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samton
09-14-2016, 15:58
This may seem like a silly question but where do thru hikers get hair cuts? Does anyone get them on the trail? When I do my through hike I knowi 'll need one.

TNhiker
09-14-2016, 16:05
i would think most towns would have a barber or something similar.........

if not---swiss army knife............

Greenlight
09-14-2016, 16:15
The traditional picture of a thru-hiker is someone who lets his hair go and takes on a Grizzly Adams persona. I doubt that I'll go that route. Field hygiene is much easier with hair less than half an inch long. I've experimented with a beard since retiring from the military and can go four or five days before feeling "scuzzy" so my plan is to get my head shaved every couple of weeks and shave my face whenever I get a motel room or stay in a hostel. Nothing fancy, and every town of a certain size has a barber. I'll wait for him. And I'll shower before going to see him (or her) too. Easy peasy.

samton
09-14-2016, 16:30
Likei said it sounds silly but i'm trying to be as informed as possible

Cheyou
09-14-2016, 16:45
Yes they do . DR John got a nice cut before HF . He looked almost civilized.

thom

garlic08
09-14-2016, 18:05
On a multi-month hike, I'll get my haircut at least once, and not necessarily on a zero day. On the AT, I found a barber with an open chair as I was walking out of a half-day stop in Manchester Center, VT. Opportunities are plentiful.

Coffee
09-14-2016, 18:16
Many towns have a barber. If I'm out for a while I like to get a haircut and shave before going home, especially if I'm flying.

jj dont play
09-14-2016, 18:48
It's against the rules to cut your hair on a thru hike.

However, Port Clinton barber is a good one, there's plenty places along the trail and opportunities to cut your hair if you must...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

samton
09-14-2016, 20:44
Well I am losing my hair so it might not matter by then

Lone Wolf
09-14-2016, 20:49
This may seem like a silly question but where do thru hikers get hair cuts? Does anyone get them on the trail? When I do my through hike I knowi 'll need one.

let your freak flag fly. don't need no stinkin haircut

Dogwood
09-14-2016, 20:50
All ya all can go Grizzly Adams Long Beard ZZ Top Jeremiah Johnson style thru-hiking the AT in summer in the east coast's high humidity. I'll get my curly locks chopped down to something more manageable and less likely to gather dirt and get skin rashes on my face. The AT isn't always the wilderness hike some think it is. You'll be passing places to get your tresses trimmed at town stops. What I've done on some occasions is buy a hair buzzer with different attachments at WallyWorld or a Dollar General for less than $10, have someone or myself buzz cut me, trim my pit and chest hair, clean the buzzers off and then swab with alcohol, and leave at a hostel or in a hiker box for the next GQ trail wannabe. :) Sorry no pube trimming allowed!

Winter different story.

ATBuckles
09-14-2016, 21:15
One of the shelters I stayed at in Virginia had a pair of hair clippers and a couple of the dudes I was with shaved their faces with it. Glasgow? The town with the giant dinosaur... someone will know what I'm talking about...

MuddyWaters
09-14-2016, 23:53
If u cut hair, shave, how will anyone know your a thru hiker?

Traillium
09-15-2016, 07:35
If u cut hair, shave, how will anyone know your a thru hiker?

By your stink …


Bruce Traillium, brucetraillium.wordpress.com

Tennessee Viking
09-15-2016, 09:33
Free or cheap haircuts at Trail Days.

samton
09-15-2016, 09:49
Free or cheap haircuts at Trail Days.
See I learned something new.��

perrymk
09-15-2016, 11:17
I've been experimenting with battery powered electric shavers. Some designs could be used to cut hair, not just shave head. Short styles like a crew cut probably easier though.

Going to a local barber might be fun for the local flavor of the town though. Sort of like going to a local restaurant instead of McD.

Puddlefish
09-15-2016, 12:15
I found a few barbershops in the southern trail towns, all closed on Sundays! There was an electric clipper in the bathroom at Uncle Johnny's in Erwin, TN. I wasn't brave enough to use it.

I finally got my scraggly hair and beard shaved off entirely at Bucks Cuts, in Roan Mountain, TN. Owned by a friendly guy named John, were a bunch of old guys with perfect hair sitting around gabbing all day. Great place.

Bronk
09-15-2016, 17:07
While I had long hair before my thru attempt, I carried a beard trimmer that I used to shave with...didn't get a real close shave but kept a full beard from growing.

Bronk
09-15-2016, 17:07
Now that I have short hair I used the beard trimmer to shave my head about every 2 weeks.

rafe
09-15-2016, 17:13
My two longest hikes were 60 days and 42 days. I didn't bother with haircuts or shaving on either one.

