At 30 years of age I left my comfy corporate employment to travel the world. Over 11 months I traveled alone through 28 countries over six continents with a backpack, chronicling my stories and experiences on followchris.me, my first personal writing endeavor.
With job, home and family, I left behind my identity: the classic, buttoned up, high-and-tight, clean-shaven, all-American businessman. For the first time in life I successfully grew my hair long and began wearing facial hair, a year of travel serving the perfect transition.
Those weren’t the only physical changes. It was during this formative year I began integrating fitness into my life. Since then I’ve maintained a consistent fitness regimen that’s become a central pillar, a source of strength and confidence.
As destiny would have it, the newly long locks would also pave the way for something special, which would become the most important pursuit: The Longhairs. What began as a side project with El Moreno, has become the business we’ve staked our livelihoods on.
You could say the trip around the world has shaped my life. While I knew it would in many ways, I couldn’t have guessed in a thousand years the path would lead to a worldwide fraternity for men with long hair, or selling Hair Ties For Guys™.
Having spent some years dormant, it’s time to revive Follow Chris. Republished here are the writings from my transcendent journey and the year that followed, with a new home and a new place for things that should be written.
I don’t know what they’re gonna say when it’s all said and done. But they’re not gonna say he played it safe.
Follow Chris 