I need a haircut that says "I'm queer!" in Asheville

April 23, 2015 9:11 AM

My hair's grown out a bit over the last two months, but I haven't been in one place long enough to get a cut. But now I'm in Asheville! For a week! So now I just need to a) find a place to get my hair cut, and b) what sort of hair would look right, given all my snowflake tendencies?

Here's my current mop.

Re style, I have some restrictions: I'm biking (travel, next two months) so it helps if I look semi decent even with helmet hair (my current "style" looks awful after being under a helmet for 8 hours, so most things would be an improvement). I *can't* use any product, since I can't spare the weight; I have to make do with comb, fingers, and water.

It'd be nice if my hair could make people stop assuming I'm a straight dude - I'm not really either (queer, gender indeterminate). But I'm not really sure what hair is in that space? I used to dye my hair all sorts of colors, but that's not feasible at the moment (see bikes).

I was thinking maybe an undercut or something like that, but is that read as queer on people who are read as male? Is it just trendy? Am I behind the times? Does it require a lot of upkeep?

I have access to a car for the next week, so I can get pretty much anywhere. In a perfect world, there'd be a place with a genderqueer stylists or something, but my (nonexhaustive) searches haven't yielded anything yet.

(I'll be in Nashville for a few days in a week or two, so in a pinch, I can just wait until I get there.)

posted by you could feel the sky to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

As far as I know, there aren't any specific queer cuts. Undercut is the closest? It doesn't specifically read as queer, as a lot of straight and cis guys wear it too.

Any salon should be able to do it.
posted by pando11 at 9:25 AM on April 23, 2015

I think you could totally rock a hairstyle like Noelle Stevenson's.
posted by jillithd at 9:26 AM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Bear in mind that depending on how your undercut is done, you may really need some product. (I look like a mop without surfers paste.) But yeah, that reads the most queer to me. I like mine because I can switch it up depending on how genderqueer I feel on a given day.
posted by kalimac at 9:38 AM on April 23, 2015

Your awesome androgynous features could totally play off an undercut, especially an asymmetric one. I'm a short-haired lady and I would totally do Booker DeWitt's haircut from Bioshock Infinite if I thought I could pull it off. (Hover over the image for closeup.) I think you could wear that cut really well.

And seconding something like paste or wax. I have superfine hair and a teensy bit of wax makes a lot of difference in keeping things piece-y.
posted by mochapickle at 9:45 AM on April 23, 2015

Going off-question a bit: If you specifically want to avoid getting mistaken for a straight dude, I suspect shaping your eyebrows just slightly, in addition to anything you do with your hair, might make a surprisingly big difference. It's subtle but it's something straight dudes rarely do, and changes how your face is "read." But maybe it'd be too easy to end up being read as female instead of queer?
posted by cogitron at 11:48 AM on April 23, 2015 [3 favorites]