Therefore the hair should be cut only to get rid of too much of it and not for looks, as some think they must, who shave their cheeks and imitate the beardless or, would you believe it, boys who are just beginning to grow a beard, and the hair on the head they do not cut all in the same way, but differently in front and behind.
In fact, that which seems to them good-looking is quite the opposite and does not differ from the efforts of women to make themselves beautiful. For they, you know, plait some parts of their hair, some they let fall free, and some they arrange in some other way in order to appear more beautiful.
So men who cut their hair are obviously doing it out of a desire to appear handsome to those whom they wish to please, and so some of their hair they cut off completely, some they arrange so as to be most pleasing to the women and boys by whom they want to be admired. Nowadays there are even men who cut their hair to free themselves of the weight of it, and they also shave their cheeks.
Putting on a show. Playing the part. Performing an act. Posing for the camera.
All too often, it becomes the be-all and end-all of our lives, whether it is what we are heard to be saying, or what we are seen to be doing, or how we go about styling our hair. I can slip into it so easily, barely even aware of what I am up to, since it is what I regularly see all around me.
I regret to say that it is a form of manipulation, pulling at the strings of desire at the expense of inspiring understanding. The harm, once again, is not in how we look, but rather in why we wish to look that way; we are seeking beauty in all the wrong places, interested in flaunting it instead of revering it.
Being so caught up in the moment, we don’t see how ridiculous we are, and then only the passage of many years, and the discovery of the old yearbook photos in the basement, will make us cringe. What could we have been thinking? Indeed, were we doing much thinking at all?
The macho sideburns and the big moustaches in the ‘70’s. The androgynous spikes and waves in the ‘80’s. That truly odd year in the ‘90’s when every young man seemed to be frosting his hair. The boys thinking that the peach fuzz made them look more like men, and the men who shaved twice a day to look more like boys. It hasn’t changed that much since the time of Musonius, has it?
I will regularly hear people defending such practices on the grounds that they are ways to express individuality, but then surely we would all look different, not the same. In any event, there can really be little sense of confidence and pride when we only wish to impress others, defining ourselves by their approval.
There inevitably comes the moment, when you see that enticing person, who has until then driven you mad with longing, without the makeup, or the fancy clothes, or the elaborate hair that took hours to prepare. What a surprise it is to see just a regular person underneath.
In fact, that which seems to them good-looking is quite the opposite and does not differ from the efforts of women to make themselves beautiful. For they, you know, plait some parts of their hair, some they let fall free, and some they arrange in some other way in order to appear more beautiful.
So men who cut their hair are obviously doing it out of a desire to appear handsome to those whom they wish to please, and so some of their hair they cut off completely, some they arrange so as to be most pleasing to the women and boys by whom they want to be admired. Nowadays there are even men who cut their hair to free themselves of the weight of it, and they also shave their cheeks.
Putting on a show. Playing the part. Performing an act. Posing for the camera.
All too often, it becomes the be-all and end-all of our lives, whether it is what we are heard to be saying, or what we are seen to be doing, or how we go about styling our hair. I can slip into it so easily, barely even aware of what I am up to, since it is what I regularly see all around me.
I regret to say that it is a form of manipulation, pulling at the strings of desire at the expense of inspiring understanding. The harm, once again, is not in how we look, but rather in why we wish to look that way; we are seeking beauty in all the wrong places, interested in flaunting it instead of revering it.
Being so caught up in the moment, we don’t see how ridiculous we are, and then only the passage of many years, and the discovery of the old yearbook photos in the basement, will make us cringe. What could we have been thinking? Indeed, were we doing much thinking at all?
The macho sideburns and the big moustaches in the ‘70’s. The androgynous spikes and waves in the ‘80’s. That truly odd year in the ‘90’s when every young man seemed to be frosting his hair. The boys thinking that the peach fuzz made them look more like men, and the men who shaved twice a day to look more like boys. It hasn’t changed that much since the time of Musonius, has it?
I will regularly hear people defending such practices on the grounds that they are ways to express individuality, but then surely we would all look different, not the same. In any event, there can really be little sense of confidence and pride when we only wish to impress others, defining ourselves by their approval.
There inevitably comes the moment, when you see that enticing person, who has until then driven you mad with longing, without the makeup, or the fancy clothes, or the elaborate hair that took hours to prepare. What a surprise it is to see just a regular person underneath.
Written in 7/2000
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