I am beginning to suspect that it is surprisingly common for intelligent, competent adults to somehow make it through the world for a few decades while missing some ordinary skill, like mailing a physical letter, folding a fitted sheet, depositing a check, or reading a bus schedule. Since these tasks are often presented atomically - or, worse, embedded implicitly into other instructions - and it is often possible to get around the need for them, this ignorance is not self-correcting. One can Google "how to deposit a check" and similar phrases, but the sorts of instructions that crop up are often misleading, rely on entangled and potentially similarly-deficient knowledge to be understandable, or are not so much instructions as they are tips and tricks and warnings for people who already know the basic procedure. Asking other people is more effective because they can respond to requests for clarification (and physically pointing at stuff is useful too), but embarrassing, since lacking these skills as an adult is stigmatized. (They are rarely even considered skills by people who have had them for a while.)
This seems like a bad situation. And - if I am correct and gaps like these are common - then it is something of a collective action problem to handle gap-filling without undue social drama. Supposedly, we're good at collective action problems, us rationalists, right? So I propose a thread for the purpose here, with the stipulation that all replies to gap announcements are to be constructive attempts at conveying the relevant procedural knowledge. No asking "how did you manage to be X years old without knowing that?" - if the gap-haver wishes to volunteer the information, that is fine, but asking is to be considered poor form.
(And yes, I have one. It's this: how in the world do people go about the supposedly atomic action of investing in the stock market? Here I am, sitting at my computer, and suppose I want a share of Apple - there isn't a button that says "Buy Our Stock" on their website. There goes my one idea. Where do I go and what do I do there?)
I am indeed talking about peacocking. I agree with you about the risks of peacocking, and perhaps I didn't acknowledge them clearly enough.
Actually, I think peacocking of some sort is one of the options I would most advise to a typical guy attempting to improve social and romantic success. It can quickly help him get more attention and new sorts of reactions (e.g. compliments that increase his confidence).
I know that sort of look, and I've certainly been guilty of it myself. Yet my view is that trying and failing can often look better than not trying, especially for a guy who is below average to start with. My hypothesis is that a lot guys with average or below average style could drop on a crazy hairstyle and get better reactions, even if they looked like they were trying too hard, and their hair made no sense with the rest of their clothing. Guys who are already at least above average in style, or guys in older or more conservative/conformist cultures might not benefit so much.
Good peacocking is powerful. But even messy trial-and-error while learning peacocking may actually be better than what many guys are already doing.
Effort on hairstyle hits diminishing returns once you separate yourself from the pack of average guys you are competing with. How much effort that takes depends on (sub)culture.
What other sort of context is there?
There are many aspects of looks and behavior that are more important than peacocking, but in my experience, peacocking has a pretty good cost-benefit ratio.
Peacocking synergizes with other form of social self-improvement, even when done badly. Even though peacocking has a learning curve, it may actually be easier than certain other social self-improvement skills for certain types of guys.
Compare fashion to other skills that a guy might be learning. For shy, introverted males, they have a lot of things to focus on in the "field," such as posture, body language, voice, content of speech, etc... which can easily be overwhelming. Everything has a learning curve. The advantage of fashion (including hair) is that you can cache it before stepping into the field, which is a massive boon: fire and forget. Furthermore, in contrast to conversation, fashion is broadband and travels at the speed of light.
Psychologically, what traits are fashion skills loaded on?
Fashion is the medium by which these abilities can be converted into social status. Psychologically, fashion is actually right up the alley of creative and visual introverted systemizers. Culturally, fashion isn't seen that way because it's associated with women and gay men.