To wonder why do few girls have short hair nowadays

[Chewystick]

That’s it really. When I was at high school (80s), half the girls had short hair. However, I can only think of one girl my DDs (who have long hair) have known through school who had short hair and she has long hair now. When did short hair fall out of favour?

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

One thing I have noticed though is the number of young men with beards . That seems to be the fashion now!

Ummm, I think 'young men with beards' has been the fashion for about 6 or 7 years now.

I have noticed another fashion trend dying out though - along with GREY - and that is tattoos on young women.

Much fewer girls/young women are having them now. On Love Island this year - sorry to mention that again - virtually only 2 or 3 out of 15 or 16 girls on the show had tattoos; compared to around half of the 15 or 16, some 3 or 4 years ago.

I wash and blow dry my bob once a week. Every other day just needs a quick comb and that’s it.

There was a thread a couple of days ago from a poster whose daughter kept getting asked if she was trans because she had short hair and wore trousers to school. I'm not trying to derail onto trans issues - my point is that expectations of how girls should appear are rigid,, and any girl who doesn't conform will get hassled.

To be fair, a boy with long hair and in skirts will get the same question. Girls do have more rigid expectations but with this one, I don't think it's about girl expectations but 'gender-conforming' expectation. Boys and girls are expected to look a certain way, but with added requirements for girls - "beauty"-wise.

Ok I am 60+ and have long hair. I had short hair most of my life when younger. This past about 20 years or so I have grown it v long to get it cut short and do the same again.

Now it has been long for about 3 years almost and have toyed with going short again but adult dd reminded me why I have it long. Long is low maintenance. I had very thick wavy hair which when short needed so much time daily . Maybe low maintenance is the answer. When my hair is long it is so much easier managed aand I can wash and let it dry natural (which I do) .
Sometimes I straighten it and often put it up in a variety of ways.

Covid caused me to lose much of it and it is not as thick as it used to be and drs say it might never be. But it has grew and I am no longer bald which I am thankful for.

Short hair is great if you have the right hair and a good cut . But for many it is high maintenance, something that not everyone has the time or ability in my case to deal with. ( arthritis in arms and hands)

I have noticed another fashion trend dying out though - along with GREY - and that is tattoos on young women.

I think they may be dying out for young men too. Hardly any visible tats on the Welsh rugby team last time I watched them.

@NoddyMcdoddy

Hair styles follow trends. Long hair is the current trend. You don’t tend to see mojawks, perms or mullets these days either.

Mullets are back for boys thanks to many rugby players sporting them. Loads of my DD’s friends have mullets.

To be fair, a boy with long hair and in skirts will get the same question.
Boys in skirts are much much rarer than girls in trousers it's not really comparable.

The way people apologised for mistaking them for girls as if it was such a great offence was annoying and eye-rolling,

To be fair, most people apologise for making stereotypical assumptions. They don't wish to offend anyone because you have no idea how that person will react to your mistake. I'd think this is why they apologised rather than them thinking it such a bad thing that they're girls.

It was only two days ago that a friend of mine was assumed to be a man. The person apologised so profusely, you'd think they'd committed the worst offence in the world, but it was because they'd jumped to conclusions based on nothing but expectations of what someone should look like. My friend was laughing about it, telling them it's fine and she wasn't offended.

In this day and age, making assumptions can be costly. Can't blame those who over-apologise.

@Genderless

There was a thread a couple of days ago from a poster whose daughter kept getting asked if she was trans because she had short hair and wore trousers to school. I'm not trying to derail onto trans issues - my point is that expectations of how girls should appear are rigid,, and any girl who doesn't conform will get hassled.

To be fair, a boy with long hair and in skirts will get the same question. Girls do have more rigid expectations but with this one, I don't think it's about girl expectations but 'gender-conforming' expectation. Boys and girls are expected to look a certain way, but with added requirements for girls - "beauty"-wise.

IME (London primary school) boys with long hair in trousers are coded boys, with the odd question from a YR/Y1 child.

My dd with very short hair and trousers has to argue with some younger kids to convince them she’s a girl, and even then they don’t always seem to believe her!

There aren’t any boys who wear skirts at her school, but I guess they would have the same experience as dd, but the other way around.

Boys in skirts are much much rarer than girls in trousers it's not really comparable.

Good point.

But girls in school with short hair (cropped or pixie) are rare too. I'd think it's the combination of hair and trousers, rather than just trousers.

fashion and maintenance.. they need more upkeep/hairdressers visits unless you have a style mom/dad/relative can handle at home.

Some are also restricted by some schools dress codes with regards to hair lengths.

It's fashion and for most they look better with it .

Depends how short.

If you mean as short as Naga Munchetty, then no. She rocks that hairstyle. But unfortunately, only very pretty woman can pull off short hair

@CountessOlenka

Girls are much fatter these days. You need cheekbones to look good with short hair.

Congratulations, you win mean comment of the day! Also stupid and untrue, sad for you that that's how you see the world.

