Why are haircuts and shaving important to NTs?

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Because it's trendy, and because I am highly into fashion, I am busy with shaving when needed and having a cool haircut

I am very self conscious about my split ends, I have so many of them that my hair has appeared to stop growing. I am just more self conscious about the fact that getting my hair cut is excruciating for me and I have broken out into tears every time. I didn't even know what Aspergers was until a couple weeks ago. Until then, I thought was either completely crazy or a different species altogether.

The only reason I get my hair cut is it's difficult to comb after washing with a lot of split ends. I have been like this myself, not wanting to get a hair cut, dreading it, but it hasn't been enough to cause me to break out in tears at the thought of going. It was enough to cause me to avoid going. Then, I went thru a phase of getting my hair done a lot, even bleached blond. I got one hair cut I liked a lot but the lady who did it stopped cutting hair because she was going to have a baby and she wasn't making enough money for day care. I was on a continual search for that exact hair cut for a while but no one else could do it the same way. I've pretty much given up on ever finding that hair cut again
Now, I am back into the dreading phase for some reason. I haven't gotten anything done in a while and have darker roots/lighter ends but my hair is getting VERY difficult to comb after a shower and if I don't comb it until it's dry, it dries in all sorts of strange directions.
So, I will have to get it cut very soon. I am planning on getting three inches taken off.
It's easiest for me if I just walk into a place and get it cut as quick as possible. You can get yours trimmed without getting it washed first
The washing is very uncomfortable for me because of the sink and my neck.
Many style shops give you a choice, they will wash it for you first, then cut it, or they will cut it without washing it. If you go into a salon in the middle of the week, during the day when it isn't busy, and ask to get the split ends trimmed from your hair with no wash first, it should only take around fifteen minutes and costs under $20 depending on where you are. It's worth it because it's easier to comb your hair afterwards

Something to ponder, if you want people to look past your looks and at your actual personality attributes, you don't want them to get stuck on thinking about your hygiene issues. If they keep thinking, "Disgusting! He/She has bad hygiene!" then I would think they're not going to care about personality or even to get to know you. Caring about looks/hygiene doesn't necessarily mean you have to dress up pompous.

I think of that as a very good rationale.

I don't break out into tears at the thought of going, but every time I actually get my hair cut I do. I was 17 last time and did it even then. So I've been putting it off forever. Thank you for the advice though, I will probably take the "run in and get the split ends cut off quickly" route next time. Maybe even some time soon. I certainly need to.

Odd story: my roommate in college last year had long hair (he wanted to go for the Slash look), and one morning when we both had 8:30 AM classes, we got up early to get breakfast in the cafteria. He took his normal shower and everything that morning, and because it was a particulary cold day, his hair froze on the walk from our dorm to the caf.

As for me, I like having my hair/beard maintained - mainly for the reason that I work as a private security guard, so if I had a bad appearance, it would look bad in the eyes of clients or customers of my agency.

You're welcome
I can't tell by your photo...do you have bangs? It looks like you have them...do you trim them yourself? Some people trim their own hair and can do a fairly good job. What you do is take a small pair of scissors, like cuticle scissors but sharp enough to cut hair, and take your ends in your fingers and snip about an inch off each one. Make sure not to cut a section more than one time or it will be uneven. If your hair is long enough, you can measure it in your fingers. You can get a lot of split ends off this way without it looking really crooked. It's good for longer hair, but, not a good idea for hair that's too short to see the ends of in a mirror or by looking. This way you can avoid going to the stylist altogether.
Usually when I go, I don't say much of anything, just sit there and hope it's over with fast, lol. I don't like it when they ask me what I do for a living. I don't feel like telling them personal things about myself. This is the part of it I dread more than actually getting my hair cut. I can tell they are just as uncomfortable with me as I am with them which is why I just want them to hurry. Most of the time they do hurry. Once in a while I find one that talks a lot and takes a really long time. I can't remember what I was having done, but I was somewhere once that took forever.
If you go to get it cut, make sure it's at a time when lots of stylists will be standing around waiting for walk ins, then you won't have to wait a while thinking about how much you will dread getting it done. I try never to get my hair cut during the weekend because they are always busy. I am going to go and get mine cut soon, too, maybe on Tuesday or Thursday.

