Ever since I was a kid, my parents had me wear a high and mighty buzz cut. It went horrifically bad, I looked like young Anakin Skywalker from The Phantom Menace, till I was 15, when I decided it was time to stop looking like the lamest character from the worst movie in the star wars franchise. It was time for a change.
As a very competitive lacrosse player, during my senior year of high school, I decided to grow my hair out. In lacrosse, long hair looks really good coming out of the back of the helmet. Many players have used the iconic term of flow for their long hair, which comes from old 1980’s hockey players who originally coined the term to name their long playoff hair which jutted out of the back of their helmets.
After high school, I went off to play in college and I wanted to keep my long hair. It was no longer solely for Lacrosse or because I didn't want to look like young Anakin Skywalker but because I saw my hair as a representation of where I had come from.
My Irish and Scottish ancestors hundreds of years ago went to battle with long hair. And as a kid, I loved watching movies that referenced my lineage. My favorite characters were guys like William Wallace (Braveheart) the savage warrior who led an army of Scottish free men against the English oppression and Legolas (Lord of the Rings) the graceful archer and talented elven warrior who was the most lethal fighter in the entire trilogy. Both of these warriors had great long hair. I wanted to be those guys as a kid but more realistically, I wanted to represent that type of warrior culture that my on-screen heroes embodied.
But, Irish and Scottish warriors were not the only ones with long hair. I also have a ton of respect for Native American Indians. My favorite movie of all time is “The Last of the Mohicans” and fittingly enough the main character Hawkeye (Daniel Day Lewis) has unbelievable long black locks with braids and assorted talisman in his hair. I loved Daniel Day Lewis’s character so much, I decided to grow my hair out and put colored thread wraps, braids and beads in my hair, like a true Mohican warrior. When my college lacrosse team went to take our roster pictures. I found a hawk’s feather on the walkway to the athletic center so I put that in my hair along with the beads and braids. Since lacrosse is a game that Native Americans invented and played to honor their ancestors, I thought it fitting that I could honor the creators of a game that has given so much to me.
Another big influence for me and my hair was the cultural traditions of Japanese Samurais. Samurais wore long hair which they would put in a bun for fighting efficiency. Samurai wore their hair in a “chonmage”, a type of bun that Americans call the top knot today. It was a status symbol for being a warrior in Japan. In China, the Manchurians made famous the queue, the modern version of the pigtail. The Manchu’s wore this hairstyle to strike fear within their people and their enemies.
The most famous long hair has to be Samson, who in the bible is given supernatural strength which stems from his long locks of hair. While we’re talking about prominent religious figures, Jesus was also known to keep long, unkempt hair. Hindu prophets and Sikh gurus were also known to keep their hair long and unkempt.
There are different reasons to have long hair. Long hair has deep spiritual and personal meaning to different people. Warriors wore it to intimidate their enemies. Scholars and political figures wore their hair long to show their status, experience, and knowledge. I feel like an animal with my long hair (I also look like one), so when I play lacrosse it gives me an excuse to act like one.
I always wanted to wear long hair like the warriors of old. My favorite movie characters always sported long locks. My Ancestors wore long hair to battle. My dad had long hair when he was my age. My cousin has dreadlocks. And now I have long hair too. I want my ancestors to live on through me and the best way to do that is to wear my hair long to honor their memory, and keep alive their warrior spirit.
