Hey! Interesting, I've been doing this all my life, now moved to London, still doing the same. Actually I think one of the reasons I got this job in this agency was because of my Skateboard. It's funny to find other people like us :) I skate street btw, I'm a web dev. Also, another interesting fact is people usually get surprise once I say I'm a developer and not a designer, in this context of the agency... mostly because of the way I look...
I grew out my [male] hair from when I started in the valley at 22 to about 35, when it became too much of a pain. It started out as ego, but progressed to being a low-pass filter for people I'd have issues with.