Women and long hair

In My Humble Opinion
41

I’m 37. My hair is down to just touching my bra strap. I am trying to grow it to about 3 inches longer than that. I can wear it wavy or straight (if I fee like blow drying). I love that I can put it up, wear it down, braids, pony tails, whatever.

I had it short in my early 30’s. It was fun, but I had to wash and blow dry it every day or it stuck out in funny ways. I got tired of it. I don’t intend to cut it short again.

BTW, I define long hair as past the shoulders, closer to the shoulder blades. Shoulder length hair is “medium” IMO, and short hair doesn’t touch the shoulders.

42

I’ve always admired girls / women with beautiful long hair. As has been said, if it looks good on you and it’s healthy, go for it. The only problem I have (well not really a problem, 'cause I don’t care enough about it) is that just becasue the hair itself is healthy and pretty, doesn’t mean it’s flattering to the person’s face. I think a lot of women hide behind their hair, when in actuality it’s not doing anything for them. You see this on “What Not to Wear” all the time. I think a big part of it ties in with the very responses this thread is getting from the guys. I know a love for long hair is pervasive among men, and I’m not gonna get in to what I think about that, but I do think many times women hang on to their hair for fear of not being feminine / attractive. It’s hair as a security blanket.

And I also think that regarless of how good of shape the hair is in and how well it looks on a woman, if she’s in a professional position she is not doing much for her credibility to wear it down.

43

[quote=WOOKINPANUB[And I also think that regarless of how good of shape the hair is in and how well it looks on a woman, if she’s in a professional position she is not doing much for her credibility to wear it down.[/quote]
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.

44

I hate it when I mess up my tags. Just as well; it bears repeating.

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.

45

Male, TDOTM (too damn old to mention). Yeah, I love long hair on the ladies, so good for you Sunfish. It looks good in any color, even white/gray as somebody noted.

Hey, it does not look too bad on Cher, eh?

My daughter never cut her hair until she got out of high school, and it was long enough so she could sit on it. Back then the fad was to iron it, quite a funny sight.

46

I asked our medical director’s opinion on this. She shrugged (she’s one of those disgustingly annoying women; absolutely gorgeous at 45, not a strand of gray, incredible body after having 2 kids, almost 6 ft tall) and said in her beautifully German accented voice: “if anyone discounts my opinion as a nephrologist based on my wearing my (perfect wavy blond) hair down, I automatically discount their opinion as baseless. How does how I wear my hair translate to my being a good doctor?”

:smiley:

I love that woman.

47

Meh, hair is good. Just make sure there’s enough to grab onto.

48

I love her, too, now. :cool:

49

Hmm… there certainly are men who prefer that their women look “feminine” most/all of the time (by which I mean they have perfectly coiffed hair, make-up, nails done, and wear [designer] skirts/dresses). That’s okay, whatever makes a guy happy… it’s just not likely to be me in that case. That portrait of femininity is a little too high maintenance for me.

kelly5078, since I’m in a professional world where admitting the use of a hair dryer to some people is enough to raise eyebrows, I think it’s safe to say that big hair will never be an issue for me. :smiley:

I’d originally intended this to be a poll, but I really don’t mind if we get into some discussion about people’s attitudes while we’re at it. Please feel free to expand on your thoughts if you like. Why should my credibility (or that of any other woman with other-than-short hair) go down if I don’t wear my hair up?

KlondikeGeoff, you just made me smile after an afternoon that was less than thrilling. Thank you. :slight_smile:

Least Original User Name Ever - I thought having ears was enough. :stuck_out_tongue:

50

**- Tell me what you think of long hair on women. **

I like it best. IMO, only a certain type of female looks good with that ultra-short haircut. Think Martina McBride. Then again, I’m female and straight, so YMMV.

**- 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 shoulder-length or more. As for what I like. I measured mine yesterday. It’s about 20 inches. It naturally reaches past my bra strap; when pulled out straight (heavy curls) it reaches the tops of my jeans now.

**- Tell me if you think there are age constraints to looking good in hair of a certain length. **

No! I plan to have mine long even when it’s white. I’ve seen that, and I think it looks perfectly lovely.

**
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.**

30, female.

51

And Maureen - I like your medical director’s attitude!

52

I have a strong preference for short to ultra short hair on women IF they have the features to wear it well and still look girly. That said I can appreciate a healthy, well cut head of long hair on a woman. Things that I find unattractive about long hair on a woman would be lack of styling or trimming of broken ends and chemical damage. I’m also not too fond of the one long braid look but that’s just a personal preference.

The difference between average length hair and long hair starts in the bra strap vicinity.

No age constraints.

Straight male, 48.

53

I don’t think there should be an age constraint, but as always, it depends. Before I started job-hunting last fall, I cut my longer-than-shoulder length mixed grey hair, dyed it, and kept it trimmed to above shoulder length neatly curved under in order to “look professional.” Very short hair styles are not very becoming to me, IMHO. Now that I have a job, and I don’t think they care if I’m grey or not, I’m letting it grow out and go back to my natural color. I plan to have it trimmed a bit every once in a while to keep it from getting straggly, but to eventually have long grey hair. I love the way wind feels in my hair when it’s long.

