"But let me tell you, losing my hair wouldn’t worry me so much if I felt like a grown man instead of a really old boy. I wouldn’t be using pills and potions to cling to my hair if I felt like I’d actually accomplished something of value in my life."
Holy hell, if you didn't just sum up EXACTLY why I've been struggling with my own thinning hair. I've always known that's the case, but at the same time, you put it so eloquently, so succinctly... I'm glad now I have something to tell other people when they ask why it bothers me that isn't a long winded metaphor.
I saw a great comic on the topic that is really too long to summarize here that called a receding hairline the "genetic grim reaper". The point at which the illusion of youth is finally dispelled, which is intensely difficult to grapple with if one, as you said, hasn't actually ever transitioned out of psychologically.
It's your body telling you, "Alright. You had your fun. But it's time to grow up."
It’s strange, isn’t it? There’s powerful psychology behind hair and what it represents. If I felt like I actually deserved to be middle-aged, to have accomplished what prior generations had at my age, I don’t think it’d preoccupy me nearly as much. But when I look in the mirror at almost 42, I see someone still in the same place he was at 22, just thinner. This temporal rite of passage signified by hair loss just doesn’t feel earned, as strange as it sounds.
Long hair in pop music has always been weird. First it was cool to have short hair, then long hair, then short hair, then long hair, rinse and repeat. Problem is, after a certain point it just became reactionary to what other people were doing and had no deeper meaning. Especially once the '00s hit and band members no longer had any sort of uniform look, where half had long hair and half had short and wore mismatched clothes. At a certain point the purpose of it became lost, as it always does in this era.
One of my favorite stories is that of Urge Overkill, who deliberately wore long hair and gaudy costumes during the grunge era because the old look was now seen as uncool and they were going to make it cool again. They were seen at as sellouts for it. Really shows how strange the importance of image in the genre changed over the years. Now it doesn't really mean much and every band looks the same as a result.
Hair related: I always found this song profoundly moving. Some commenters have said the whole thing is an allegory for cancer treatment; the Samson referenced in the song had long hair when they met, but the woman cutting it in this version explicitly is not Delilah, but another person unrecorded in Scripture (“the Bible didn’t mention us” and his loss of strength is not something she wants. His consumption of Wonderbread (easy to digest) and the refrain of “I have to go” seem to speak of impending mortality as well. Hauntingly beautiful, in my opinion.
"But let me tell you, losing my hair wouldn’t worry me so much if I felt like a grown man instead of a really old boy. I wouldn’t be using pills and potions to cling to my hair if I felt like I’d actually accomplished something of value in my life."
Holy hell, if you didn't just sum up EXACTLY why I've been struggling with my own thinning hair. I've always known that's the case, but at the same time, you put it so eloquently, so succinctly... I'm glad now I have something to tell other people when they ask why it bothers me that isn't a long winded metaphor.
I saw a great comic on the topic that is really too long to summarize here that called a receding hairline the "genetic grim reaper". The point at which the illusion of youth is finally dispelled, which is intensely difficult to grapple with if one, as you said, hasn't actually ever transitioned out of psychologically.
It's your body telling you, "Alright. You had your fun. But it's time to grow up."
"No! You can't do this to me! I'm so young!"
"You're twenty-eight."
"I know! I'm basically a kid!"
It’s strange, isn’t it? There’s powerful psychology behind hair and what it represents. If I felt like I actually deserved to be middle-aged, to have accomplished what prior generations had at my age, I don’t think it’d preoccupy me nearly as much. But when I look in the mirror at almost 42, I see someone still in the same place he was at 22, just thinner. This temporal rite of passage signified by hair loss just doesn’t feel earned, as strange as it sounds.
Long hair in pop music has always been weird. First it was cool to have short hair, then long hair, then short hair, then long hair, rinse and repeat. Problem is, after a certain point it just became reactionary to what other people were doing and had no deeper meaning. Especially once the '00s hit and band members no longer had any sort of uniform look, where half had long hair and half had short and wore mismatched clothes. At a certain point the purpose of it became lost, as it always does in this era.
One of my favorite stories is that of Urge Overkill, who deliberately wore long hair and gaudy costumes during the grunge era because the old look was now seen as uncool and they were going to make it cool again. They were seen at as sellouts for it. Really shows how strange the importance of image in the genre changed over the years. Now it doesn't really mean much and every band looks the same as a result.
UO sounds like my kind of constrains: misunderstood in their time but ahead of the curve.
The funny thing about the pop music industry is that the image is always just as important as the actual notes involved, maybe more.
This is an insightful interview with Frank Zappa: https://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Let%27s_Talk_Clothes
On a more humorous note, people's denial about their receding hair reminds me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u7PZUGhyac
You're capturing all my middle age anxieties in your writing lately.
Anxiety is kind of my thing.
Yeah, I've been dwelling on a lot of the topics you are bringing up. I'm not sure I know what to say yet, but I'm working through it.
Hair related: I always found this song profoundly moving. Some commenters have said the whole thing is an allegory for cancer treatment; the Samson referenced in the song had long hair when they met, but the woman cutting it in this version explicitly is not Delilah, but another person unrecorded in Scripture (“the Bible didn’t mention us” and his loss of strength is not something she wants. His consumption of Wonderbread (easy to digest) and the refrain of “I have to go” seem to speak of impending mortality as well. Hauntingly beautiful, in my opinion.
https://youtu.be/p62rfWxs6a8