautiful in our society. We recognise in the industry that we don't just reflect what is fashionable, but we also drive what will be fashionable in the future. Throughout history fashions change. Hundreds of years ago, men wore very elegant hair styles with flowing curls and powdered wigs. Times change and this went out of fashion. In the 1960s and 1970s mens hair starting becoming longer again, partly from the hippy scene - but this time it has stayed, albeit never overly common. The reasons why it has not increased in popularity may be complex, but in part it is due to an anti-long hair on men feeling in society; particularly in business, but also in society in general. With the exception of certain vocations such as rock stars, fashion models and artists, long hair on men is disapproved. Even in society many men and women generally disapprove of long hair on men. It is as though it is a symbol of something that is not right with society, perhaps a link with the hippy era. Despite this more and more men seem to be growing their hair and it seems as though this time this trend is here to stay. The steroetype image of men with long hair is certainly one of an unkempt, scruffy look. However, many guys do wear their hair in clean smart styles. The problem for men is often trying to find styles that will suit them and finding something different to the traditional ponytail look. There are very few images of men with neat long hair available. A lot of guys also feel awkward taking in photos of women to describe the style they want. They consider these styles to be feminine. But what is a masculine or feminine hair style. As a woman I can wear my hair long/short, curly/straight and have it dyed any colour I want. As a woman society finds this acceptable. So why not for a man. Even the use of hair accessories, such as hair bands, scrunchies, clips, pins; implements that a woman can consider as a practical tool to arranging their hair in a neat style are considered too feminine for men to wear. Therefore any man wanting to wear his hair long finds embarassment in considering a perm, or a set and cannot use basic hair accessories - is it any wonder he has trouble keeping his hair under control.
A number of styles that can be considered as unisex are displayed on this site. The images are all of women, but that should not deter men from trying these styles. The femininity is not in the style it is the whole image of that person. Men who are wearing long hair at the moment are at the barriers of fasion and men who try these styles will shape what is acceptable and what is not; these men are breaking down these barriers for others in the future. Twenty years ago men who wore fragrances were considered effeminate, the size of the male fragrance industry today is huge. The hair industry could also be sitting on a potential goldmine offering men the services they want and need. For long hair on men to become more acceptable in society these barriers and sterotypes need to be broken down.