54

Sorry I didn’t answer all the questions.
**- Tell me what you think of long hair on women. **
Best thing on most women, although there are exceptions as I noted above.

**

  • 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. ** In this context, what I have heard some people refer to as “high-school length” Long, in other words. Well past the shoulders if not actually reaching waist level. IMHO it looks better uniformly long rather than banged in the front.
    **

  • Tell me if you think there are age constraints to looking good in hair of a certain length. **

No!

**
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. **
48, male.

55

I’ve always prefered short hair on women. Even very short hair. In fact some very beautiful women look great with a masculine haircut, because for some reason it makes them look more feminine. It highlights their face or something. I also love the 1920s simple and short look, and I am partial to a bob cut (Barbara Feldon when she didn’t have it too long - rowr!).

That said, there are exceptions. Some women just look better with long hair. My ex did. I’ve seen photos of her with short hair, and it made her look too girly. The long hair made her seem her age (late 30s at the time), and that was a good thing in my book. It really suited her. I also admire older women (especially grey or white haired ones) that have the courage to go long. I used to have the somewhat popular oipinion that it makes them look like wizzened old witches or something, and I guess many of the women do too, which is why they hit their late fifties or early sixties and go for the generic ‘old lady’ cut for the rest of their lives. Now I think long hair suits senior women and gives off a certain amount of attitude.

So, girls and young women - short hair with exceptions.
Middle-aged to elderly women - long hair with exceptions.

56

Just to add to that:

Ignore the ‘cut it at forty’ opinion. Long hair can be okay at any age. If you’re a professional women in your forties, then you can reflect that in your clothes. I hate women in that age group that dress like teenagers, but if you wear a suit or an elegant cut of some other outfit, the long hair won’t be a problem, IMHO. I also have a predilection for long dresses (no, not on me).

57

Different lengths and styles look good on different women, of course. But my particular preference is shoulder-length or just a little past. Long enough to do something with, to brush across your shoulders when you turn your head, to move and flow and catch the light and the wind like hair should. Any longer is diminishing returns; more of a burden than it’s worth.

“Long” would start about halfway down the shoulderblades.

Male, 40.

None from me. Red hair does not automatically make a woman a babe, but when it works, it works very well.

58

I love long hair on women. I don’t care about age. Past the shoulders is long to me. I like it in a pony tail and I like it free. I used to date a woman who believed that women over the age of 40 should not have long hair, but I do not agree.

59

Random thoughts about hair:

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.

My mother and her sisters have beautiful silvery hair, (but two of them dye it :frowning: ), and when my hair started showing gray strands around age 29, I started growing it out, both for a change and in the hope that I would one day inherit that silvery hair. I think long gray or silver hair is stunning. One of the tellers at my bank wears her long gray hair in an elegant twist, and the first time I met her I complimented her and said, “You have my future hair!”

Unfortunately my hair is stuck at shoulder length and refuses to grow any further.

My mother thinks gray hair looks terrible long and should only be worn short. A pox on her! (She also thinks I should have bangs because “your forehead is so high.” :rolleyes: Yeah, and I also have these two huge Dagwood Bumstead cowlicks on each side of my forehead, which you can see in all of my (banged) school pictures. Now that they’re long, they actually add interesting shape to my hair instead of just sticking out.)

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. :smiley: If I’m feeling fancy, I might pull the ponytail up and through itself to hug my neck, but that’s about it. Maybe a simple partial braid. No goop (except spray-in conditioner, if I remember), no curling iron, no fancy blow-drying technique. Always air-dried. I just can’t be arsed to spend a lot of time messing with it. It’s just hair.

Meanwhile the gray is being slow about coming in. I had a bad combo of home coloring growing out and went to a salon to try to gradually work back to normal color. The first two coloring jobs were good, but this last one was horrible. Three different colors (supposedly streaked), and not very well applied. People compliment me on it, but I just don’t care for it.

If I ever do get back to normal, I’d like to see how the “bride of Frankenstein” gray streak I had going on the right front side is coming in. I think that would be cool.

60

I love long hair as I mentioned but don’t think make-up and nails are big with men. From my personal experience and talking to other guys. Most guys prefer a woman with longish hair, color preference varies by male. Some don’t care.
But few men like any but the lightest amount of perfumes and don’t like make-up other than maybe lipstick. Cosmetics I feel is how woman preen for each other’s approval more than for men.

Now Short Skirts and long hair or tight Jeans or form fitting clothing is how you generally attract the notice of males. Those strange self torturing Push up bras do tend to grab our attention. Those scary looking High Heels do help show off nice legs but I think the woman that wear them are very brave. :wink:

BTW: All men I have ever met, hate strong perfumes and yes we do make fun of Girls and Women that wear heavy / cake make-up.

Jim