Faq

What is a Skinhead?

Following on the heels of their older brothers and sisters, the Mods (See: What is Mods?), in the 1960's British working class youth adopted a shorter hair style and a more serious attitude towards life and play.

The skinheads tended towards physical labour and veered away from the overly flamboyant Mod style of dress as spoken of in the Kinks' song "Dedicated Follower of Fashion". The shave head and steel toed boots has been said to have originated amongst dock workers who required the safety of the steel toes and who shave their heads as a precaution against head lice.

It is the Skinheads predilection towards manual labour rather than more intellectual pursuits which has lead to the characterization of Skinheads as being "unintelligent", "Cro-Magnons", "cannon-fodder for the military" and other more or less polite references. This stereotype is just as abhorrent as any other stereotype that 'rights' activist campaign against and it is a perfect example of the hypocrisy of these same activist that they are the ones who perpetuate it the most.

After a hard days work the original Skinheads tended to dress in their most respectable clothing and congregate at the mostly Jamaican run dancehall where they mingled with the West Indian community(See: What is Rudy), many of whose members would be their workmates from the docks, and adopted Ska as the musical sound of choice.

Other staples of the Skinhead culture are a love of generous quantities of beer and soccer.

The early Skins were not necessarily a racist bunch, as shown by the melding of the two cultures and the existence of numerous West Indian Skins. With the continued immigration from Pakistan things changed and a number of Skinheads, both black and white who felt that their jobs were being threatened turned against Pakistani community while others continued to enjoy the fine curries and other Indian/Pakistani foods.

The high point of the original Skins, sometimes identified as Trojan Skins was the Summer of 69. the passage of time saw many Skins setting down, growing their hair out, and starting families with their girlfriends (See: What is Chelsea?)

The mid and late 1970's witnessed a resurgence of the Skinheads culture with a violent turn as teens adopted the Skinheads look and took their love of soccer to a fanatical point. These "Football Hooligans" were devoted to their chosen Football (Soccer) teams and would engage in physical confrontations with the supporters of opposing teams. Often enough innocent bystanders ended up taking the brunt of the aggression.

During this time the British Nazi Party and other minor racist organizations began recruiting their followers from the ranks of these football thugs and skinhead poseurs and thus the Boneheads came into being.

(Gerrard A. Lindsay) writes:
uh……skinheads is more than fashion sense and musical taste, but it definitely requires the two. Aside from working class pride and self-respect the skinhead cult is still just that, a youth cult.
I know plenty of guys who are proud working class joes who are not by any definition skinheads. I know tons of cool people in construction boots and baggy pants who are not skinheads.
This isn't even really directed at you, I'm just seeing lots of people using the it's not just a fashion' or it's not just a music' thing to excuse the fact that they are not really skinheads. If you don't dress like a skinhead and don't like at least some of the music (and that don't mean he), yer not one.

Richard Collins writes:
Being a skinhead is a lot in your heart. I mean the fashion is all part of it but you have to have the belief as well. Some kids can dress the part but not have the heart, sorry for that rhyme. But I have friends that have grown out their hair because of jobs or whatever, I know guys that are too old to bother with a lot of the BS around the scene. They still dress in a manner condusive (sp) to the skinhead fashion. For years I just had short hair. Never bald, only as short as a number two. People didn't even know I was a skin. Skins knew, punks knew, mods and other people that are familiar with the subculture knew. You don't have to show the world what you are about unless you feel that it is necessary.

Hey you don't gotta claim anything unless you are in a crew. I mean if you are a proud working class kid who knows your roots and believes in yourself you are just as much a skin as the next man. It's not all about what you wear or how close you shave the scalp. If I grew out my hair again I'm no less of a skinhead. Some people look shitty bald, do the world a favor leave your crew cut if you have funky head. I mean just look at all those bald head NBA players, half of those guys need to grow it back. Skinhead is more than a fashion statement, it's a way of life.