# Women and long hair **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087 "2006-04-10T15:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/81 "2006-04-11T21:35:47Z")
> [@dre2xl](#): > > Admit it… you’d get a thrill out of letting loose & hacking off 24" of hair! It’s like having a nice, fresh sheet of bubble wrap sitting right in front of you, and you can’t pop any of the bubbles. _whips out hairsticks and prepares to go all kung fuey_ Anybody comes near me with a pair of scissors is gonna get such a poke! ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/82 "2006-04-11T21:46:22Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > [Pics](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/avagoyle/IMG_2572.jpg) [of my](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/avagoyle/coachella4.jpg) [hair](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/avagoyle/beach5.jpg). Sooo beautiful! I love it! If I were the jealous type, I so _would_ be right now. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/83 "2006-04-11T22:17:32Z")
> [@SlowMindThinking](#): > > Um, is she married? > > Hey! I just want to use all that German I took in school. Ok, how about, I love smart women, I’m taller, and the same age, and I’m in great shape after 5 kids (yeah, I didn’t get pregnant, but, go with me here), and. ah crap. I forgot. I’m married. Heh. She is. Her husband is our chief clinical scientist. **WOOKINPANUB** , I understand what you were getting at, but really, long hair not put up but neatly done doesn’t get you looked down on nearly as much as, say, shaved up to the ear, then long on top and dyed bright neon fuschia and combined with face jewelry. And we still hired her, she’s a good lab tech. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/84 "2006-04-11T22:31:56Z")
Some of you Dopers might have seen the picture where I had hair down to hip length. I’m lucky enough to have really thick, glossy hair. Unfortunately, I was always picking up leftover hair from the drain and so on. That was the only real beef I had – I never used a hairdryer and just let it air-dry, and then brushed it out. Some days I’d braid it, other days I’d leave it loose, and yet other days I’d use a pencil to put it up for better air-cooling of brain cells. For a while there, I had electric blue extensions put in so that it looked like I had streaks. Ahh, those were the days. 😃 Occasional trims of the bottom to keep it in order; that was really easy, just get a friend with steady hands and a pair of scissors. Nowadays my hair’s up around my ears – I had it all cut off in one go. That was a little disturbifying, but not horrible. I’ve also been informed that I look older with short hair, which I can accept. ---
**Author:** ![Flipstrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Flipstrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipstrip)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/85 "2006-04-12T01:19:07Z")
**-Tell me what you think of long hair on women.** I love it if it’s well-kept. Scraggly, unkempt hair usually looks terrible on most people, no matter what the length. \*\*- Tell me what how you define long hair (to me, it’s shoulder-length or more), and if there’s a particular degree of length you like or not. \*\* I think of long hair as shoulder length or more. My hair is now a couple of inches past my bra strap and for me that’s a good length. It used to be down to my waist, but as it got caught on everything, and was looking scraggly, I had it neatened up. I will say that hair that’s grown past the butt looks very tough to take care of. And you usually have to be VERY good looking to pull it off. \*\*- Tell me if you think there are age constraints to looking good in hair of a certain length. \*\* Nope. It’s more of style, condition of hair, etc., rather than age that’s the determining factor, at least in my book. **And just out of curiosity, tell me your age and whether you’re male or female, because I’m curious to see if there’s a spread in opinion.** 37, female. ---
**Author:** ![Flipstrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Flipstrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipstrip)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/86 "2006-04-12T01:20:18Z")
Forgot to add: **kimera** , your hair is gorgeous! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/87 "2006-04-12T01:53:34Z")
I am 58 years old. I have long hair. A while back, I started a thread discussing the subject of older gals who choose not to “act their age.” I got some interesting responses and a bit of hate mail. None of this caused me to change, however. I still have long hair. > **[Should an older woman "act her age?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=307353)** > > I am in my late fifties, but have been told that I look younger. A female relative has tut-tutted at me several times for wearing short shorts and long hair. She says that a woman my age who does not dress and coif herself in a dignified, matronly... ---
