As a Male I am blessed and cursed with having hair that grows in many places on my body, most noticeable of these places to the someone passing by is the hair on my head. As a male with long hair I am sure that people notice that before any other aspect about me. I have been growing my hair out since I was 15 years old. During these last 5 years, I have had to deal with onslaughts of people asking me how soon I plan on cutting it and have even had people yell at me from a car, "Get a haircut you hippie!"
In other circles however, long hair on males is not only encouraged but preferred. One example of this is in the heavy metal music community. Men who listen to and/or play metal in a band (called metalheads) are typically expected to have long hair. This is most likely a hangover from back in the 70s when it was more common for males in rock to grow their hair out. Having long hair in metal also has an extremely practical purpose though. I am referring of course to the art of headbanging. Ever since bands like Black Sabbath with crazy front man Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler, dudes with long hair have been banging their heads to the mountain moving beat of metal music.
Metal band Amon Amarth doing their signature "windmill" headbanging
Unfortunately, long hair on males still carries a stigma of being dirty or unprofessional. Speaking from personal experience, I have been declined jobs simply because I have long hair and refused to cut it, whereas a female with hair as long as or even longer than mine could get the same job with no problems. Some people laugh at me when I say it, but I firmly believe that just for having shoulder length hair, people will unfairly judge and discriminate against you.
Why do people have negative associations with men with long hair? Will people eventually give males with long hair the same respect as their close-cut brethren or will our society continue to emphasize that males conform to the cultural norm of having short hair?
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