Hair

More about the importance of hair, from the movie on that very topic. The musical Hair dates back from a time when having long hair genuinely meant something. Everything was a revolution in the sixties; music, hair, clothing.   Our anything-goes current condition is a result of that. I won’t get into deep political issues. One thing that hasn’t been the same since the so-called youthquake is how people dress and present themselves. It’s hard to imagine, but not that long ago, there were very strict expectations of how one ought to dress. According to status, according to age. According to everything. Hair is about the ending of those times when a long haired man or a woman in pants could expect to be denied service, barred from public places, spat upon, or infinitely worse. It’s about the freedom of a generation to draw the line on conformity and express itself. The fallout is the sight of middle aged fat people wearing shorty-shorts in public, but that in itself is a victory. When I was overseas (in Ukraine) a couple of years ago I witnesses a conformity of dress not seen in America since the fifties. Everyone was slender, chic and stylish, but everyone looked exactly alike. I breathed a sigh of relief landing back on American shores. Americans may not always dress well, but we dress to express ourselves, not to merge facelessly into the safety of a crowd. It’s only one of many legacies from a turbulent time. No wonder there’s so many songs about hair.