Coffee
09-15-2016, 19:01
I look at least ten years older with a mostly grey beard. I shave at lease weekly on a long hike. It's easier to hitch this way as well, IMO.

evyck da fleet
09-15-2016, 19:33
I cut my hair real short before starting and didn't need a haircut until about PA when the humidity and length started to get to me. I got it cut while visiting friends in NY. But I also shaved every couple of weeks because I looked ridiculous since it doesn't come in.

You'll find the 40 years old tend to stay clean to look younger and the twenty-somethings usually let their freak flag fly.

As mentioned, it helps getting a hitch if you don't look homeless.

Coffee
09-15-2016, 20:08
You'll find the 40 years old tend to stay clean to look younger and the twenty-somethings usually let their freak flag fly.
.
Yeah the youngsters on the PCT who let their beards grow out looked like cool hipsters by Kennedy Meadows. I looked like grandpa just with one week of beard growth.

greensleep
09-16-2016, 10:12
let your freak flag fly. don't need no stinkin haircut

Up until I was 55 yo letting my beard and hair grow for months wasn't much of an issue; had that "Miami Vice"(for the older crowd) or "hipster" look with the occasional trim. Now, I look homeless instead of virile with the same growth. Hair color makes a difference; when my hair was dark---looked interesting, now hair is gray/white---looks sad.

Coffee
09-16-2016, 10:14
Up until I was 55 yo letting my beard and hair grow for months wasn't much of an issue; had that "Miami Vice"(for the older crowd) or "hipster" look with the occasional trim. Now, I look homeless instead of virile with the same growth. Hair color makes a difference; when my hair was dark---looked interesting, now hair is gray/white---looks sad.

Yeah, the gray/white thing looks bad on me as well on a beard (my head would be mostly gray if I didn't dye it to salt-n-pepper). Some older guys can pull off the Santa look but at 43 I'm at least 10 years away from feeling like that is acceptable ... lol ... it is all silly vanity.

Puddlefish
09-16-2016, 12:24
Met about a half dozen tall guys with bushy beards on the trail this spring. They must have had them for a year prior to starting. They were all nice guys and I remembered all of their names, but it was kind of amusing when you were discussing them with other hikers. Oh, the tall guy with the dark beard, with the Osprey pack, who hangs a hammock, yeah I met him!

Coffee
09-16-2016, 12:49
Hahaha -- it's like the 53rd SOBO JMT hiker of the day at 11am one day (I was hiking NOBO) who asked me if I had seen a girl with brown hair wearing an Osprey pack a couple of hours before... I got a lot of these questions.

GoLight
09-16-2016, 15:46
I wonder how much a full grown head of hair, mustache and beard weighs? Could be an easy way to cut weight, yes?

Puddlefish
09-16-2016, 15:50
I wonder how much a full grown head of hair, mustache and beard weighs? Could be an easy way to cut weight, yes?

Have to balance it with the weight of a hat I need to carry for being bald.

hobby
09-16-2016, 17:26
Up until I was 55 yo letting my beard and hair grow for months wasn't much of an issue; had that "Miami Vice"(for the older crowd) or "hipster" look with the occasional trim. Now, I look homeless instead of virile with the same growth. Hair color makes a difference; when my hair was dark---looked interesting, now hair is gray/white---looks sad.

After about 10 days I think I have the "Miami Vice" look-------but my wife says I look more like "Earnest T. Bass"<---only the really old folks will know this!! :confused:

GoLight
09-17-2016, 11:14
Actually, as it turns out, a lot of other people on the internet have asked this question about cutting hair to reduce weight. It seems 12 inches of dry hair weighs one ounce or two ounces wet. Sorry, its a slow day here, needed something to think about :-?

Fredt4
09-17-2016, 13:35
It's simple, you're a section hiker with nothing to worry about.

rickb
09-17-2016, 19:31
let your freak flag fly. don't need no stinkin haircut

Was your beard born on a thu hike?

jjozgrunt
09-17-2016, 21:34
Actually, as it turns out, a lot of other people on the internet have asked this question about cutting hair to reduce weight. It seems 12 inches of dry hair weighs one ounce or two ounces wet. Sorry, its a slow day here, needed something to think about :-?

That could be about 3ozs for a full body shave. The weight savings!!!! I wonder if fellow walkers would help out with those hard to reach places on the trail?

Traveler
09-18-2016, 07:20
If you see a lot of folks shielding their eyes when you approach them, or violently pull children out of your way, the "Full Sasquatch" look may be beneficial.