# Is there a name for this hairstyle? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 25, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557 "2004-12-25T03:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![baileygrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@baileygrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baileygrrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/61 "2004-12-29T17:54:26Z")
If this short hairstyle is offensive to so many, can we see some examples of short hairstyles that are not offensive? I wear my hair short, mostly because it works best that way, easy to mantain, etc. I would love to have long hair, but as I say to my dear husband - when you start washing, blowdrying and styling it for me every morning I will wear it long. I just don’t have the time. And no, I am not a soccer mom. I’m just a mom of a toddler. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/62 "2004-12-29T18:09:59Z")
> [@baileygrrrl](#): > > If this short hairstyle is offensive to so many, can we see some examples of short hairstyles that are not offensive? > > I wear my hair short, mostly because it works best that way, easy to mantain, etc. I would love to have long hair, but as I say to my dear husband - when you start washing, blowdrying and styling it for me every morning I will wear it long. I just don’t have the time. > > And no, I am not a soccer mom. I’m just a mom of a toddler. Read **elmwood** ’s post #45. He gives several good examples of non-offensive hair. Please don’t be defensive-- this is not about all women with short hair, just the ones with the Power Mom Poof. ---
**Author:** ![ouisey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@ouisey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouisey)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/63 "2004-12-29T19:12:39Z")
> [@hathaway](#): > > That’s interesting because as long as the woman in question has nice hair, I actually find it really refreshing to see that. Most women around here have short hair by 40, and definitely the elderly women are big on the poodle curls here. So when I actually see a nice long head of hair on an older woman, I can’t help but really notice and appreciate it! There’s an older woman in my office who has long silver hair. She wears it in a sort of edwardian twist…where the hair is all loose and puffy around her face. She also wears this beautiful hair jewelry with it. Glittery sticks and such. Its out of style, but my god, she’s so beautiful. She doesn’t look like she’s trying to stay young. She looks very classy and unique and proud of herself. All of us younger women have commented on her appearance and hope to be able to look as good as she does when we get to her age. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/64 "2004-12-29T20:01:39Z")
When I was a teenager in the 1980s, I got my hair cut short. When the stylist blew it dry and brushed it, it looked like “mom hair”. My little brother told me, “You look like Barry Manilow’s wife!”. In other words, if he were to have a wife, this is how she would look, according to my brother. I have very curly brown hair. In my twenties, I wore it long, but looking back at pictures now, IT’S SO BIG!! Now, in my ::gulp:: mid-thirties, long, bushy, curly hair would look silly, so I wear it short and curly, with a thin headband holding my hair back. And no bangs, thankyouverymuch. I don’t know how it makes me look, but it’s very low-maintenance. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/65 "2004-12-29T20:56:44Z")
I think it should be called “The Muffin.” ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/66 "2004-12-29T21:48:01Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > As far as short hair being easier to maintain or style? I don’t think so. All I have to do is brush it, wash it, let it dry naturally and voila! It’s perfect. No maintenance involved whatsoever. A lot depends on what type of hair you have. I have fine oily hair and it is much easier to manage (for me) when it’s short. Maybe if I weren’t the type who likes to get those 5 extra minutes of sleep in the morning I could wear it long, but I’d have to do something with it everyday. When it was long all I’d ever do is shower and put it up in a ponytail or a french flip held with chopsticks, but that wasn’t good for my hair. It doesn’t stay in braids very well, unless I french braid, and just wearing it loose I’d have to root boost and blowdry upside down every morning just to get any volume or else it looked limp and blah. Since then I got a new cut that I love, my hair isn’t really short it just falls to the nape of my neck and is layered throughout. Now all I have to do is shower, towel dry a little, brush my hair and I’m out the door. To dress it up I blowdry and root boost, sometimes adding a funky clip at one side and away I go. A lot depends on the hair you have and how much time you have/are willing to give in the mornings. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/67 "2004-12-29T22:39:56Z")
I think I spoke too soon in defense of my short haircut - I just got a crappy cut and then added insult to injury by dyeing it, leaving the ends the neon orange/pink one sees on FLORIDA WELCOME CENTER: SEE THE GREAT WHITE SHARK! signs. I’ve just made an appointment to have it chopped off to the shortest pixie I can get that won’t make people ask me how the cancer’s doing. I expect to be shocked at the amount of forehead I possess. ---
**Author:** ![Marsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Marsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marsie)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/68 "2004-12-30T03:47:49Z")
> [@malkavia](#): > > Oddly enough, that hair style doesn’t say “mommy” to me so much as it says, “My name is Kathy and I want to be YOUR Realtor!” > > I always thought of mommy hair as being pulled up in a pony tail and always a bit disheveled. You are so right. God, I hate Realtors. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/69 "2004-12-30T04:16:59Z")
