Sorry, I’m signing on for the “if you look beautiful with short hair, you’d look even MORE beautiful with long hair”. This assumes, of course, that the woman in question washes, conditions, and styles her hair. I’m surprised at the poster who said long hair is “lazy hair” because every long haired woman I know, including my wife, spends quite a bit of time on her hair. On the contrary, I find the short haired gals are often the same ones who are overweight, have frumpy clothes, and don’t really care about their appearance. I’m always secretly horrified when an attractive woman I know cuts her hair because her female friends convinced her to do it. I always wonder if this is some kind of trick to make her uglier so the friends have less competition from her scoping out guys…
That’s got to be one of the most sexist things I’ve read in a while.
I think one reason why this is so contentious is that women are concerned about their facial beauty. They are going to prefer the haircut that flatters their features the most. When they look in the mirror, they want to see their eyes, cheekbones and smile.
Men, on the other hand, are often more concerned with the “whole package” and how sexy it is. Many men see long hair as a sex symbol, and are really attracted to that symbol even if it’s not the most flattering option. Some men would rather see you with stringy hair that makes your face look plain, over short hair that makes you look stunning, because long hair has that symbolic value.
So when guys badger me with “You’d look better with long hair! All women should always have long hair,” (and they do- when I had short hair I got all kinds of unsolicited and often forceful hairstyle advice from men) I tend to get a bit taken aback and put a bit on the defensive. I guess it kind of makes me feel like they don’t value my face and everything the face communicates about you as an individual, and are mostly concerned about that little signal.
It’s like guys with a miniskirt fetish insisting that you wear a miniskirt at all times, even if you have cottage-cheese thighs that look objectively bad in them. After so many times of people insisting that you really would look better in a miniskirt, you start to feel objectified and pissy about the whole subject.
Not everyone who does that will end up with hair that looks presentable long. People with very thin hair can condition it all they want and pump it full of whatever, but they are going to end up with a limp stringy hair every time. It’s not a matter of them just not trying hard enough. Some hair just kind of sucks. What you are saying is kind of like telling a balding guy that if he just washes, conditions, and styles his hair, his hair will look fabulous. It’s clueless advice at first, and kind of offensive on consideration.
Even then, what you are proposing is no small thing. For my hair to look nice, it takes about 30 minutes in the AM (above washing and brushing), 15 in the PM, and about $150 a month between products, styling and color. Spending $1,700 and 274 hours (nearly 7 work weeks!) a year just to satisfy someone’s fetish is a lot to ask for. No wonder I tend to just throw it in a ponytail!
Oh, Ellen, you silly little goose! We all know that a woman only ever cuts her hair short because her “female friends” (nasty, petty and superficial, as women tend to be, of course) convinced her to so they’ll all have better chances of Catching A Man, the #1 priority for women.
I mean, were you thinking that the choices a woman makes about her hair might be based on something other than what (a) guy might think? That’s so cute!
Exactgly what I was going for. Thanks, and good examples!
I do suggest, however, that if you want to pull off a pixie cut, you have to be at least somewhat pixie-like or elfin: lithe, big eyes, high cheekbones, long neck. It doesn’t really work otherwise.
They say that you hate in others what you hate or fear about yourself. I wonder if some mens’ attachment to their mate having long hair is just a deep-seated fear about losing their own hair.
Yeah, I’m a gal who has short hair and I think as a rule, women look better with longer hair. I have my hair cut longer than a bob, but shorter than shoulder length (something like the linked January Jones photo), as it is as short as I can get away with while still looking pretty. I dig short because it’s oh-so-easy (when I had longer hair, it took me almost an HOUR to flat iron it!), but I also want my hair to look flattering. If I had an outragingly gorgeous face, I’d get rid of it all. It wouldn’t matter than I’d technically look better with more hair; if I can pull of a boy do, I’m doing it.
Halle Berry, though, is one of very few women who looks better with short hair. I agree that with longer hair she just looks like the extra they’d pay to be someone’s pretty date. Yes, gorgeous, but much more so with the short cut.
It’s because your wife hasn’t figured out that one can have long hair and do less maintenance… as long as you’re happy with its natural texture. When I have short hair, I have to blow dry it to maintain the shape of the haircut. Once it’s longer than shoulder length, I can wash, condition, and let it dry on its own with no problems. At the most, my daily styling consists of “wash hair before going to work, and let air conditioning dry hair”.
I prefer long hair on women. I think it’s because long hair is culturally identified as a very feminine feature. Short hair is considered masculine. I’m not attracted to androgyny.
I have longish hair. It’s definitely lazy hair for me. I wash and/or condition it in the morning, put in a little product, comb it, and let it air dry. It’s usually in a ponytail by 10:00am because I hate to have hair in my face.
