Once, visiting a woman I had just started dating, we sat on her back porch for hours, under a full moon, with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. I sat in a chair and she sat on my lap. We alternated talking and kissing for hours, and most of the time during the latter I kept running my fingers through her hair, which reached the middle of her back. Possibly the most romantic evening I’ve ever enjoyed.
Short hair can be cute, short hair can be wild, short hair can be sassy, but somehow it just can’t be feminine. Can’t explain it.
Now, far more than just hair goes into physical appearance, and there’s bazillions of women who’s other attributes guarantee a feminine, sexy appearance even if their hair was neon green and only grew on one side of their heads, but hair is what’s under discussion here. Shoulder lenght to mid-back, just can’t beat it. Even longer is OK, but after a point it becomes way to much of a good thing. Down to the ass only works for some women, and past that it becomes something of a spectacle.
I also think you hafta take into account the “shock” factor of long hair being lopped off. If you have a picture in your mind of the person you love/lust then all the sudden its changed… well it can be traumatic for the guy. Its not that he doesn’t like it, or thinks you’re not the wonderful person that you were before. Just understand that there will be a period of shock and apprehesion. Growing your hair out takes weeks and he’d probably never notice, but leave as Cher circa 1972 and return as Sinead OConner… what did you think he’d say. Maybe you didn’t care.
Paradoxically I also think that a woman’s hair is more important to her than it is to him (and we know it). For guys, hair is just stuff that grows out our head and, unless its cloggin the drain, really isn’t a big deal. Woman on the other hand spend lots of money to “get their hair done”. Just go to your local grocery store and see how many products are offered for a woman’s hair, while men get Grecian Formula and that’s it (aside: I do recognize that men’s hair care/coloring has taken off recently). So when a man sees his woman with a new doo, he may naturally think that she’s making a statement: short hair means I’m not gonna put up with it (long hair) or you.
So how about meeting a woman for the first time? Is long hair prefered? Depends on the guy, but for me I do prefer longer hair. It’s part of the “whole picture”, but that’s because of the type of woman that I prefer. If I prefered a punk rocker, short hair might be my thing. But it ain’t. Sorry.
Short hair is hot. Short hair is sexy. Short hair gets me very, very excited.
Given that I’m in the minority of the prevailing male sentiment, I make it my duty to tell shorthaired women – yes, even total strangers – how good their hair looks.
When a girl with long hair lies on top of me, and her hair drapes both sides of my head, all I see is this tunnel and her beautiful face on the other end. This, my friends, is called the Wall of Hair. I love the Wall of Hair. Only girls with long enough hair, shoulder length or longer, can do it. Wall of Hair material is on my top 10 list of things to look for in a woman.
I have sorta long hair (an inch or two below my shoulders) and right now Grandma is trying to convince me to lop it all off… she seems to think that will make my sorta thin top (right in the center if I part it that way) grow back again. I don’t know if it will.
shrugs I don’t know what guys like… Never had a chance to talk to a guy about hair.
I just like long hair on my girlfriend cause I can play with it honest. It’s just so amusing to run my fingers through her hand. Plus I just think it’s sexier that way. Nothing against short hair though I’ve seen it work really good for some girls and really really bad for others. I guess it is just more like whatever fits you fits you.
I love long hair on a woman. Soooo sexy, so feminine. It makes no difference whether I have any chance of taking her off to bed or even whether I know her or not. Maybe it’s like someone said above and we caveman guys need something to grab after clubbing the lady of our choice. S
I love long hair. Short hair on some women looks good, but sometimes it makes the girl look boyish and well… I’m not attracted to boys.
My wife had really long hair when we married. Afterwards she cut it very short. I hated it. It didn’t mean I didn’t love her anymore. I still planned on spending the rest of my life with her. But I did find her less physically attractive. I’m sure I could get a haircut that would have the same affect on her.
It certainly is her hair and she certainly has the right to do whatever she wants to do with it and it didn’t affect the important part of our relationship.
But I’m still very glad that she’s grown it out again.
Man, racerx, you are psychic. I was just about to ask that myself?
I like my hair long (always have).
Long, meaning, to my bra or lower.
It just makes me feel more feminine.
I knew a guy who had a long-hair fetish. Of course, his dream woman was Crystal Gayle.
Thanks for all the insights. I guess some guys like short hair, just none of my friends. FTR, I keep my hair long because it’s more work keeping it short (getting it cut, putting goo in it, blahblahblah). My hair grows very quickly and I just cant imagine spending $20 every three weeks just on my hair. Its not that important to me.
kelli I always have to pull the hair back first otherwise it just gets in the way tooooooo much. Well, depends on gravity and position I suppose. But almost always pull it back into a bun or sumpin.
There is a standard explanation that sociobiologists give for this. Men interpret signs of long term physical health as being desirable in a potential mate. Smooth skin, well proportioned body, etc. (It may interest you to know that studies show most males respond to the ratio of a female’s waist/hips/bust to each other, not to their absolute sizes.) Long hair can be interpreted as an indicator that the female has been healthy for long enough for the hair to get that long. Of course, short hair may reveal other indicators of health which long hair might hide.
I am guessing that your female friends don’t have any interest in your childbearing capabilities. Whereas men, when evaluating your appearance anyway, are hardwired to think of it in those terms.
To me, a much deeper mystery is why women love those fake fingernails on each other so much, while most men I know despise them. (In every survey I’ve ever seen, the majority of men don’t really care for even regular long fingernails.)
tourbot I think those nails are nasty. I dont know why women get them. I can kinda see them being a novelty thing for a teenager maybe. But otherwise they just seem icky. Maybe good for back scratches though.
van When I was little Chrystal Gayle hair was my dream. Now I kinda think it would be freakish. Of course the boy would prolly adore it.
For everyone citing natural selection reasons for men liking long hair. . .why don’t women find long hair in men as necessary? Is it because we are not looking for a healthy mate to provide offspring? Hunter/gatherer crap?
Basically for the same reasons that women don’t place as much emphasis on physical appearance as men do. Women, so the theory goes, look for signs that a man will be a good steady provider/protector. But now we are moving into GD or, at the least, GQ territory.
You have to have a certain body type (read: thin) and a certain facial type (delicate features) to pull off short hair. On most women, long hair looks much better.
Short hair seems to exaggerate women’s hips, too, making them look heavier.
“You have to have … a certain facial type (delicate features) to pull off short hair.”
spoke-, I disagree. I once read/heard a beauty consultant say that short hair works best with women with (how shall I put this?) the best and the worst facial features.
Obviously a woman with great features can pull off short – or just about any other length – hair, but I began to notice that the second part of her statement was very true too. Women with otherwise “too big” noses, or “too many” teeth, or “too strong” jaws look quirkily (such a word?) beautiful with short, dramatic hair.
Anyway, shorthaired women of all sorts will have a friend as long as I’m around!
My family has/had a conspiracy against me. I always got the “Oh, you look so cute in short hair”, the whole time I wanted it long.
I go in these cycle: long, short, long, short and the inevitable time it takes to grow it out in between.
Right now its down to my shoulders and I’ve got one long layer in it, which is new for me. It was always the same length before and then I’d get tired of it being so straight (I have a lot of hair but its fine) so I’d cut it. The layer adds some body, which is good. I finally learned how to do something with it too. My husband made me promise him I’d never get a “trucker” hair cut, which is to him one of those 1" all over cuts.
My MIL has always said to me “Oh, I’d like to get my hair cut short but Rich won’t let me.” What, he’s holding you back from the beauty shop. There’s a different generation for you, not to mention there are some weird, deep issues in that family.
