There are occasional instances of male characters' longer hair being met with significant disapproval in the color seasons of My Three Sons, the most obvious example being from Season 6's "Whatever Happened to Baby Chip?" (Ep. 21, Feb. 1966). Chip's long hair is the main subject of the episode. Jay North plays Chip's friend Jeff Welch, and he too has let his hair grow long. Here's how Chip looks after Steve has been away:

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Several other examples:

Ray Wong disapproves of the long hair of his son-in-law in Season 9.

An old man in Bryant Park disapproves of Rob's 'longish' hair in Season 10, at the same time indicating he finds Katie's dress too short.

Barbara disapproves of the long hair of a boy named Neal, played by Jon Walmsley in Season 11.

Steve's boss Bob Anderson disapproves of his son's long hair in the series finale (Season 12).

We'll have a look at some of these episodes as we go. Those are some of the most obvious cases.

Men's long hair generally at times was considered a sign of counterculture or hippie lifestyles in prior decades, and that was reflected on occasion on M3S. Interestingly, earlier on in TV sitcom history we had June's disapproval of Wally's mustache on Leave It to Beaver. Likewise when Ricky began to grow one on I Love Lucy. So while not the same, still they were examples of appearance changes met with great disapproval -- for whatever reasons.

Here's Jay North as Jeff Welch, as mentioned in the initial post:

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"When I was younger man I hadn't a care
Fooling around, hitting the town, growing my hair"

And now Henry Soo, son-in-law of Ray Wong (season 9, "Honorable Expectant Grandfather," Feb. 1969),
also mentioned to start things off. Played by Brian Fong:

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Henry's hair is not really all that long, despite Ray being very annoyed with his appearance
and saying "he has that long hair!"

Here from the series finale we see Gordon Anderson, son of Bob & Sylvia, played by
Russell Schulman (Season 12, aired April 1972). The Andersons have told him to
have his hair cut, but he refuses. Other aspects of Gordon's appearance also trouble
them: bare feet and patched jeans:

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^My bet is that's a toupee/wig. Possibly also for Jay North.

Also Henry's hair is very typical of the late 60s.

That was totally in real life too! I remember when boys were growing their hair long in the 60's and 70's! The older folks complained a lot about it !;)

Here's Jon Walmsley as Ernie's friend Neal in Season 11, Feb. 1971. Jon is best known for his role as Jason on The Waltons. Barbara asks Neal, "Why did you grow that long hair?" and theorizes he is 'hiding' behind it, when analyzing his shyness.

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Here's Jon Walmsley as Ernie's friend Neal in Season 11, Feb. 1971. Jon is best known for his role as Jason on The Waltons. Barbara asks Neal, "Why did you grow that long hair?" and theorizes he is 'hiding' behind it, when analyzing his shyness.

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Yes !! I just saw that episode on the Catchy Comedy weekend binge a couple of weeks ago ! I was like he looks familiar ? Than it came to me, oh wow, Jason from the Waltons ! :);)

Here we see Robbie in the Season 10 episode "You Can't Go Home" (Feb. 1970), in which an elderly Bryant Park resident (played by Burt Mustin) expresses disapproval of the length of his hair when he and Katie visit:

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"Don't let them say your hair's too long
'Cause I don't care, with you I can't go wrong"

Here's Jon Walmsley as Ernie's friend Neal in Season 11, Feb. 1971. Jon is best known for his role as Jason on The Waltons. Barbara asks Neal, "Why did you grow that long hair?" and theorizes he is 'hiding' behind it, when analyzing his shyness.


I just watched this episode and I kept thinking Ernie's shy friend Neal was a girl. It wasn't until Barbara asked them, "What are you boys going to want for lunch?" that I finally realized Neal was a young man. Sorry, he had a very soft voice which confused me as well.

As a young boy I had longer hair and was mistaken for a little girl.

I'm wondering if they made some sort of wig for Jon Walmsley in that episode. Then maybe he took it off later after he supposedly had his hair cut.

That would be a good question for Jon.

I wanted to return to Chip's long hair in Season 6 for a moment. Here's how Chip looks after his trim, actually not particularly bad IMO. Charley still disapproves strongly. Sideswept bangs:

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The family continues to react as though his hair is still radically long. Steve for the first time sees Chip following his absence and is shocked. But the overall length has been taken up significantly; when Chip turns around in that scene, you can see his collar:

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My brother's hair looked a LOT like that in the late 1970s, although not looking quite as full overall (his hair was more fine than mine).

As a young boy I had longer hair and was mistaken for a little girl.

Be glad you also didn't have sisters and a mother like min - yeah.