Appearances

I have noticed something over the last month or two, but especially since coming back to school. For the longest time I have had a certain hair style, more or less what you see in my profile picture right now. I will put it right here since my profile picture won't be permanent. This picture is from around three years ago as I recall, but it will give you an idea of my hair style up until recently. This summer I decided to get it cut way back. Part of the reason was because I was working outside a ton and wanted a cooler hair cut, but I also wanted to try something different.

With that in mind, I got my hair cut fairly short. I don't think it has been this short since probably some time in Elementary School (found some photographic evidence of this on an old science fair project poster, unfortunately I don't have a picture of that.) Basically my new hair cut highly resembles my brother's preferred style, which he has had for a few years now. He eventually started cutting his own hair and is pretty good with most of it by now. Yes, he cut my hair for me. This was the Saturday before he left for New Orleans to go to the National Youth Gathering for about a week. Anyways, we now looked even more alike. If before people were confusing us for each other, it only got worse. (I'm fine with that, but I couldn't understand why people kept doing it when I had relatively long hair and he had the short hair. Now it is completely understandable because we more or less have the same hair length.) There must be a dozen or two photos of my new hair cut, but I don't think I have access to any of them yet. I'll have to update when I do get a hold of them.

On the whole, I like my new hair cut. People say my brother and I could be twins, but since we have parted ways (I go to school at UCLA and he just started his first year at UoP) it is pretty hard for people to make that comparison. Except when I was moving into my new apartment a few weeks ago, my roommate thought I was my brother at first. My old hair cut made me look younger than my age (I got a "you don't look 21" a few weeks before the major cut), but I've also heard that my new hair cut makes me look even younger. Hard for me to be objective about it, but I have noticed that a whole lot of college students have similar hair cuts, at least around here.

Back to appearances, my old look seemed to make people assume I was smart. Perhaps it is the glasses. Again, it is hard for me to get much objective data on the subject (which is subjective, ha). I am smart, so that is fine. Not to sound boastful, but it is true. I'm not sure what my new look makes people think, since it has only been a month or two. (My hair grows pretty quickly, so just before moving up to UCLA, I got a second hair cut, which made my hair even shorter than the initial one. Coming up on two weeks with that new hair cut and already my hair is quite noticeably longer.) Coming back to school has allowed me to notice one interesting thing. It is often very hard for people to recognize me now.

Some people from previous classes haven't recognized me when I pass them on the way to class and try to talk. One of my professors from last quarter, one I had taken two classes with, seemed to have difficulty recognizing me at first. I spoke with one of the librarians lately about some things, this is somebody I met last spring and talked with for a while, and she hasn't seemed to recognize me. I find it fascinating how one small change can make all the difference. I also didn't consider how this might impact my ability to get a job. My current hair cut looks a bit better than my previous one in terms of professionalism, in my opinion. However, some of the recruiters and professionals I talked to during the Spring didn't recognize me. My distinctive look has changed so in some ways I am at a disadvantage. Hopefully it will all work out for the best in the end.

Stay Awesome,
Chris Hall