do some mens' haircuts spell out the wrong message?

Twice recently I have been seen with a man with a short haircut brushed forward with no parting and another man has reacted against this.

The first time I was going home with a man my own age (early fifties) and another man I knew from my local pub (and who I always have to run away from at closing time because he he married and I don't do married men) said thathe was worried about me because he thought my new friend looked 'rough'.

Then last night I was at my local pub on Wednesday which is our acoustic music night (the pub is the Beacon Vaults in Exmouth and one of my poems is about it) with this mans' friend who looks fairly similar and wears his hair the same way. Roy, who runs the music night asked me to give up my seat for the banjo player. This is normal procedure. However he then added very sharply indeed 'take your mate with you.'

I have always seen this type of hair as simply a hair style for men who works outdoors. One of my friends works as a self-employed line fisherman in the summer and the other one is employed as a scaffolded in the construction industry and it makes sense for them to have short hair thatis easily managed.

In fact, longer hair could be a hazard at work as if was able to blow into an eye it would make them vulnerable to wind and weather. If this happened at a crucial moment and caused a lapse in concentration this could lead to injury or even loss of life.

Is there something I have missed?

Is this style of hair a my-age version of the seventies 'skinhead' or 'number four' haircut? Does it send out a message of a male readiness to be drawn towards trouble and fighting?