# Gender differences in hair length **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053 "2017-12-22T16:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/21 "2017-12-22T18:31:48Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Could it have anything to do with warrior castes? Is long hair any harder to manage in battle? Nope. [Lots of warrior cultures](https://www.google.com/search?q=warriors+long+hair) had long-haired men. (Including the Spartans, some of the warriest warriors that ever wared.) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/22 "2017-12-22T18:34:28Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > I agree. This is one thing about this board that irks me–a short bit of thought will make one realize that one only has to think of the Greeks and Romans for one (or two) cite(s). Examples are many throughout history, although I agree with the poster who said it may be primarily a Western attribute. I see in my mind’s eye many portraits of Chinese and Japanese men with long hair. > > Ultimately, though, I think it’s just one of those things that have stuck as a cultural idea. Why that might’ve stuck, I have no idea. Sorry, I didn’t give your comment full consideration in my initial response. It does seem to be a cultural idea that has stuck. I am curious if fighting, or certain styles of warfare, have anything to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/23 "2017-12-22T22:35:03Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Sorry, I didn’t give your comment full consideration in my initial response. It does seem to be a cultural idea that has stuck. > > I am curious if fighting, or certain styles of warfare, have anything to do with it. No problem. For your second part, Samson? I mean that seriously. On the other hand, we can count on the Bible to be contrary: > [@](#): > > 14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? I Corinthians [1 Corinthians 11 - Follow my example, as I follow the - Bible Gateway](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2011) Even though Samson essentially made a deal with God, he had long hair and was strong and virile. So, like everything else with the Bible, I’m confused. But it seems to me that on the whole, men throughout history have had short(er) hair than women. And I think one reason is because the Bible says so (do I really have to emphasize _one reason_, to keep from getting piled on? I didn’t think so.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/24 "2017-12-22T22:59:46Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > So, like everything else with the Bible, I’m confused. But it seems to me that on the whole, men throughout history have had short(er) hair than women. And I think one reason is because the Bible says so So by “throughout history”, you mean the last couple of thousand years in Christendom? See, my scope of “human history” goes back thousands of years before the bible even when constraining that to mean “written history.” Real history goes back tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, possibly further, and possibly encompasses several species, depending on how you define humans. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/25 "2017-12-22T23:14:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So by “throughout history”, you mean the last couple of thousand years in Christendom? See, my scope of “human history” goes back thousands of years before the bible even when constraining that to mean “written history.” Real history goes back tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, possibly further, and possibly encompasses several species, depending on how you define humans. In my lifetime, “history” meant “since the period of written documentation,” or thereabouts. Anything that happened before the advent of writing was considered “prehistory”. Ex.: homo sapiens is somewhere around 200-300,000 years old, and for most of that time, art and artifacts are considered “prehistoric” items. Now, I’m not pretending that that is a scholarly definition, or even necessarily a _common_ one, but it’s the one I’m most used to, and therefore, use it in a day-to-day context. Were I writing a scholarly article, rather than posting on a messageboard, I’d be much more exact in my definition and treatment of the word. Being though that this is a messageboard (yes, yes, fighting ignorance, all the smartest people on the internet, and so on, and on, and on…) rather than a truly peer-reviewed, exhaustively researched and reputable source for scientific information, I stand by what I said. (Notwithstanding the fact that this messageboard is arguably better and more accurate than 99.9% of the internet’s messageboards, it remains, by and large, a gathering place for opinions and discussion, and not an incubator for Nobel Prize-winning work. Interesting, of course, but not necessarily earth-shattering.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/26 "2017-12-22T23:31:54Z")
While there have been long-haired warriors, in many cultures warriors were told to have short hair and sometimes required to be clean-shaven because long hair can give an enemy something to grab. So while it’s not THE answer it would seem to be a factor in the whole gender-and-hair-length topic. And I think that might be my point here - there is not just one answer. There could be many reasons for a culture having different hair-lengths for different genders. In Ancient Egypt priests shaved their entire body as a hygienic measure - it certainly made lice less likely. In some other culture men had short hair because it gave enemies less to grab in battle. For either gender, long, healthy hair can be seen as a sign of health. Just like glossy fur or feathers can be a sign of health in animals. Like a lot of stuff involving humans it’s complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/27 "2017-12-23T00:01:42Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > In my lifetime, “history” meant “since the period of written documentation,” or thereabouts. > > … > > Now, I’m not pretending that that is a scholarly definition, or even necessarily a _common_ one, but it’s the one I’m most used to, and therefore, use it in a day-to-day context. It is also commonly used to mean “a description of the past”, hence the famous Stephen Hawking book not being titled _A Brief Prehistory of Time_. But even as I said, even limiting yourself to _written_ history, “the part of time since the bible and the part of the world that pays attention to the bible” is still only a smallish fraction of that whole. When you say “men throughout history” what you really mean is “men from Europe and northern parts of Africa and Central Asia over the past 15 centuries or so.” