Photo-illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
In The Late Late Show with James Corden on Tuesday, the actor Rob Lowe said he saw Prince Harry driving around his shared Montecito, California neighborhood.
“I just met your countryman, the English treasure, Prince Harry, at the traffic light, ten minutes ago”, Nature Holidays star said to Corden. Apparently, he lives about a mile from Harry and Meghan Markle. But what Lowe said next got me thinking.
“It was very, very fast – don’t quote me totally about it – but it looked like he was wearing a ponytail,” said Lowe, his young face supernaturally inscrutable. “I’m just saying. It struck me as a casual observer that his hair had grown out a lot and was pulled back too hard so I can only assume it was a ponytail.”
OK, Rob Lowe. Let’s think about it for a minute. We haven’t seen much of Meghan and Harry since the two moved to Santa Barbara County in August, after having suffered invasions of privacy in Los Angeles. But let’s consider the evidence we have.
We will start with the first recent official photos we have of Harry. The first is from October 19, the official portrait of the couple, in which Harry’s hair is short. And then we have these pictures of Meghan and Harry at the Los Angeles National Cemetery for Memorial Day in early November. Is his hair slightly more than in the official portrait? Perhaps.
But this is where things get really complicated. I have three items to add to the registry. The first: Harry’s November 14 appearance in British Dancing with the stars. Is his hair short? Yes. Is your Zoom camera aimed directly at the front of your body and does it keep your head somewhat straight and rigid at all times? Also yes, which would technically prevent us from seeing a ponytail if it is really there.
The second: pictures of Harry volunteering at a veterans’ organization on November 18. His hair seems to be short here, but he is also wearing a baseball cap, so if he It’s growing a ponytail, according to Lowe’s testimony, it may be one of those embarrassing ponytails often used by tools in puka shell necklaces.
And then, finally, there is the Duke and Duchess Christmas card. Not only is the back of Harry’s head not visible, the image inexplicably appears to have passed through Photoshop’s dry brush filter, making it difficult to see any detail.
The average rate of hair growth for a 36-year-old man is 0.5 inches per month, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. So if we consider that Harry’s hair length in mid-November is about 1.5 inches straight, then today, January 13, it would be about 2.5 inches – maybe 3 if he was taking Nutrafol.
So if Rob Lowe actually saw Prince Harry wearing a ponytail, it was a very tiny. Maybe he actually saw Harry’s red-haired neighbor in Montecito, Carol Burnett, at that sign. Or maybe he is just a liar.