I've uploaded some new images of my work for your viewing pleasure. I would love feedback so let me know what you think.

Specifically I am really interested in what people think of the hair piece as I am looking into both the burden and beauty of long hair on women.

As a woman or man:
What is your perception of long hair on women? Do you prefer it? As a woman do you feel your long hair is a security blanket, or do you feel you would lose your femininity if you cut it off? Do you have any stories about cutting your own hair or having it cut? Does the necklace give you a creepy feeling? If it does why do you think that is? Do you consider hair to be repulsive once it is off the body, or is it as beautiful off the body as when it is on the body?

Any insights are welcome on my hair necklace or other pieces.

Thank you for your time, enjoy!

Rickson

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Haha, very well put. Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with your knowledge of the use of hair cutting and hair growing in society. Thank you for clarifying my earlier comments about hippie and military hair styles. This is all very useful to me! :)

Rickson
I cut my long hair, I love it, I look like a lego person. but somehow I feel more serious? Strange?
I have a locket from birth, age 10, age 21. Each time my hair was the longest it had ever been, and was cut very short. I guess I like to be dramatic.
It is funny people identify so much with a hair style that when it is changed it is like waring a costume.
Haha a lego person. You should shave your head and paint on some hair! haha.
I like feeling strange too. I've been thinking of getting one of those off kilter cuts, where half is shaved, or a bit above the ear and the rest swooshes over the face, so I can toss it out of my eyes whenever I want to look bold and alluring! haha, but then I think how it's actually pretty mundane since many have that cut and it would drive me nuts! haha. I wish I was still into colouring my hair for variety, but I am just not.

I like that you have a locket of hair. I gave away my hair when I cut it, but using it recently has been really fun. And the hair from when my hair was long is so much softer then the hair I got from when it was shorter. So interesting, how soft it gets when it's been on your head for a long time. :)

it is like a costume, and I also like to be dramatic! So much fun to go from long to short and shock everyone! :) thanks for your thoughts. I really like your profile pic, I must look at your work upclose...but I think I have before and love it! :)
I miss my long hair. I miss the weight of it, especially when coming out of the shower. I would tilt my head back looking up to the ceiling and the wet locks would gently caress my back. That was a slice of heaven.

I miss the Samson-like power. The vibe. The energy.

Why, oh why did I cut it?

Perhaps because at well past my belt I ended up wearing it in a pony tail 99.9% of the time.

Even at my now "older age" people would still look at me like I was crazy. Or a "hippie". Or both. Security guards would follow me around in malls even when I wore a suit.

Someone else could use it. Locks of Love was too happy to take my hair. They even sent me a postcard saying so. They would not send me a picture of the child in a "Stevie B. Wig" as I requested, but I understand the reasoning not to.

I am currently regrowing my hair after 2 years or so of keeping it short. Short and long for me was just as easy to "style", short just takes less time. I'll most likely end up donating it again, picture or no picture.

Hair as jewelery. Hmmmm. My hair I would wear. A strangers...I doubt it. Too reminiscent of Mario's Barber Shop on a busy day. Dead hair past the ankles. Red mixing with white mixing with yellow mixing with brown. Like an orgy of split ends. Like a tribute to lice.
Oh I love the way you describe the indulgent qualities of having long hair. So sensous! Sounds like you really love having long hair! I know what you mean about the social roles around hair, including age specific hair styles. I always used to picture myself as very old with long hair and really standing out. Seems like once women reach a certain age they are sent to the barber for the 'poodle' cut. But now that I have short hair, I really like it! But when I see images of myself with long hair I remember all the nice experiences you described, like the 'Samson-like power' you mentioned. :)

I agree with the wearing your own hair as jewellery. I made a piece for myself, but I can't picture selling it for others to wear. I also recently purchased some real hair from online and collegues of mine were saying how it's much more strange to handle and think about wearing because we don't know who's it is.

Thanks so much for your comment, it is very eloquent! A pleasure to read. :)

Rickson

ps I like that you gave your hair away, and am sorry they couldn't supply you with that 'stevie B' child image. :)
Hi Rickson,

I have to say, your "hair" necklace is the first "hair related" piece of art that didnt give me a creep! Its beautiful! I can't quite figure out what about it is not scary to me compared to other hair work, but the elegance of it wins over the creepiness... in my humble opinion...

On long hair/short hair discussion, my boyfriend cries when I chop my hair off every 3 years to donate to "locks of love". I really don't understand guys liking long hair so much! Or maybe that's why I like short hair better just to rebel against the "idealism" of women with long hair being more beautiful/sexy/feminine.... I personally think short hair has more style/charactor/personality. I remember though, the last time I chopped 14" of my hair for donating, I left the hair salon with my ponytail in a zip lock, it really looks strange in there. I felt like it didnt belong to me anymore, or even seeing a part of me dead in a zip lock... Kinda creeped me out... Somehow reminded me of Japanese horror story from the old days about the hair growing doll...(Look it up if you can this is creepy!)

