Has it always been like this? I’m sure it’s not like this all over the world… but why did men start cutting their hair, while women grow it long?
It’s can’t be because men go bald, because they could have long hair and then lost it. (It’s have a more devastating effect on the ego, though ;)). And how come this custom became dominant all over the world?
Maybe there’s a biological reason, eh? But men can grow long hair… does it take longer? Is it easy for a female to have long hair?
WAG: Practical reasons.
Long hair is going to get in the way during traditional male occupations, easier just to cut it.
Men having short hair is a fairly recent style. Pre-19th century lots of men had longish hair (check out European art for the medieval, reformation and romantic periods). Also other cultures in times past had different hairstyles - one that sprinds to mind is Japan in the pre-modern period where samurai would have their hair long and worn in a bun. Another are the native Americans (both north and south) who wore their hair long as well.
Love this forum! So quick at replies. 
Two kind of contradicting replies… If it’s so recent, why is it so widespread? And, Essell, one option would be to tie them in a bum.
Sikhs also have long hair, tied into a bun, cleverly concealed under a turban. I’m sure there are other cultures as well.
I’m also interested why western ‘polite’ society decided that long hair on men and short hair on women are ‘transgressive’.
I have usually gone against the custom of the time. Wore it short when long was cool, wore it long when the opposite was cool.
Now I have a long ZZ Top white beard and a little short ponytail. Can’t get much longer since I am bald on top! Put it up under a cap when needed.
Answering the OP with “Well, some people don’t”, and “it hasn’t always been this way” aren’t really addressing the core of the question, which is:
Why is short hair on men, long hair on women, predominantly the tradition in the current social climate in Western cultures?
i suspect it’s for some of the same reasons why there’s a difference in men and women’s office wear: Let’s gripe about social inequality between the sexes
i wonder if the custom has anything to do with armies deciding to give soldiers uniformly short cropped hair. (US army since world war 2? earlier?)
The short answer is fashion, in fact, the long answer is fashion
As already noted, short hair for men, long hair for women, has not been the rule all over the world or at all times in western culture. Most times, most places women have had longish hair - often tied back or tucked under some sort of head gear - but it is certainly not an absolute rule.
In the West, men’s hair has changed through history. The modern standard seems to have come in in the 19th century - around the time they stopped wearing wigs. One suggestion I have seen is that it was linked to a classical inspiration - Greek and Roman men had short hair. Why it didn’t get long again until the 1960s - who knows? WAG - perhaps linked to conscription and service in two world wars where uniform -short - hair was imposed.
Apologies to shijinn. Missed previous post about influence of armies - must learn to preview :smack:
I can’t remember where I read this, so take it with a grain of salt. Supposedly this has to do with the First World War, when large numbers of men were drafted for military service. Typhus was a huge problem when you have large numbers of people confined to a small area, and it was easier to control lice and other parasites with short hair rather than long, so the military cut their hair. Most men kept the style when they returned to civilian life.
There is a biblical basis for it as well:
Wow - is there nothing that Christianity doesn’t forbid or frown upon in some way? Well tell that to the male population of 16th to 18th century (Christian) Europe who were wearing their hair long or (if they didn’t have any) were wearing wigs to pretend it was long.
Sounds uncomfortable.
I doubt Jesus had time to go around cutting his hair short all the time, too.
It’s kind of funny, now I picture Jesus looking like Johnny Unitas. “Now there’s a haircut you can set your watch by”
I had to google him but snickers
I used to work with a guy who had super long hair back in the early 70s - down to his butt. He said his dad always used to gripe at him, “why are you running around with that Jesus hair?” His comeback - “would it be better if I hd short hair and a little mustache like Hitler?”
I wonder if, in the US anyway, there wasn’t a split in the 1800s along the lines of long hair = wild frontier, short hair = civilized living?
I’m gonna hypothesesize that the modern “long hair on women” meme is part of a broader cultural idea that appearance is more important compared to practicality for women.
I believe there are many other species where males are the more “flashy” sex.
So perhaps the question we should be asking is why, among humans, females are the more “flashy” sex.
“Flashy” is a subjective term. Why is long hair flashier than a buzz cut?
As far as fashion goes, I think long hair on women would indicate higher social status, as it would mean she had the time or the servants to care for it. Long hair just gets in the way on a farm. This would also be echoed in the hairstyles of men. Long means upperclass luxury, short means working men. See “Roundheads” and “Cavaliers” for a historical example involving class and religion.