Treatise on the ethics of the man-bun

I think it’s mostly because it’s a terrible, ridiculous-looking hairstyle, and people mock it by calling it out as a “man-bun”. It isn’t simply a neat, tidy, stylish-looking bun that happens to be on a man’s head; a “man-bun” is typically a messy-looking clod of long, uncombed hair pulled into a wad and held there with rubber bands or hemp twine or something. Usually accompanied by an unkempt beard.

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Well like most fads, not everyone can pull it off and look like they aren’t trying too hard. The majority of men i’ve seen with one looked like they were trying, but there have been a few rare exceptions.

Edit: I am a bit relieved i missed the “man bun” fad. I grew out my hair when i was in college down past my shoulders. I still would love to grow it out again, but i work at an office and i’m pretty sure my boss would not like it.

My take on the “man bun” thing was that it may have started as a way to make something innocuous more manly and/or sexy. But it ended up being mocked. It’s not too different from other attempts to make normal things “manly” that didn’t need to be. Stuff like guyliner comes to mind (eyeliner for men) and there’s also RompHim’s.

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Don’t forget the murse.

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Just upgrade and get a messenger bag or a classy leather case. I’ve been lusting over one of Saddleback’s leather bags for a long time though i can’t afford the expense. A former manager of mine has one and i got to see it up close and it’s awesome. Honestly wouldn’t care if someone called it a murse haha.

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Nah.
Women do that exact same messy thing (except for the beard in most cases)… and it’s still just called a bun.

Plus, messy ponytails and wheaty braids on dudes are still just called ‘ponytails’ and ‘braids’ - even if their beard is also unkempt.

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But it’s still a “man bun”, whether you like it or not.
And congratulations, thread successfully derailed.

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… It’s not too different from other attempts to make normal things “manly” that didn’t need to be. Stuff like guyliner comes to mind…

Ahh. So, perhaps the people wearing or promoting the hair style added the ‘man’ to masculinize (aka de-feminize) it…?

Good point. A very solid possibility.
Fragile masculinity strikes again.

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And congratulations, thread successfully derailed.

I don’t think the thread was derailed.
You did see the title of the post, yes? The subject I replied to others about is part of the title of the article.

Besides, plenty of people conversed about the part you were probably focused on.

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Actually it’s short for mango, which is what the bun sort of looks like. Mango-bun. See?

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He has a heroic man-bun because he is a street samurai, all up in the evil-doer’s junky trunk!

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Maybe he thought he was this guy:

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Hang on. We’re talkin about David Beckham, Jared Leto, et al.

I’m more annoyed by the cultural misappropriation of the chonmage than I am the gendered term.

ETA: /s

Dude, c’mon; split the thread into a new topic if you have to, but don’t encourage them.

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Well, surely if it wasn’t important, it wouldn’t be in the headline, right?

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Hmm, and he was wearing that hairstyle to blend in as an undercover cop.

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While wearing his badge in plain sight.

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I can see I failed to close my sarcasm tag. My apologies.

I used to have a man-bun in college. Mainly because I had long and silky hair (because I washed it and never did anything abusive to it, and it was naturally super straight and rarely tangled) and as a result many female friends would put it into various styles. Being the easy going guy I was, I would wear said styles to class the rest of the day.

The most amusing man-bun was possibly when I spent a term in Japan with a bunch of other international students. There was a clique of Chinese/Taiwanese gals who would give me the chopstick bun 'do and laugh like maniacs. Whatever man! It’s just hair.

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If there were another descriptive term for it in common use, it would be better. But I don’t think the intention is to disparage. We have always called blonde kids with dreadlocks “White Rastas”, even though we have no issues with White people, Rastafarians or even White Rastafarians. It is just a descriptor.
But often, people adopt particular styles of dress or hair to send messages about how they view themselves. Not always, but often. You would not want to make assumptions about characteristics that are out of the person’s control. But when they take the effort to achieve a particular look, it is reasonable to think that they want the association. If I see someone wearing a counterfeit Adidas track suit, I assume that they want to be perceived as Ukrainian.
Appearances can be deceiving, But if you don’t know the person, all you can go on is pattern recognition.