Hair / College
So, I was chatting with my oldest daughter today, who is in her first year of college, and she sends me a picture of her new haircut:
Now, personally I think it’s “Cute” and I couldn’t believe she cut it that well herself, but besides posting a picture for Grandmom, which I could have done at our family site, I wanted to muse, wonder and maybe get some insight as to why girls seem to grow up and cut off their beautiful long hair (Again I say, my daughter is beautiful and her new ‘do’ is cute).
I’m just musing that it seems to be a common occurance as girls grow up, they cut their hair shorter (My youngest, who still has beautiful long hair, promises me that she will never cut hers- but I think her sisters said the same thing when they were younger too 
Of all the things I could talk about, this certianly isn’t anywhere near the most important, nor do I really care how my beautiful daughters wear their hair- they know that it’s the inward beauty that counts! But I’m just wondering here . . .
Most girls look more beautiful in long hair and I just wonder why most seem to cut it off as they grow up and never seem to grow it back?
If you have any insight, please clue us in . . .
(BTW- Don’t just tell us that it’s easier to take care of when it’s short, I know that.
(Believe it or not, I’ve had long hair twice in my life- I looked stupid, I hope there are no surviving pictures)
I’m looking for a more insightful answer then that . . .
September 19th, 2005 at 9:18 pm
My Daughter Julia insiste on getting her hair cut this week. after we got it cut, we found some clippings on the bathroom floor. apparently she was quite determined to have it cut one way or another.
I think we change our appearnance every once and a while to break with the old, and start anew… Especially at times like going off to college, or graduation. If things are going to be different, changing ourselves a bit can ease our discomfort. since we are different too it is a bit easier to deal with other things being different. Just a hypotesis….
My wife cut my hair for the first time ever today… It is pretty good considering it was the first try
September 22nd, 2005 at 11:41 am
Your haircut looked pretty good too . . . maybe your wife has a new career
I agree that reinventing ones self occasionally is a reason for lots of physical changes like haircuts, but I’m wondering why ladies usually don’t grow their hair out long after it’s once been cut.
Does long hair have some meaning us guy don’t get? (Does short or long hair communicate anything in our culture? If you think it does, what does it communicate?
(I’m especially interested in this type of thing as a Communications major)
(Almost every man I’ve ever talked to about the subject agrees that most ladies look more beautiful with long hair.)
What about you . . . Guys? Gals?
Do you think most ladies look prettier with long hair?
Does it just take too long to grow back?
Do ladies just not care what us guys think?
(Or do they listen to their girlfriend, who prefer short hair, or do ladies prefer short hair . . . Ladies?
Maybe we can’t make any gender generalizations, but I suppose, if we’re honest, we probably can in our culture.)
Or is this just a ‘Hair-brained’ discussion
What do you think?
September 24th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
Greg, I think you just asked me to chime in on this discussion because I have short hair!
I think whether or not women (or men) look better with long hair is a highly subjective personal preference. Many men prefer women to have long hair, but other men find short hair on women to look sophisticated and sexy. But you are absolutely correct about hairstyles having communicative function in our culture. Of course how we wear our hair (and how we think others should wear theirs) says something about us! There is some research, mostly from psychologists and sociologists rather than communication researchers, about what we think hair means, but I’m not going to look it up and get all academic on your blog. I’ll just start listing some of the things that influence our preferences . . .
personal preference - what we think looks best and most flattering with our facial structure and body shape (which others may or may not agree with)
There are surely other factors as well, but I think I’ve given you enough to think about.
:-)
September 24th, 2005 at 12:02 pm
P.S. Your daughter is VERY cute!
Also, I didn’t realize that WP doesn’t accept HTML tags in comments - sorry if the post above is hard to read. I had it formatted as a bulleted list in HTML.
Admin comment- I edited your post for you. I didn’t realize some HTML tags don’t work in WordPress comments. real basic ones do, but not ul-li, etc.
Maybe I’ll have to use another Blog software (or maybe there’s something about it I don’t know how to turn on yet?)
I’m looking at a few others right now anyway: Blogger and Movable Type. Which one do you use? (Anyone else feel free to comment on good / better blog software. I’m going to post some instruction RE WordPress as a result of this.
I also promoted you so that you can now post threads, which allows you to use just about any HTML tag, at least all of the ones I’ve tried so far. I’m sure you’ll like this better with your editing background
November 23rd, 2005 at 11:42 pm
And now she comes home from College for Thanksgiving and it’s Purple!
I really do like it 
(Well I did exaggerate a bit using PSP
Sarah’s gonna Kill me
This is what she really looks like:
November 28th, 2005 at 4:05 pm
Your daugter looks like you, which is very cool and great too!
On to the hair ? Some people wear their hair anyway that works best for them considering time, money, & what they think looks best on them. I have seen people who wear 50s, 60s, 70s, and etc…etc.. styles. It comes down to what we see in the mirror and if it makes us feel good about ourselves. One lady told my daughter That everytime she would see me again I had a different hair style, she was right! and I have a new one again! I think change is good it keeps us moving. I was able to meet a lady with purple hair it was cool! Also I think it is our personal decision to cut, dye, not comb etc.. our own hair becuase we are the ones who have to deal with it.One more thing better purple hair than other weird stuff as one wise person said a long time ago.
November 28th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
O yes I can see Jodie too ! Very cool and great too!
December 14th, 2005 at 6:06 pm
I am 29 and have kept my hair long for most of my life. I probably keep it this long because my husband likes it so much. One thing I wanted to comment on is the attitude women have towards other women with long hair. I don’t understand it. I have had women be hostile towards me because I have long hair. While men often compliment my hair, women often tell me I should cut it. I have even had one woman tell me that long hair is only for little girls. Does anyone have any idea why women would be so hostile to a woman with long hair?
December 19th, 2005 at 3:28 pm
I can’t even fathom why women would hostile towards long hair, or short hair for that matter. My only guess would be jealousy. But, then again I am constantly surprised by the way that women judge each other. It reminds me of the movie Mean Girls, it definitely had a message that I have thought about…..just how women are constantly cutting each other down, when they should really be trying to help each other. But, it definitely does happen - maybe it’s a survival tactic? I would like to comment though on the long hair/short hair topic though. It does seem that men like women with their hair long, but why???? I have seen beautiful hair - both long and short, and in between. I’ve had hair almost as long as Holly’s before, and it does seem that men love that. I also remember my dad being really sad when I cut my hair as a little girl. Just rambling, but wondering what the tie between men and long hair is???
December 21st, 2005 at 1:24 am
Hmm Marcy, turn about’s fair play . . . Why do us guys often prefer long hair on a woman? I’ll give my answet L8R, but guys, what do you think??