Hippie Eddie Becomes Crewcut Eddie

This story is compiled from entries in the Hairnet Hotline in November and December 1996. The Hairnet Hotline is a great forum for people to share advice. The only reason for this overview of a series of hotline discussions is that Hairnet can only keep postings up for one month, because of the volume of messages that they receive. This series of discussions is worth keeping because it tells about a young man who had no intention of ever having a crewcut, but ended up with one anyway and is now a buzzcut fan. Thanks Eddie for contributing all the pieces of this story to the hotline. I hope that you don't mind having this overview of your experiences printed here.

Eddie is a good looking 18 year old lad. Eddie had shoulder length hair. His father had been trying to get his son to cut his hair short for years, but Eddie was attached to his long hair. All that changed one Thursday night in November when Eddie crashed and wrecked his father's car. His father was sure that the crash was caused by Eddie's long hair being in his eyes. Eddie knew that his father was right.

Eddie's father was angry about his car and scared by the thought that he could have lost his son because of an accident caused by his long hair. Although Eddie was going to pay for the car (from money that he had been saving for his own car), his father decided to take further action. He decided to take his son to his own barber and resolve the long hair/short hair issue once and for all. Eddie was told that he was going to the barber the next day.

Eddie was desperate to hang on to his long hair. He posted a message on an Internet chat room asking people for their advice. The advice ranged from people strongly in support of his father, to people saying that Eddie was 18 and that he should just refuse. This wasn't really an alternative if Eddie wanted to stay at home - his father had made that clear.

Well the next day, father and son were at the barber shop. In Eddie's own words:

"Well, I got the haircut. I got in that chair, the guy started buzzing, and before I knew it it was all over. My shoulder length hair is gone. My hair was buzzed on the sides and back, about 1/2 inch on top with a part on the right side. He also put some gel or something in it. When I walked out of the barber it felt hard as a rock! I can't believe I look like this. My head feels light, and its a starnge buzzy feeling when I rub the back of my head. I guess it doesn't look too bad, though, but it'll take some getting used to."

Once the cut was over, Eddie's next problem was thinking about how this cut would go down at school. He dreaded the thought of showing up at school with a buzz cut instead of his long-standing long hair. Most of his friends had long hair, including his best friend, Joe. His head felt bare and exposed and so radically different to the way it had alway felt and looked. What would his friends say? Here's what he wrote on the Hairnet Hotline after he had been to school.

"As many of you know, my dad recently made me cut my shoulder-length hair and get a crewcut. At first I was horrified, but not anymore! This morning when I got up, no more fooling with my hair forever. I just took a shower, toweled it dry, and bam! Finished! I was nervous about going to school, but I shouldn't have been. Everybody loved it! I couldn't believe how many people told me I looked great, and just like someone here at the Hot Line told me, the girls ALL had to rub the bristly back of my head. It was the greatest. So many girls did that it was starting to turn me on! I never realized how girls love short hair on a guy. I must have heard "about time you got a real haircut" about 100 times. There was only one guy who made fun of me, but when he started in on me everyone told him to shut up, and that he was next for a crewcut! My best friend told me I looked cool and that he was going to get one too! So, like many of you said, I do thank my father (and have told him so to his delight) for making me get a crewcut. I plan to keep it this way. I want to thank all the people here who took the time to advise me. You were all right! Short hair is the best! Thanks guys! You have really helped an EX-hippy see the light. Anybody know a good brand of gel to use? -- Signed, Crewcut Eddie"

And what happened about his best friend's decision to get a crewcut too? It took some persuading from Eddie, but it did happen. Here's how Eddie described it on the Hairnet Hotline.

"Well, like I promised, I took my friend Joe to get a haircut today. He had shoulder length hair. He was going to get a crewcut like I did last week ,but while we were waiting in the barber shop, he started to get cold feet. "Maybe I'll just get a trim," he told me. When it was his turn, he told the barber to take a few inches off -- but I stepped in and asked the barber "Do you get many kids with long hair in here?" He laughed and said "No, hardly ever, they all get crewcuts today." I told Joe, "See! Go for it!" Then I told the barber to buzz Joe. He grabbed the clippers and, before Joe could object, he was buzzing him. In 5 minutes his hair was gone -- buzzed on the side and back and real short on top, geled down and parted on the side. Joe was a bit shocked when he saw it. He started feeling the back as he got out of the chair, and said "Wow, that feels cool!" He's all ready getting to like it, and I know he will get great reactions like I did on Monday at school."

Interestingly, there was mixed reaction to this whole series of discussions on the hotline. It inspired some long-haired procrastinators to get buzzed, or at least to think about it. At the other end of the scale, it created a series of negative commets and strong reactions from people who think that you need long hair to make your mark as an individual or that Eddie's father was wrong to punish his son and even that Eddie was wrong to push his best friend into getting a buzzcut. Were they wrong?

Well Eddie's alternatives were that he could get a haircut (which he came to really like) or else break off relations with his father and move out of home, but keep his long hair. In this perspective, he obviously made the right decision. He respected his father, he tried something new and it all paid off.

The argument about Eddie being wrong for giving his friend the final push into a buzzcut is even simpler. His friend wanted the cut and had gone to the barber to get it. He just needed someone to give him that final nudge. And he likes the cut. How could anyone complain about a win/win situation?

Back to the Buzztown Experiences Page