# Men, do you cry inside when your woman cuts off her long hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478 "2006-05-27T19:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/1 "2006-05-27T19:58:10Z")
Oh sure, you’re nice and supportive and you tell her she looks wonderful no matter what she does, but what’s really going on in your head? Her hair’s halfway down her back, and now she’s chopped it off to chin-length. After the compliments, because you don’t want to sleep on the couch, how are you really feeling about it? ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/2 "2006-05-27T20:00:57Z")
Happened to me 30 years ago. Still haven’t gotten over it completely. Oh, I love her and all, and I stayed with her, sure, but… After the haircut, she wasn’t the girl I’d fallen in love with anymore. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/3 "2006-05-27T20:01:31Z")
I cry on the _outside_. And rant and scream and do everything to make her keep it long. I do like shorter hair on some women, and I think my baby would look great with it short too, but I LOVE long hair. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/4 "2006-05-27T20:08:04Z")
Yes, I do. I’m sure that makes me shallow, but so be it. Generalisation alert: I also believe in very general terms in the “short hair trap”, by which few women will endure the 1-2 years of their hair looking quite shit in order to grow it long again from a short style, meaning they will generally keep it short for the rest of their lives. Happened to my mother 20 years ago, with a style that didn’t suit her, but she’s kept it because of the crap-hair syndrome. Exception to the rule alert: **mrs jjimm** cut her hair short before we went travelling last year, and is one of the few women I know who has been prepared to endure the crap-hair syndrome to get it long again. It’s taking a _long_ time, and she’s extremely frustrated, but she’s getting there. I keep on telling her to try harder, and then she hits me. Women, eh? ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/5 "2006-05-27T20:34:18Z")
Cry? Hell, no! I celebrate. I have a short hair fetish. The shorter the hair, the hotter the woman, IMO. So far 2.5 girlfriends have shortened their hair at my urging. (The .5 woman cut it a little shorter, but not enough, if you had asked me.) ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/6 "2006-05-27T20:39:19Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > Oh sure, you’re nice and supportive and you tell her she looks wonderful no matter what she does, but what’s really going on in your head? Depends. What does she look like with long hair? What does she look like with short hair? Did she ask my opinion before cutting it off? Did she care about my opinion before cutting it off? What were the reasons for cutting it off? And so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/7 "2006-05-27T20:47:49Z")
\*\*Mr. Spry \*\* would prefer if I cut my hair short. As I compromise, I try to wear it up fairly often. He likes to see my face, and dislikes the disorder of unruly long hair. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/8 "2006-05-27T21:00:11Z")
It depends on what she looked like when I met her. If it was long, then leave it that way. If it was short, that’s OK, too-but generally long is preferable. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/9 "2006-05-27T21:00:19Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Yes, I do. > > I’m sure that makes me shallow, but so be it. > > Generalisation alert: I also believe in very general terms in the “short hair trap”, by which few women will endure the 1-2 years of their hair looking quite shit in order to grow it long again from a short style, meaning they will generally keep it short for the rest of their lives. Happened to my mother 20 years ago, with a style that didn’t suit her, but she’s kept it because of the crap-hair syndrome. Last May - hey, last May 18, actually, just over a year ago - I cut my ass+ length hair off at the chin to donate it to Locks of Love. It was my son’s idea to do it together to celebrate our preemie baby coming home from the hospital. (Uh, my baby, his sister. Nothing Springeresque going on.) My husband about choked on his tears when he saw it. It’s now down past my waist again, almost exactly a year later. I guess I’m just lucky in the speed at which my hair grows. I’ve not yet decided how long I’ll let it get before donating it again, but it’s nice to know I don’t have a terribly long grow-out process. I’ve never understood the need some women feel to have shorter hair as they get older. I think an older woman with long, silver hair is gorgeous as long as the hair is healthy looking. No one, man or woman, should have long, scraggly, thinning hair. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/10 "2006-05-27T21:10:13Z")
It hasn’t happened yet, but It would hurt me. I love my wife’s long hair. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/11 "2006-05-27T21:18:43Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s now down past my waist again, almost exactly a year later. I guess I’m just lucky in the speed at which my hair grows. Hmm. By any chance, were you bitten by a large, suspicious looking dog during a foggy, moonlit walk on the moors? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/12 "2006-05-27T21:28:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s now down past my waist again, almost exactly a year later. I guess I’m just lucky in the speed at which my hair grows. God I envy you! I cut mine off into a pixie last July. Here I am 11 months later and it’s barely touching my shoulders ☹ I’ve only had it trimmed twice since the pixie and that was very minimal trimming. I take my vitamins, treat it like a baby, but i am among the average who get about 1/2 inch growth per month. > [@jjimm](#): > > Generalisation alert: I also believe in very general terms in the “short hair trap”, by which few women will endure the 1-2 years of their hair looking quite shit in order to grow it long again from a short style, meaning they will generally keep it short for the rest of their lives. Happened to my mother 20 years ago, with a style that didn’t suit her, but she’s kept it because of the crap-hair syndrome I don’t know. I have twice cut my hair from butt length to a pixie and grew it back. If women are cutting it back short to avoid a crappy phase then they simply don’t want long hair if you ask me. I had my fun with the short look, now I want it long again, so you live through the difficult times till it grows back. As to the OP, yes my husband complimented it (“If I had known you would look 20 years old I would have had you cut it sooner!” :rolleyes: ) but I know inside he was crying. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/13 "2006-05-27T21:36:58Z")
Never forget: “Hair are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight.” ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/14 "2006-05-27T21:43:54Z")
My husband has been encouraging me to get my hair cut. It was short when we met, I grew it out, he made polite comments about it but never really raved about long hair, and now he’s ever so much more complimentary now it’s back up to chin length. Which is good, I was getting sick of long hair. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/15 "2006-05-27T21:59:06Z")
It wouldn’t just be inside. She talked about it last year and I was unhappy about it. She decided to just trim the ends a little. 🙂 [Her hair is still as long as when I married her 14 years ago.](http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/jrfranchi/?action=view¤t=EveJimWedding08r.jpg) Jim ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/16 "2006-05-27T22:20:53Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > [Her hair is still as long as when I married her 14 years ago.](http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/jrfranchi/?action=view¤t=EveJimWedding08r.jpg) Your wife’s beautiful, and so’s her hair, but dude: 1982 is calling 1992 and asking for its glasses back… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/17 "2006-05-27T22:38:08Z")
_Sigh_. So much for the haircut, then. I don’t mind it long, really. I feel sexy with the long hair, it’s just a pain in the butt to maintain because I have hair that never obeys. I was looking for a bit of a change, but maybe I’ll get long wispy bangs instead. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/18 "2006-05-27T22:45:43Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s now down past my waist again, almost exactly a year later. Jesus, what _are_ you, a [Tressy doll](http://www.tressydoll.com/page2.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/19 "2006-05-27T22:57:21Z")
😃 Weird, isn’t it? It was a bear when I colored it with synthetics, though. I absolutely had to do touch-ups every three weeks or the roots were horrendous. Which of course led to fried tips. Not so bad now that I henna instead - I still have roots, but they’re not so noticeable. In fact, I don’t think I’ve hennaed since Thanksgiving! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478/20 "2006-05-27T23:09:33Z")
Now, as a standard, I like long hair. Some gals look amazing with short hair. I like having something to grab onto. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-do-you-cry-inside-when-your-woman-cuts-off-her-long-hair/358478.md?page=2)