**Author:** ![Pstarr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pstarr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pstarr)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/88 "2006-04-12T01:59:56Z")
\*\*- Tell me what you think of long hair on women. \*\* Looks good on a very small percentage of women. I prefer short hair 99% of the time. \*\*- Tell me what how you define long hair (to me, it’s shoulder-length or more), and if there’s a particular degree of length you like or not. \*\* Long hair is anything that hides where the neck meets the shoulder. “Shoulder Length” to me implies the long helmet looking hair which is a no-no. **- Tell me if you think there are age constraints to looking good in hair of a certain length.** No opinion on this. I’m male, 30 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/89 "2006-04-12T02:17:43Z")
I’m female, 37. I’m also insanely jealous of anyone who looks good with long hair, and whose hair looks good long. Dunno what it is about my features, but any longer than mid-neck, and I look moon-faced and like I have about 20 chins. It also turns into a big mass of split ends if it gets much longer than that (thin and fine-textured). Mr. Kat likes it better on me short, and since he has an art degree and presumably an eye for that sort of thing, I believe him. Plus I’m having a major 1920’s moment, so sporting a bob a la Jennifer Jason Leigh in “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.” I say, If it flatters you, go for it! ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/90 "2006-04-12T02:18:07Z")
At 24, my hair is very dark brown, completely straight, and when it’s down it reaches right to the bottom of my butt. It’s very healthy, thick and shiny, and pretty much my only redeeming physical feature 😉 . People comment on it all the time. I only rarely wear it completely loose and down, there’s a whole lot of it, and it tends to get in the way. Usually I have it in two braids. Mr. Armadillo used to gently tease me about wanting me to cut it to shoulder length, and I would tell him he’d go first. I think it’s growing on him (ha!) now. I can’t see ever wanting to cut it. I hope to be one of those witchy old ladies with heavily gray-streaked, butt-length hair. I do vehemently oppose the “old lady” cut, blech! ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/91 "2006-04-12T02:41:49Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > **Wookinaub** --I don’t think anyone here is advocating messy, unkempt long hair for work or any professional setting. I think that most attorneys would put their hair up or at least tie it back. Same with bankers or any conservative profession. I was in court this morning, one of six women in the room. Four attorneys, the judge and the clerk. Three of the attorneys had long hair (mid-back length). One had the sides pulled up in barettes, while the other two just had it long. Me, the judge and the clerk had short hair. But of course, I’m in California. We wear pants to court. :eek: We’re all liberal like that. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/92 "2006-04-12T03:07:49Z")
Female, 47, currently a redhead (natural color is medium ash blonde, but it’s probably about 85% grey by now, judging by what I see when the roots grow out a bit) and long–to mid-back. My mom is 69, had short, styled, dyed platinum hair during her youth then decided when she was fortyish that she was sick of that nonsense and grew it out. Now it’s down to her butt, mostly silver but has these neat copper streaks in it and no idea where that came from, because she’s a natural light ash blonde and hasn’t colored her hair in decades. My hair is my air conditioner, I wear it down in winter to keep my neck warm and mostly up in summer to keep it cool. I wear ponytails, single braids, just the top pulled back in a braid, etc., but mostly I just wear it down. I dig it–it’s easy to take care of and it flatters me. I’ve had shorter hair and it just doesn’t cut it–makes my face look all weird and pudgy (more so than usual, I mean!) and I have to mess with it a lot more than just dealing with the long hair. I also really hate going to get it cut–it seems like such a pain for not much result, and so few hair cutters are willing to accept that it’s MY hair and I’m the only one who’s allowed to decide what happens to it. All those rules about how women of a “certain age” are supposed to cut their hair and look a certain way are a big load o’crap–it’s just hair, y’know? It’s not a political statement it’s just a personal preference. My hair is the way it is because I like the way it looks and feels and so does my