Fun Memories and Reflections about Hats, Ties, Long Hair, Mustaches and Beards.
Recently, our 12 y/o son came back with other youth from a People to People European summer educational trip sporting a hat that he’d gotten from Belgium. When we greeted him and others at the airport when they returned from the adventures, it was neat to see many of the other kids also donning some fine fancy looking hats! I can still remember my late dad and his friends always having a hat as a part of their daily attire.
I heard on the radio the other morning that hat-ware appeared to be making a comeback in demand as the younger generation seeks more ways to imprint their identity. While I have never been one to wear hats, except when I played little league baseball and wanted to brag our teams, it has become somewhat of a consideration as this 50 +-er has been losing a little more on the top.
Folks like Ron Howard always seem to don a hat to keep what’s up north incognito! I love to tease my balding and hair receding friends like myself with the following joke I heard from a Telly Savalas (“Kojak” - one of the first to make baldness in vogue and long before Michael Jordan) look-a-like : “Men who are balding at the top are great thinkers; men who are balding near the front are great lovers; men who are bald in both spots “THINK” they are great lovers!”
Another factor for consideration of covering the head is per all the grass cutting times required during the summer that expose us to skin cancer risks. Richard, one of my buddies who cuts the grass with me at a rather large property that we volunteer at, has much thinner hair and noticed the red crater that had begun to show up on his head.
Another common item for men to wear in the past that has not yet evidenced a comeback yet by the younger generation is a tie. I must have 50 + ties of all types, patterns and shapes that I’ve accumulated over the years. Some specialty ones I have are “Tigger” from Winnie the Pooh, some neat Christmas and other seasonal types, as well as some “Wembly” brand ones that I inherited from my dad.
The ongoing trend to switch from a work attire of suits and ties to polo shirts and more of a casual emphasis seems to be entrenched. I do like the comfort of 100 % cotton collared t-shirts especially in the summer, but I have been pulled back somewhat to the more formal work wear. There really is a significant influence that more formal wear does to your attitude and how you perform on the job, as well as for spiritual worship.
Maybe we could revive interest in tie wearing per the opening of a new restaurant in Baton Rouge: “Pinnacle Peak” – Home of the Famous Cowboy Steak, where ties are not allowed! While in graduate school out in San Diego during the early 80’s, I heard about that place from a friend, so I had to take my wife to check it out. While I hardly wore ties back then, I did have a few to my growing collection.
So my wife and I had heard that if you went to Pinnacle Peak’s with a tie on, they would cut it off! At first we couldn’t believe it but heard about it from many friends who were more into the John Travolta “Urban Cowboy” trend. Since “punk rock” was in vogue at that time, I went and bought a cheap ugly looking punk rock tie from a discount store and prepared for the experience.
After our waitress took our order, having noticed what I had around my neck, she returned with extra long scissors and proceeded to cut the tie right below the knot! Instead of putting business cards on a bulletin board for patrons, customer’s former ties get nailed up on the wall among the many other thousands hung up in a montage-like affect!
One other generational trend I’ve noticed involves our kids wanting longer hair. Is there really great strength in having long hair as was the case with Samson – a story that I used to belabor sharing with my mother as a kid when trying to get out of a dreaded trimming which always seemed to turnout as a crew cut? “Get to that barber shop and get that haircut off your head,” lyrics from an early Beatles tune named “Bad Boy,” that relates well to these younger haircut aversion days of mine.
While I let our 12 y/o hair length go longer during the summer, I recently had to give him a dreaded school cut look that inevitably was too short by his estimation. I would even note to my mom that most depictions of Jesus and the Apostles showed them having rather lengthy hair – hoping that would convince her to let me keep a “mop top” like style that was popular back in the 60’s from the Beatles. I figured that if He “knew how many hairs were on my head (Luke 12:7),” he certainly knew that I wanted to look like Him!
Nowadays, I find myself having to tell the barber the opposite of what I’d always squirmed about when mom was trying to clip above my ears. Some of the younger hair stylists will give me a puzzled look upon their faces when I tell them that it is okay if they give me “white walls,” referring to having the hair length a little above the ears enough to show my scalp. Usually, they’ll give you a mirror at the end of their cutting, at which you can decide if you are satisfied with their work. Inevitably, I’ll have to convey to please cut a little higher!
One last item of youth expressionism involved mustaches and beards. As with long hair, I think every generation since the 60’s wants to grow up fast and for guys, that’s per being able to grow something on your face. I couldn’t grow a beard for a long time, as it never seemed to come out thick enough. So I settled for a mustache ("Cookie-Duster") in college.
About 5 years ago, I worked in hurricane recovery work with “JB,” who also liked to wear bow ties. Both he and his son had beards, so I figured that environment would be conducive to wearing one and I’ve had one since. It was easy then to start growing the beard on my annual 4 day Manresa Retreat, when I was off work, so I didn't look too scraggly on the job!
With a background specialty in gerontology per social work, I always looked forward to “greying out” and not covering the color up! So now, I proudly wear my Non-Grecian formulated beard and mustache. Like an old column I used to write for The Times-Picayune in the late 80’s, “Grey Matters” are only in the mind!
I guess facial hair expressionism for AARP-ers like me is what a wise “more senior” friend once noted: the more we tend to lose hair on our heads, the more we try to compensate with more on our faces! So as I continue to watch the younger generation leave their mark on the world, I tip my hat to them exposing my short, receding gray hair and tidy up my messy beard, not yet long enough to reach one of my treasured neckties from daddy.
Keith John Paul Horcasitas, 1133 Knollhaven Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70810, khorcasitas.yahoo.com, August 15, 2010
A naïve councilman and a down-on-her-luck single mom try to save their county’s last stand of forest from greedy developers and a dysfunctional government.
