By: Katie Sanders, Staff Writer
Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway and Emma Watson are proving that girls can rock the short ‘do. But Chris Hemsworth, Brad Pitt and Shia LeBeouf have challenged the stereotypes for men, too, with their man bobs and man buns.
Wofford’s own Phifer Nicholson, Jakob Dismukes, Marcus Riley and Justin Bouknight share their experiences with having long hair.
Dismukes, junior, hasn’t cut his hair in two years ago. He plans on growing it to donate to Wigs for Kids, a nonprofit organization that provides wigs to children suffering hair loss.
“I started growing out my hair freshman year,” he says. “I thought it would be a fun thing to do, but honestly I never expected to keep it going this long.”
Senior Nicholson was in it for the long haul. After being dared to grow it out by two friends a year-and-a-half ago, he has no plans of cutting it anytime soon.
“It’s definitely a look,” he says. “You have a sense of accomplishment because it takes a certain level of determination. It is funny to get comments from girls who say things like ‘I want your hair.’ Always makes me laugh. I get plenty of Jesus comparisons as well. The beard helps in that.”
For some, the sense of accomplishment is, in the end, outweighed by other factors. Riley, junior, and Bouknight, sophomore, both had a flow, but chopped it off.
“The reason I cut my hair was because I was starting my practicum for the education program on campus,” explains Riley. “Students involved in the program travel to a high school and observe a teacher. I wanted to look professional and as a result I got my hair cut.”
Bouknight succumbed to peer pressure, a decision he regrets.
“The haters were just too much. Everyone despised my long hair, and they were very vocal about it, too. Also, I figured it had run its course as far as length goes, but the regrets of cutting it still haunt me to this day.”
However, having long hair may not be as glamorous as it seems.
“The cons of having long hair were finding super long hairs in the weirdest places, and always having to keep it out of my eyes,” he says. “Also, an elderly man mistook me for a girl once, when my friends and I were leaving a football game. It’s still a story that gets told nearly every time my friends and I are together.”
Dismukes adds that another con is being easily identified from a distance, because his hair stands out. Nicholson says that, although it requires more effort to keep clean and tidy, it’s “not a huge deal.”
Riley agrees with Nicholson that there weren’t any substantial cons of having long hair.
He says, “It was a hassle when I wanted to do anything athletic, but a hairband quickly remedied that problem.”
While there are difficulties to taming a long mane, the guys had positive things to say, too. Riley says he liked being different.
“I felt unique,” Riley notes. “Short hair is a major trend at Wofford and it was nice to be different. I also got quite a few compliments on how nice my hair was.”
Dismukes admits that it’s not so bad being noticed for your hair, and Bouknight adds that his hair kept him warm in the winter in the absence of a beard. He says, “All in all, if I could have my long hair back I absolutely would.”
