Welcome to the Art for Hair Blog!

We love creating hand-crafted hair sticks, hair forks and matching jewelry to show off the beauty of long hair! Our blog features our designs, different ways to put long hair up, as well as how to care for and grow long hair and features on other Etsy craftspeople.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Women and Long Hair: Does Age Matter?

Recently, my husband and I have been watching makeover shows, such as 'What Not To Wear'. It's been interesting to see that almost always, the women with long hair are given a much shorter cut, which is deemed 'more appropriate', despite their protestations that they want to keep their long hair. Although they generally love the results, the idea that short hair is somehow necessary once a woman is no longer a young girl is interesting. Why shouldn't 'older' women have long hair too?

Historically, long hair has been seen as a thing of beauty and femininity. The Bible famously states, 'If a woman has long hair, it is glory to her' (1 Corinthians, 11:15). In many cultures, a woman's hair symbolizes her power. Studies have shown that men really do find long hair more attractive than short hair. For example, a study in the journal Human Nature found that when men were shown pictures of the same women, first with short hair and then with long hair, the men rated the longer haired pictures as more attractive. Long hair slims the face and draws attention away from facial imperfections, as well as generally being associated with beauty and youth.

Why should women give this up, just because they are no longer young girls? Of course, not all long hair styles are suitable at all ages, and loose flowing hair is probably not appropriate in the boardroom. However, there are also many elegant, formal long hair styles, which while not suitable for young girls, are ideal for 'older' women in professional situations. If women realized that they had these options, and that with practice, elegant styles can be easily achieved, maybe they could preserve much-loved long hair and not feel that they have to have short hair to give a professional appearance.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm 38 and my hair goes down to my bottom. I'm actually looking forward to turning grey because I think long, white hair is gorgeous!!

Art for Hair said...

I agree, chom, one day I'll be the little old lady with a white bun! I hope one day it gets to bottom-length , too :)

JMom said...

I had long hair all through my teens and twenties. Then I started having kids and it just made life simpler to have short hair. My husband loves long hair though and he'd probably like it if I grew my hair again.

I don't think age is the defining factor whether you should have long hair or not, it's how you wear it and take care of it.

JMom ~ Found Not Lost

Anonymous said...

My old job... before I was 30, a 'friend' of mine told me at 30 I needed to cut my hair short.

Well, that was 11 years ago and it's still fairly long. I think older women with long hair, even long grey or salt and pepper hair, looks great and I plan on being one of them!