Long-hair
I've always (well pretty much always) had long hair. For quite some time I had it in a mullet (although I didn't really realize that. I just had it long in the back and Tina liked it short on top). Recently (within the last year) I decided to grow it all out. It is almost long enough to put in a pony-tail now. Not quite... but close enough that with some hair-spray it works.

Anyway... it is kind of interesting to see how I am treated differently because of my long hair (not longer recently, but pretty much my entire adult life). Two main things I notice. The first I've noticed for quite some time, the second just recently.

1. Fast-food, 7/11, etc. help tend to treat me as an equal. There will be someone in a suit, etc. and the service person will be like, "How may I help you sir. Is there anything else you'd like?", etc. But with me they are always like, "Hey dude, hows it going?", etc. I actually perfer the informalness of it... and it is one of the perks of having long hair. I think this is especially true as I get older. At 45 it kind of gives me a lift to have a 20-year old call me "dude", "man", "bud" and not "sir". :-)
   
2. People tend not to trust you when you walk up to their car window. This has happend a few times in the last month. I broke down at work and there was this car that stopped and looked like maybe they were trying to see if I needed help. I couldn't see the person and thought maybe it was someone from work. (I was still at work). So I walked up to the window and this middle-age woman had a look of fright on her face. Like I was going to mug her or something. Then last night I left work and the guy behind me had his lights off. It was about dusk and it was kind of hard for me to see him. Going down Garden of the Gods Rd, I noticed quite a bit of traffic pulling onto the road. (Lots of people leaving work). I started thinking, "Maybe someone won't see him and pull out right in front of him." So I'm thinking if I should signal him somehow. We go through several lights (me being a block ahead of him at times) and finally we pull up to a light and he is right behind me. So, I figure "Oh well", jump out and run back to his window. He just stares at me... so I yell, "Your headlights are off" and jump back in my car. A few blocks later I turned off, and he still had his lights off. Oh well... I gave it a shot.

All in all... I think the advantages out-weight the disadvantages. :-)