I was talking about this yesterday with my husband, how so many young girls look the same; long straight hair, false lashes. How they dress the same. How all their social media posts look the same. Same pose, same facial expressions (duck face) and same filters.

My daughter was given a "Daring to be Different " award when she was at school for her short, punky hairstyle and in her late teens now sports a sort of Korean Bob / Mullet mashup with coloured sections. It's always commented on wherever she goes and I think I'm now starting to understand why as I'm increasingly noticing more and more groups of girls that look like clones.

@CountessOlenka

Girls are much fatter these days. You need cheekbones to look good with short hair.

🙈

There aren’t any boys who wear skirts at her school, but I guess they would have the same experience as dd, but the other way around.

Yes I think so too.

Interestingly, a friend of mine was smugly told by a teacher in her 5 year old dd's former school that her daughter shouldn't wear trousers because there are no boys wearing skirts. In other words, trousers are for boys and skirts are for girls.

She ignored the woman and when her dd started, she wore trousers more often because she found it easier to play in. She was one of the few girls who did.

I think this is part of the reason these kids are having so much confusion about sex and gender. They seem to define it so strictly. So girls who don't conform to the long hair glamour mode feel they are not really girls. But boys trapped in the wrong body. Which is very sad. There is no one correct way to be a girl. You just have to be female.

May have been said before in the thread as its long and I haven't time to read it all.

I had short hair in the 80's and 90's basically because I have pain in the arse hair that's half curly half frizz. There were less products and things like straighteners etc to keep it tame. Grew it long 20 years ago and I can manage it now. It's slowly getting shorter as I get older again

Fashion. Short was in for the 80s. Plus all those who wanted longer locks were able to grow it out in lockdown

High maintenance!? How can short hair possibly be high maintenance?

I have short hair because it means I don't have to do anything with it, it's completely non-maintenance except washing it a couple of times a week.

Have had long hair on and off and it was much more work to keep it looking good.

In the 80s women were much more ‘sisters are doing it for themselves’ aka Annie Lennox Aretha Franklin. The sexes were both experimenting with hair/makeup but everyone was clear about which sex they were. Now children are reinventing these weird retro concepts of gender - straying from that affects the teenage ‘social rules’ of sexuality or even what sex you are (!). In DD’s school it is assumed by the teenagers: boys with makeup = gay. Girls with no make-up = lesbian. Girls with short hair = a boy. Girls with blue/purple hair = difficult to keep up with what they ‘are’ but it will be complicated. Boys who say they are a girl = a girl (doesn’t seem to affect hair length). This is not me being flippant - there seem to be incredibly strict systems teenagers are self imposing on their peers.
It’s a brave girl who cuts her hair short at school/college if she doesn’t want probing about what sex/sexuality they are constantly. Also if you want to dye your hair pink/blue/purple just because you like the colour.
This has all happened incredibly quickly - it wasn’t like this 5 years ago. Hopefully in another 5 it will be gone.

Because most females look shit with short hair

Oh come on! I have short hair and as I said earlier so does my teen dd. Just because people say short, doesn't only mean short back and sides or a Purdy style from back in the day.

There are many beautiful shorter styles. If you think they all look shit, you need to find a new hairdresser.

Young girls are being sexualised at a very early age - pretty is seen as skinny, long hair and a pout.
Skin tight short clothes, flesh on display and allegedly dressing for yourself.

Short hair, slightly different and you are labelled as a goth, geek, lesbian or weirdo.
God help you if you have an ounce of fat, adopt an even vaguely conservative style of dressing.

I actually feel we have gone backwards not forwards in terms of women's rights.

gofg

No one chose to have crappy short hair cuts in the 70s and 80s that was decided by the parents and clearly dreadful hairdressers

Utter bollocks! I decided how I wanted my hair past the age of about 5. Can you not grasp the fact that as long hair is "in fashion" now, then short hair was in those days

That’s brilliant for you but at 5 years old my mother cut all my hair off and I wasn’t allowed any autonomy over the length of my hair till I was around 13 when the hairdresser refused to cut my hair because I kicked up such a fuss in the salon and wouldn’t sit in the chair.

Most of the time my mother would cut my hair but occasionally take me to the hairdressers as I got older.

I have been to the hairdressers twice in the last 47 years and that was just to try out having my hair dyed in a way the dye didn’t touch my scalp.

Fashion might come and go but it doesn’t alter the fact that short hair takes a certain type of bone structure to pull off.

There were some horrendous outcomes to the Purdy cut and the Princess Diana.
Whilst things might be fashionable it doesn’t mean that they are going to suit you.
Just because a very tall very thin model/actress with a longish face, short to normal sized nose and incredible jaw line had their hair cut very short with a heavy fringe and looked incredible doesn’t mean to say some 5ft 2” girl with a massive fat jaw line and an equally large, fat nose is going to suddenly look as incredible as Joanna Lumley
At least I knew not to go there.

My face, even when I was 7.5 stone (18”waist) was fat. Judging by the comments when people looked at me they saw a fatter person than them.

I have never changed my hairstyle in 47 years. It has and will always be waist length or longer,