That's like asking the rational reason for why people don't like the smell of s**t. You're asking the wrong question. Logic isn't a motivation itself; it's a means to a motivation.

Actually there is a logic behind desire to avoid bad hygiene and your own excrement.

For your excrement - you don't eat it or wallow in it because you can catch disease. Hence the disgust reflex at the sight of excrement.

As for hygiene and grooming. Healthy animals generally have shining eyes, firm strong limbs and bodies and a healthy coat (and if you are a dog, wet nose). Things like discharge from the eyes or nostrils, bad (to others of that species) smell, matted fur, fur which is falling off, dull eyes, etc. often point to malnutrition, injury or disease. When you are sick you don't have the energy to groom (which a lot of animals spend a fair about of time doing).

Often it is wise to avoid those who are sick and diseased because of the possibility of catching the disease yourself. Hence the disgust reflex at "signs" of sickness and disease.

Of course with exposure people can get used to disgusting things (hence why different societies have different ideas of say how much bathing is required to be hygienic) or can force themselves to endure it.

And in highly social animals like human grooming is also a sign to others e.g. which "group" you belong to. Not even the old high school, hey everyone in the same group wears the same things sort of thing. In past societies, people in different social groups had to wear different markings.

Requiring good hygiene is actually a healthy, good logical thing. Modern hygiene has resulted in dramatic decreases of disease and things like lice and bed bugs.

Where society goes wrong is when "fashion" requires things which go against our natural instincts and vear into the unhealthy and reduces the physical fitness of people such as being ultra skinny, the corsets which made women not be able to breath or foot binding. Actually there is a sense of logic even in that.

It is the natural human tendency to think that if X is good, even more of X is good. Then it escalates in a war of arms. I imagine it started out just a little bit. And then as everyone did it in order to compete people would bind their feet even smaller. While the end result may seem ridiculous compared to the original feet in pre-Ming dynasty times for the people at the time, each step was only a little bit more severe than what was "normal". No middle/high class woman back then in China could make a decent marriage unless she had her feet bound. And it's not as if a lone woman could make a living at that point. Hence logically according to the dictates of her society at the time, the best option would be to have her feet bound, even if it doesn't make any sense according to physical fitness or efficiency. Then, when the women were so hobbled they could hardly move, China got conquered

The foot binding (plus the generally oppressed role of women in China) was actually used as one of the arguments of the revolutionaries because they said China was weak partly because while other countries were using their women, Chinese women were weak (they could hardly move since they were babies! And the feet were in constant danger of infection.) and were not being used productively. OK, the way they put it was a healthy, strong woman produces healthy, strong sons. But you get the idea.

There is always a sense of logic about these things. Even if that logic is not immediately obvious or even warped and twisted. But there's still some logic.

because hair in the wrong place ITCHES!

Yeah true. There's an underlying logic behind everything including feelings (which are relevant to the purposes of evolution). But I was talking more about conscious logic. There's none behind not liking the smell of s**t or haircuts. The smell of s**t isn't toxic, but people avoid it just cuz they don't like it. It's the same with haircuts, though there are also reasons such as fitting in.

According to conscious logic, you just simply avoid things you don't like and you seek what you like. I assumed the OP was asking about this and not an evolutionary explanation behind aesthetic appreciation.

no but s**t itself is which is why people avoid it, since the smell usually precedes the s**t people know avoiding it is as good as avoidig the s**t itself

That's cuz our emotions associate the smell with the substance itself. But when you take away the association, you have raw logic. That's what I was getting at when I was saying that the smell itself isn't toxic. Anyways, I'm disorganized and it kind of hurts my head to analyze AND try to organize my thoughts together, so I'm not always too clear.

I can't speak for why NTs cut their hair. I can only speak for myself. I personally don't like long hair. It only gets messed up. Then when it gets messed up I feel all asymmetrical. When I feel asymmetrical I will obsess about it all day and not function well. I use the smallest clipper about once a month and shave it myself. AAaahhh.. symmetry...

Because people want to look attractive to the opposite sex. Thats really what it comes down to. It's not an NT thing.

No idea. You'd have to ask them (I fail to see how haircuts and beards are physically attractive, but since I don't look at the face/heads of people, that might be a part of it).