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/28 "2017-12-23T01:21:05Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is also commonly used to mean “a description of the past”, hence the famous Stephen Hawking book not being titled _A Brief Prehistory of Time_. But even as I said, even limiting yourself to _written_ history, “the part of time since the bible and the part of the world that pays attention to the bible” is still only a smallish fraction of that whole. When you say “men throughout history” what you really mean is “men from Europe and northern parts of Africa and Central Asia over the past 15 centuries or so.” See my post #18 in this thread, in which I mention “history” and “Western,” meaning “Western Civilization,” i.e., Europe and northern parts of Africa and central Asia over the past 20 centuries or so." I used common shorthand, e.g., “Western”. Yes, “history” can mean the past overall, in any sense up to and including the Big Bang, and as is common with language, meaning depends on context. Ultimately, I think you get the meaning of what I was saying, regardless. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/29 "2017-12-23T02:10:05Z")
But the OP posits that the trend stems from some deep inherent lizard-brain attraction to long hair. That’s a hell of a claim, and it means taking a veey long view. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/30 "2017-12-23T04:25:08Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > The responses on this board are amazingly predictable. Yeah, I was thinking myself what a drag it is to post on here lately. No matter what the thesis is, it’s a bunch of people just blabbing in response, “No no nooo, it’s not TWwwoooooo.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/31 "2017-12-23T04:31:50Z")
If someone makes an assertion that something is twwwooo, they should expect to be asked for eviiiiiidence. That’s a feeeeeture of this site, not a buuuuuug. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/32 "2017-12-23T04:50:52Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > If someone makes an assertion that something is twwwooo, they should expect to be asked for eviiiiiidence. That’s a feeeeeture of this site, not a buuuuuug. How do you feel about me stealing this as a sig line? I feel it needs to be preserved for posterity. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/33 "2017-12-23T05:05:41Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > If someone makes an assertion that something is twwwooo, they should expect to be asked for eviiiiiidence. That’s a feeeeeture of this site, not a buuuuuug. Fine, but that’s a non sequitur with respect to what I wrote. You can provide evidence, whatever, but people just seem into superficially writing off whatever the thesis is, often without evidence of their own. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/34 "2017-12-23T05:32:19Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Fine, but that’s a non sequitur with respect to what I wrote. You can provide evidence, whatever, but people just seem into superficially writing off whatever the thesis is, often without evidence of their own. I might agree with you if this thread was about politics or something really subjective, but it’s about history and culture, and verifiable, ostensibly researchable things. If we accept the premise as true, especially with regard to such an esoteric topic, we miss out on so many interesting possibilities that would otherwise be overlooked. Challenging the premise doesn’t shut down the OP’s theory, it just broadens the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/35 "2017-12-23T07:20:51Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Nope. [Lots of warrior cultures](https://www.google.com/search?q=warriors+long+hair) had long-haired men. (Including the Spartans, some of the warriest warriors that ever wared.) Ware the warrioring warriors! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/36 "2017-12-23T19:37:41Z")
My wag: long hair is, for some reason, attractive. But it requires a fair amount of work (and health, which suggests it is surrogate for health). In many cultures, women put in a fair amount of effort in attracting men, but men attract women by their wealth or for other reasons. Just my wag. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053/37 "2017-12-23T20:51:51Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > And mid-length hair is the worst of all worlds–and if I associate any length explicitly with men throughout history, it’s ear-lobe-to-shoulder range hair. That’s a range that sucks. Tell me about it. Being a professional cook and having long hair, and thus being required to restrain it, I hated that damnable period when it too long to simply tuck it behind my ears and put a hat on, but not quite long enough to put it in a ponytail. I was delighted when I finally got it to shoulder-length. Of course, at the time I had that hair I also didn’t have a car, and the wind really blows around here, so if I didn’t pull it back, it would be lashing my face whenever I was walking anywhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-hair-length/805053.md?page=1)