SO–he’s reluctantly accepted that I’m not blonde any more but he’d leave me if I cut it short as well… ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/93 "2006-04-12T03:19:38Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > For the first time in my life, my hair is almost, but not quite, down to the middle of my back, and I rather like it this way. I like the option of having my hair up or down to suit my mood. Dear old mom _sigh_ suggests that since I’m nearly 40, I should cut it to no more than shoulder-length in an effort to appear more “professional-looking” …snip… > > - Tell me what you think of long hair on women. > - Tell me what how you define long hair (to me, it’s shoulder-length or more), and if there’s a particular degree of length you like or not. > - Tell me if you think there are age constraints to looking good in hair of a certain length. > > And just out of curiosity, tell me your age and whether you’re male or female, because I’m curious to see if there’s a spread in opinion. Thanks. Woman, 47. I love long hair. I am old and a not “hot”, probably downright ugly old woman, so my gorgeous, still blond, no grey, silky, (none of that grizzled dried out look so many women my age get) hair is my one point of indisputable “hotness” so I refuse to cut it. It’s shoulder length now, but I never go any shorter, and am in the process of growing it out to about bra-strap length. I still look pretty young despite my unattractiveness, so the long hair doesn’t make me look haggard (yet). DON’T do it. Keep it long as long as you possibly can, those days of little old lady poodle perm cut are too many years of our womanhood as it is!!! ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/94 "2006-04-12T03:20:53Z")
Whoops…PS If you MUST look “professional” there are always those sophisicated looking french roll thingies. ---
**Author:** ![bubble\_pop\_electric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@bubble\_pop\_electric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubble_pop_electric)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/95 "2006-04-12T03:41:31Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > My friends like to joke that if I cut it all off I would lose 10 pounds. We must have some of the same friends. Mine say the same thing about me. I have incredibly thick, incredibly straight, brown, just-past-waist-length hair. I love it. It holds the nice smell of shampoo really well, since there’s just so much of it. I can hide acne behind it. I can play with it when I get bored. It’s soft and shiny. I’ve just had long hair all my life, which admittedly isn’t that long. (I’m a teenager.) The only con is that it is heavy, especially wet. I don’t mind the care, combing and conditioning and whatnot, because it’s all I’ve ever known and I’m so used to it, it’s just part of my routine. Not having long hair because it’s too hard is an alien concept to me. It’d be like having my teeth pulled because brushing them is a pain. I plan on having my long hair, probably forever. It’s what looks best with my somewhat round face, and that’s not going to change. ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/96 "2006-04-12T04:06:47Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Yes, and having large breasts is also bad. And being too short. And being too tall. And being too old. Or too young. Or being female in general. > > Any woman having problems with any of the above should realize she is not the one with the problem, and should probably start working on her resume. Having short hair doesn’t make you “look like a man” if you also happen to have the aforementioned large breasts. Or, perhaps, it does-- but you look like a man with very nice knockers. (I actually think I’ve got this reaction from a few folks.) I love long hair on other people, and I think clean and decently trimmed is good enough for “pretty hair” at ANY age. I’d grow my own out, but I don’t have the mobility to get it clean and brushed out by myself anymore, so I figured short, clean, and soft was better than long, tangled, and itchy with unrinsed shampoo. So my hair’s about an inch long on the top and much shorter on the sides. I still have my ponytail that I cut off. Sometimes I take it out and look at it, and think about growing my hair out again, and trying to find someone to help me with it. _sigh_ Corr ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/97 "2006-04-12T04:08:07Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Cut my hair just because I’m almost 40? NEVAR! I’ve had my hair just about every length you can think of except bald, and it looks best the length it is now; just below my shoulder blades. Besides, it was part of our prenup: I cut the hair, we get divorced. > > And what’s with the hate for red hair? 