…You’ve seen my picture.  Really now, do you think hair is an issue with me?  Well, it’s not.

Now, don’t get me wrong, grown men, unless they are lead singers for Skynyrd, should have an age appropriate hair style.

I’m talking about your kids here.

I spend a lot of time at a high school.

I’ve seen long hair, shaved heads, mohawks, brohawks, afros, Nugents, mullets, the “Streisand Look”, blue hair, long hair, multi-colored hair and more.  I’ve seen some I’ve thought were pretty bad, some that were scary, and some that were just nasty.  And that’s just the boys.

But really guys, as long as it’s clean, who cares.

Nature and/or maturity usually wins the battle.

I was 12 years old in 1964.  Remember what happened?

This bothered people

The Beatles, The British Invasion, The Mop Tops, The Rolling Stones…the hair caught on.  Everywhere but my house.

My Dad and Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh remained on the “short on sides and back” bandwagon throughout the 60s and the 70s.  Prince Charles and I have two things in common:  our “Movie Star Good Looks” and our teenage desire for long hair!

Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

Times changed. 

The battles my Dad had to fight were different than the ones I had to fight when my son came along. 

And long hair was just way, way, way down on the list.

My philosophy was this…”As long as no one was failing, no one was felonious, no one was fornicating, no one was on fire, and no one was freaking out on drugs, I was FINE with long hair.”

There were bigger battles to fight.

Let it grow, let it flow.  It will go!

Over four years of High School a lot of people said to me, “When ya’ gonna’ make the boy cut his hair?”

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

I’d just point to my overyly tanned, shiny pate and simply say, “This is a battle I’ll eventually win.” and walk away.

So, one day after almost six years of him avoiding the barber shop, I walked in and saw a stranger on the couch.

The face was familiar, but the hair was different.  It was gone!

He’d donated 14 inches of hair to Locks Of Love.

I think I won the battle.

Paul and Donovan @ The Hermitage, Nashville, TN 2009

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