It’s because the morons on shows like “What Not to Wear” and its ilk, not to mention fashionistas and hairdressers (no not ALL of them) IRL, convince women that long hair is “dated”, boring and unattractive. I haven’t had my hair cut in over a year, I no longer have access to my old hairdresser, but I don’t trust most of them out there. Too many of them are all scissor happy, they think a “trim” is taking 6 inches off. At least the “bulb” isn’t quite as ugly as that choppy Meg Ryan look. You know, the one where it looks as if the woman’s hair got caught in a woodchipper? Honestly, men? (sorry don’t mean to hijack, but the OP already sorta asked a similar question) don’t you guys mostly prefer long hair? And don’t you prefer it thick and full? Possibly even curled and “just got out of bed”? Most of the time it’s up, or in a ponytail, but when I do dress up, I do a 40s look ala Veronica Lake. OK, so I’m kindof in “couldn’t care less” mode about my looks right now, but you will cut my hair short over my dead body, when I’m in the mood to start dressing up again, I want my long hair to be available to fix sexily. As long as I still look young enough to pull it off, it will be as long as possible. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/70 "2004-12-30T04:34:06Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > So I saw the one new mom at church today who’s hair keeps getting shorter and shorter(one child, six months, works full time as a teacher)…I swear she’s been to the hairdresser more in the last 6 months than I’ve been in six years…and asked her what was going on with her hair. She’s delighted with it short…“I can take a shower at night now and not have to get up early in the morning!” she said. ! I don’t get the “long hair gets in the way when you have babies/kids” thing. Don’t these people know about ponytails, braids, and buns? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/71 "2004-12-30T21:35:26Z")
I’ve had my hair an inch long, down to my butt and every length in between but I prefer it chin to shoulder length. It is very thick and a little wavey. Personally I find short hair harder to care for requiring daily washing and blow drying and liberal amounts of product to make it behave. Short hair also makes putting it in a ponytail for work impossible. Below my shoulder blades is hard to keep the color nice. Originally it was dark brown and now it’s 75% white so I put a toner one every 6 weeks or so to give it some color. It works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/72 "2004-12-31T04:53:10Z")
I’m a guy, 21, and I just want to say that I like short hair on older women. By short I do not mean the bulb style, I’m talking the very short, often spiked (see Annie Lennox) or “messed up” look. Of course, as was mentioned earlier, this only really works on a woman who is otherwise quite attractive and in tune with current trends. But still…when it comes to MILFs…short and spiked 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/73 "2004-12-31T09:18:56Z")
I feel sort of vindicated or something – a friend of mine who has ALWAYS had the Power Soccer Mom Pouf Muffin, or whatever it’s called – is FOREVER trying to get me to cut my hair (it’s a few inches above my waist, I guess). And I cast another vote for long hair being easier to maintain. I don’t wash my hair every day (every other or every two days). Sometimes I actually get up, pull it straight back with my hands (no brush), twist it into a bun, add a pin or two, and go to work. I have gone a couple of days without brushing my hair. :eek: I’m hijacking anyway, so: sometimes I wear curlers to bed (takes about 10 minutes to put them in) and have lovely curly locks the next day without having to spend any time in the morning! I wonder sometimes if I’m the last person on the face of the earth to wear curlers to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/74 "2004-12-31T09:50:11Z")
Mom? Check. Minivan? Check. I have shoulder length hair though and, even as the mom of a 1.5 year old, I have time to do something with it when I “need” to. I don’t understand people who Don’t Have Time. Wha? It takes me 10 minutes tops to pull it back ( **not** in a ponytail), a bit longer if I choose to leave it down and blowdry/straighten. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/75 "2004-12-31T13:11:23Z")
> [@Silver Fire](#): > > Mom? Check. Minivan? Check. I have shoulder length hair though and, even as the mom of a 1.5 year old, I have time to do something with it when I “need” to. I don’t understand people who Don’t Have Time. Wha? It takes me 10 minutes tops to pull it back ( **not** in a ponytail), a bit longer if I choose to leave it down and blowdry/straighten. It’s when there’s two or three of them, and they’re 2.5 through 4 that the time crunch really starts to hit… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/76 "2004-12-31T14:11:41Z")
I think it started in 1976 when the Olympic skater [Dorothy Hamill](http://sportsmed.starwave.com/media/ncw/2001/1221/photo/a_hamill_i.jpg) won the gold medal. For a year and a half afterward, half the teenage girls in America had Dorothy Hamill Hair. I know Hamill had it designed to look good on the ice. Off the ice, well, it’s… blah. The difference in the '80s bulb was to lift it off the ears and add mousse. I really don’t understand the hatred in this whitegirl culture against old women having long gray hair. I think it looks beautiful. There are cultures, you know, where it’s normal for old women to keep their gray hair nice and long. For example, India and Mexico. Among Anglos, the only old ladies with long hair I’ve seen are po’ folks from the backwoods Ozarks. Maybe the prejudice against it has overtones of race and class divisions. When hair goes gray, its texture changes to become stiffer and harder to manage. So there are two choices: either keep it short and permed, or let it all hang out. Mid-length gray doesn’t “cut it.” (Excuse the unintentional pun.) Joan Baez chopped it all off when she went gray and cited the stiffer texture as the reason her hairdresser did it. I liked her hair when it was very long, and so straight Bob Dylan could iron it. I’m trying for waist length, if my follicles cooperate. I’m now halfway there. I’m not gray yet! **{{{{{{{Rubystreak}}}}}}}** , thou woman after my own heart. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/77 "2004-12-31T15:04:08Z")
As a guy… On most women, Long hair = sexier. On some women, short hair = sexy. On all women, PiMP = horriffic. On most women, Crystal Gale hair = not so much that is all ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/78 "2004-12-31T15:04:51Z")
PiMP? ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/79 "2004-12-31T15:55:50Z")
> [@malkavia](#): > > Oddly enough, that hair style doesn’t say “mommy” to me so much as it says, “My name is Kathy and I want to be YOUR Realtor!” I think it should be called the Kathy Cut. Now that I’ve thought about it, everyone I know with that hair is in sales. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557/80 "2005-01-03T05:53:39Z")
I know where [this one](http://www.cyburbia.org/tmp/minivan_hair_delete_me_asap.jpg) came from. It’s from a Princess Diana influence. Diana was hugely influential on plenty of young women in the 80s, and the effect lingers. (That’s my wild guess, anyway.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-hairstyle/281557.md?page=5)