Based on regular reading of such authoritative sources such as people and gofugyourself, I think that short hair is slightly more fashionable than it was a couple of years ago, but still not particularly en vogue. Personally, I keep hoping it’ll come back in. Also, this thread is kind of pissing me off.
If this is androgyny, I’m okay with it.
Wow. Really interesting analysis. On a much more shallow note, I am bored by all the long hair. It all looks the same to me.
This is an example of what happens when someone tries to grow out hair that won’t all grow to the same length. Yeah, it’s beard hair, rather than scalp hair, but wouldn’t he look a hell of a lot better if he had a short beard?
I have to disagree. Billy Gibbons’ beard is awesome.
Awesome is not the word I’d use to describe it. Awful, maybe, but not awesome.
Er, um, why exactly is this thread pissing you off? Really? This thread? Because you feel so strongly about short/long hair?
Not seeing anything to be pissed off about, care to explain?
I used to have hair that reached to my hips. My hair routine was this: wash, condition, towel dry, braid in one braid. Repeat every 2-4 days.
Now I have hair that reaches to my chin. My hair routine is this: wash, condition, apply volumizing mousse and/or anti-frizz spray, wrap in towel for 30 minutes, put in velcro rollers for at least an hour, blow dry rolled sections with round brush, sleep, in the morning spray with water and re-set with velcro rollers, blow dry, brush out. Repeat everything before “sleep” every 2 days; repeat everything after “sleep” every day.
Today I overslept and had no time in the morning to do anything to my hair but comb it. It does not look good.
Long hair here, straight and turned from blonde to dirty blonde, now to auburnish brown as I aged. It looks best when I skip a few days washing it and bed head is my sexiest hair look. Otherwise, pulled off to the side in a clip. Or wrapped around and around the clip tuck in edges, good to go. Not a touchy feely stroke my long locks kind of a gal. and dont’ pull my hair, it makes me mad.
Underline mine. Oh, and being happy with your natural color helps too.
My routine with long hair:
wash once or twice a week (depending on weather and physical activity), using wash’n’go style shampoos (either something fruity or H&S, depending on stress levels - stress gives me dandruff). Towel. Brush. Fluff up with fingers. Let dry (about half an hour in spring/fall).
Get a haircut every few years. The longest I went without one was three years; the hairdresser started going on about how I shouldn’t do that because open ends and… and… damnit… you don’t have any open ends!
My routine with a pixie cut:
wash once or twice a week (depending on weather and physical activity), using wash’n’go style shampoos (either something fruity or H&S, depending on stress levels - stress gives me dandruff). Towel. Fluff up with fingers. Let dry (minutes).
Went pixie in october (8€), had two other haircuts (30€ each) in February and last week (July). I already know that if I want to let it grow it won’t need touch-ups: the cut is that good, I got this last cut (from the same woman as the second one) because I was at the point of “I have to leave it long or cut it again” and since I’m going to be travelling a lot I prefer it short.
My sister in law’s routine with long hair:
wash daily: treated-hair shampoo, dandruff shampoo, conditioner. Blow dry/iron. Once a week, mask. Once a month, dye.
But she hates her waves 
and gets angry when she hasn’t had time to do her whole routine, they come out and people stop her in the street to tell her she looks gorgeous :smack:
I have fine, very straight hair that looks really flat and limp when it’s longer than collarbone length, and it has to be washed and blow dried every day to make it took good enough to wear my hair down when it’s chin length or longer. I often alternate between pixie-to-short hairstyles and then chin-to-shoulder length bobs, alternating every couple years. With those medium bob hairstyles, I absolutely have to wash and blow dry every morning, or it looks horrible.
Currently my hair is longer (about armpit length), just for convenience. I put it up in a ponytail or french braid or hair clip about 98% of the time and it only takes 30 seconds in the morning. When I have more time or a special occasion, I’ll curl my hair so it has enough volume and looks good enough to wear down.
Out of curiosity - why bother with rollers and blow drying before bed, and then having to re-set the rollers and blow dry again in the morning? Why not just do it in the morning? If I did all that before I went to bed, it would be so flat and messed up in the morning as to be not worth my time.
When I curl my hair, I usually have a shower the night before and do a wet set method (e.g. foam rollers or pillow rollers, or french braiding damp hair, or on rare occasions pin curls) and let it dry while I sleep, then take out the rollers/braid in the morning and arrange the curls. Or sometimes I’ll take a shower in the morning, blow dry, and then use a curling iron or hot rollers. I prefer the former because it’s got some prep the night before but then very little time in the morning, and I like to sleep in as much as possible.