Anyhow, I thought your hair necklace was amazingly well done! Tear one is pretty but I don't think I can connect the dripping is nessesary the tears. I feel like it has to have eyes related somehow...

Hope this was sort of helpful! Great work!
Chihiro
Hi Chihiro,

Thank you so much for your insight. I think I am guilty of rebelling against the feminine 'ideal' for hair style and I also think short hair gives my face more character. I like to see short hair on women. I think, since short hair is predominently a male style, when it is on a women it accentuates her feminine features. Sort of like seeing a man dressed in drag, it accentuates the hair on his face, or his lack of hips and large upper body (his masculine characteristics).

I have also had a bag of my own hair. Though I seem to have this resistence to seeing hair as creepy. If I find some clogged in the sink it creeps me out, but adversely I used to love making patterns with stray strands on the bath sides or shower wall. I think it's because they look like drawn lines.

I looked into the Japanese horror story, but was unable to find the eact story. I did find this modern Japanese horror movie 'Hair Extentions' or 'Ekusute' that is about hair extensions that are carrying the hate and anger of the murdered woman to whom the hair originally belonged. WOW. I attached an image from the movie.

You are the second person to mention 'Locks of Love'. What is it? A charity? I must look into it.

I am very appreciative of your compliments on my piece. I am still trying to figure out why it isn't so creepy, I think the rings shapes make it look more like locks, than hacked strands. :)

I like your comment about the tear piece needing eyes and have actually been looking into making a piece for my eyes, like fake eyelashes with tears. Hopefully you will see what I come up with when I upload pictures.

Thanks again for your thoughts, really worthwhile. :)

Rickson
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Locks of Love

"Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. "

Thus my request for the child wearing my hair :)
Haha, I thought as much. :) Thanks for the info. My boyfriend knew what it was, apparently I am incredibly out of the loop. :)
Rickson,

Your pieces are gorgeous! I love the hair necklace, although I probably wouldn't be able to wear hair jewelry (it would tickle!) myself. I also love the resins pieces...they're very captivating and intriguing.

As a child, I always had a bob/bowl cut hair style (because my stepmom insisted)...as we grew older, we were allowed to let our hair grow longer, and I did. I loved it. I went through cutting it to my shoulders, then growing it, then cutting it again. In January 2002, after a horrible break-up, I chopped my hair off. It went from being below my shoulder blades to being just an inch or so long. It was cute at first, but it very quickly had a negative impact on my self esteem. I already have a tom-boyish look, with very broad shoulders, and short stature (5'4"). I felt like my femininity had vanished and that I looked like a boy. I was crushed. So, I did what I could do while growing it out--played with color and styles. It took me a good 2 years to get it back to the length I wanted. Since then, I've grown it to my belt, and cut it above my shoulders again, and am now growing it out again. But I will most likely never cut it as short as I did.

As for the body hair, I stopped shaving during a "hippie" phase when I was about 14, for a year. I felt much the same way--did not feel comfortable wearing shorts, etc. The armpit hair didn't bother me, but I didn't like that my legs looked like a man's. Like I said, I have a tom-boyish style, and perhaps if I had more of a feminine, skirt wearing style, I would have felt more of a balance. I admire women who can shave their heads and still maintain femininity, and the same goes for body hair. But, it's not for me.
I totally know how you feel Catherine. It's funny how we see ourselves a certain way and it doesn't matter if others care about our long leg hair our not, we do.

Your hair looks really nice in your photo. Is it up? It looks really short. :) I was so scared to cut my hair, hair stylists and friens always thought I was too tall and said I would look like a giraffe, or a boy haha. I do find that there are definetly different short styles for men and women becuase I cut my hair short myself once and everyone thought I looked liek a boy, but then I got it professionally cut and people loved it. I find the pixie look with the points of hair in front of the ears is definetly a feminine look.

Thank you for your comments. :)

Rickson
To add a little bit to your story about not shaving your legs, I did a similar experiment with my armpits. My boyfriend at the time would always ask me to lower my arms if I ever raised them while wearing a short sleeve or sleeveless top, and I found that I wouldn't wear them in public because I was self conscious of how others would view me. I personally didn't mind not shaving, but when I did start again felt very exposed at first. Not long before this I buzzed my head. My hair use to about mid-back length, but I cut it to about 1/4". The different reactions and that I got from people I knew and people I didn't know was very interesting. I'm from a very mountain rural area, so in the winter time when a figure is coved under many layers, most people assumed I was a young man, and some were really shocked to learn that I was a female.

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