General
11 Aug 20
@wolfgang59 saidI cut my own hair with my own clippers, I end up with mostly a classy suede head except for the nasty skin head circle on top.
Suede Head Andy.
Suede Head.
@kewpie saidIn the U.K. it's called a number one after the closest setting on the clippers. It used to be called a crew cut. I do my own. It's really easy as long as you tip your head forwards when doing the back rather than trying to watch with a mirror. For the top you need to figure out which way your hair lies and go towards it. I used to know a woman who did her own. It's a nice look.
A clipper cut is a shave of a different type which leaves fuzz on the head. In Australia a zero cut is a shave, a 4 cut is about a week's growth left on the head. It's a much softer look and avoids the problems you normally get with ageing, thinning hair, such as the Albert Einstein look.
12 Aug 20
@handyandy saidSounds like skinheads still have a very negative connotation in the U.S?
Just what the world needs... another skinhead.
That has really moved on in the U.K. In the 70s and 80s it became all about lads getting recruited by the National Front at football matches, but that imagery was helped to move on fairly quickly by two tone and ska music which was very much about racial integration. Before all the right wing stuff it was just a dress culture in working class kids. You would have found loads of skinheads at Desmond Dekker concerts.
So basically a dress culture got derailed because of a period of history when disillusioned working class kids got recruited by the far right during hard times. History repeats...
12 Aug 20
@petewxyz saidYes, the history of the UK skinhead culture is much more interesting and dynamic than it appears at first glance.
Sounds like skinheads still have a very negative connotation in the U.S?
That has really moved on in the U.K. In the 70s and 80s it became all about lads getting recruited by the National Front at football matches, but that imagery was helped to move on fairly quickly by two tone and ska music which was very much about racial integration. Before all the right wing stuff i ...[text shortened]... isillusioned working class kids got recruited by the far right during hard times. History repeats...
@divegeester saidSomebody said you were a Chelsea fan so if that is true and you went in the late 70s I would guess you saw the worst of that? I think it is really positive that Chelsea play the Liquidator before kick off which steers it away from the negative past and reconnects it with it's roots. Do Chelsea fans accept that or are you more armchair?
Yes, the history of the UK skinhead culture is much more interesting and dynamic than it appears at first glance.
12 Aug 20
@petewxyz saidI tend not to think of skinhead culture, even the negative side, in terms of football violence which was more a subset of the tribal nature of white youth diversity right across Europe in the 70s and 80s, but more of a musical social entity which was hijacked. Nevertheless I think all UK football clubs were infected with the violence bug in that era.
Somebody said you were a Chelsea fan so if that is true and you went in the late 70s I would guess you saw the worst of that? I think it is really positive that Chelsea play the Liquidator before kick off which steers it away from the negative past and reconnects it with it's roots. Do Chelsea fans accept that or are you more armchair?
@kevcvs57 saidI've seen it, and it's true.
I cut my own hair with my own clippers, I end up with mostly a classy suede head except for the nasty skin head circle on top.
@petewxyz saidThe early 70s were terrible for skin-head gangs and violence at football
Sounds like skinheads still have a very negative connotation in the U.S?
That has really moved on in the U.K. In the 70s and 80s it became all about lads getting recruited by the National Front at football matches, but that imagery was helped to move on fairly quickly by two tone and ska music which was very much about racial integration. Before all the right wing stuff i ...[text shortened]... s culture in working class kids. You would have found loads of skinheads at Desmond Dekker concerts.
games was a given. A friend of mine, a West Ham supporter, was set upon
by other West Ham supporters (skinheads) because they wanted his scarf.
He was hospitalised and nearly lost an eye due to the kicking he got.
Sad times.
Fond memories of the ska revival in the post-punk late 70s though!
@wolfgang59 saidLoved two tone music. The Selector were a superb live band.
The early 70s were terrible for skin-head gangs and violence at football
games was a given. A friend of mine, a West Ham supporter, was set upon
by other West Ham supporters (skinheads) because they wanted his scarf.
He was hospitalised and nearly lost an eye due to the kicking he got.
Sad times.
Fond memories of the ska revival in the post-punk late 70s though!
@wolfgang59 saidSounds horrific for your friend.
The early 70s were terrible for skin-head gangs and violence at football
games was a given. A friend of mine, a West Ham supporter, was set upon
by other West Ham supporters (skinheads) because they wanted his scarf.
He was hospitalised and nearly lost an eye due to the kicking he got.
Sad times.
Fond memories of the ska revival in the post-punk late 70s though!
In a strange way the skinhead haircuts and the sort of uniform of braces, bags, boots and scarf through the waist band helped in so much as you had a greater chance of seeing where the trouble was going to be. Membership schemes and bans helped a lot more! I remember watching a group of lads bouncing a car until they could turn it over. Scary times. That said I didn't see trouble at the vast majority of matches I went to in the 70s, but there were serious problems when it went wrong.
@kewpie saidHope all is well with you now Kewpie! Tough battle I hope you have it won!
A skinhead's only a few days away from a clipper cut, which looks better on most grey-haired males than any other style. In the meantime there's always a cap.
I'd love to have a clipper cut but my hairdresser refuses to do it, even when I moan about sexism. I already know it would look OK because I once had chemo.
The barber I use is actually a woman one of the few I know in the city who uses a straight razor to shave head. She has a license to do that as one must have. She also is a hairdresser but has another woman who works with her who usually does the Hairdressing she is the owner of the place. Did a great job!!!
I wear hats anyway, but also go without one sometimes. Even now since the head shave I would still go without a hat. It is some nice compared to having all the hair in the heat.
-VR