Some old dudes look great with long hair. Others don't. It's all in the genes so to speak. If you grow it and it looks good, you're golden. If it looks bad, it was still a worthy experiment.

Same for guys who look good with shaved heads. Some looks great, and some other poor dude would
look awful.

The same guys who looked good with long hair when they were young, still look good when they get older. When I was young I grew it long, but it looked awful, because I didn't have the good looking hair genes.

But if you still have nice hair at your age, you're good to go either way.

In your case, it seems you've earned the right to give it a shot and see what happens. I hope it works out, old dudes of good character with long hair rock.

quote:

Originally posted by bobandmikako:
I tried growing my hair long after I retired from active duty. After a few months, I just gave up and went back to the buzz cut. I just couldn't get used to it. I was happy to stop shaving and grow my beard though.

After I retired from service, I thought I might let the hair grow long, but I get to a certain point and can’t stand it and go back to a short military reg look.

From my experience there are two types who retire from the military- those like me who keep the look or comfort of short haircuts, or those that totally hippie out within 6 months

I wear mine where it covers half my ear.

I haven’t changed my hairstyle since the mid fifties, crew cut, one on the sides four on the top faded. Every third Monday. Nothing looks worse than a scraggly crew cut.

You would look like an old hippy who never grew up. We were all stupid once, trying be blend in with others so we would be accepted. To have long hair when older, it looks like you are trying to look cool and that you have no independent thinking ability.

For a while, in the 80's when long hair was still a thing, I had super short hair because I was cold water diving three days a week. Women looked at me with respect, because I was not a follower.