😕 And blonde, and lengths, and/or styles other than what YOU prefer for that matter. LIttle picky and critical eh? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/98 "2006-04-12T12:43:31Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I wore my hair super-short in college. Very easy to care for: Wash, moosh some mousse into it, mess up into spikes, blow-dry or air-dry. Mr. S liked it because he could play with it and I wouldn’t get mad at him for wrecking my hair, like some girls. Me, too. It wasn’t super-short, but just above my shoulders, layered all over and I’d just mousse it to death as a ‘style.’ I don’t like messing with my hair. > [@](#): > > I’m not handy with hair stuff at all. I have four hairstyles: (1) down, (2) partly up in a barrette, (2) ponytail, (3) twisted up in a clip (just for around the house, to keep it out of my face while I’m working), and (4) hat. 😃 If I’m feeling fancy, I might pull the ponytail up and through itself to hug my neck, but that’s about it. Again, me, too. Mine is about shoulder-blade length, so I guess it’s considered ‘medium-long.’ I have bangs that sort of get swept to one side. I keep them fairly long, too. I hate those really short bangs that hit a couple inches above the eyebrow. In case anyone’s keeping track, I’m 41. My mom is still waiting for me to ‘come to my senses’ and get that suburban mom/soccer mom/helmet hair thing. I hate that! I like my hair this length, and plan on keeping it for awhile. > [@](#): > > Meanwhile the gray is being slow about coming in. I’ve been getting gray since my early 20s, and I’ve been coloring it regularly since I was about 30. I think once I hit 55 or so, I’ll let the real color come in. ---
**Author:** ![Grossbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba8739/32.png) [@Grossbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grossbottom)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/99 "2006-04-12T15:08:50Z")
I like a woman’s hair either long or ultra short, but the latter requires the bone structure of a Renaissance statue to pull off, I think. My girlfriend for most of my college years had black hair shaved to about a half inch, and this unbelievably gorgeous face…mmm. Really great look if a girl has the features and the personality to pull it off. But long hair is preferrable to a shorter haircut in general, and I find inexplicable the tendency for women to favor shorter, curlier hair as they grow older. It’s like this lemming urge to look like a q-tip. Make-up is irritating because it gets all over everything including me, but many an early morning double-take has confirmed its effectiveness when coupled with beer-goggles. Long nails are a plus because I’m a slut for backrubs and headrubs, so I actually do check out a woman’s nails when I meet her, but it’s just a minor plus. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087/100 "2006-04-12T16:53:06Z")
**-Tell me what you think of long hair on women.** Sometimes I think a person’s hair looks nice but I haven’t noticed a correlation with length, just how much it suits them. **- Tell me what how you define long hair (to me, it’s shoulder-length or more), and if there’s a particular degree of length you like or not.** Long for me is down to the shoulders; _personally_, and I stress personally, anything more than a couple of inches below bra-strap is getting too long to be worn loose. **Kimera** ’s hair is gorgeous, obvioulsy healthy and well looked after but I far prefer it in plaits. That’s just me, please don’t take offense **kimera**. **- Tell me if you think there are age constraints to looking good in hair of a certain length.** One of the things I like about Europe (the Continent as opposed to the islands off the west coast 😉 ) is that there is less of this “older women can’t have long hair” malarkey. Quite often I see someone from the back with long-ish hair then am surprised when I see their face/age. Female, 35. My views are obvioulsy coloured by my own hair which sounds very similar to **DianaG**'s, thick and curly. It needs a certain amount of length to pull it vertical (not striaght but into curls and ringlets rather than, as a school teacher once called it, “a bush”). From a hideous teenage mistake I know my face isn’t strong/striking/pretty enough to carry off a very short cut; above shoulder and I need to spend time styling it into curls or straightening it; but too long and it’s a jungle. As you said in the OP once you have a bit of length you have so much more freedom - up or down, smart up or casual up, straight down or curly down … only the other week we were accosted by a very drunk guy (Eastern European from his accent) who didn’t want a cigarette (the usual request in France) but just wanted to tell **Ponster** to never let me cut my hair !! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-long-hair/352087.md?page=6)