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?

I remember a girl at my college getting bulled by secondary school girls on the bus, constantly getting asked if she was a boy.

I suspect things have ‘t changed much.

I know a few men with long hair, ponytails, man buns, braids and just messy, curly, etc. Mostly over 30 years old. I do move in arty circles if that has anything to do with it....
I prefer it to the shaved look, but i also find naturally bald men attractive, too.

Im thinking now about a Peter Greenaway film I saw last week, a period piece in which all of them men of high society wore trowels of excessive make up, faux beauty spots and 2 foot powdered wigs. And the clothes! So many frills and tights and showing off well turned legs and ankles.
That's what I call effort . The women, by comparison, were rather unadorned.

I miss seeing more diverse hairstyles out and about though, but then my own hair is long so i can't complain!

My point is, yeh, it's just fashion, and if i compare this to what girls did to their hair when i was a teen, it does seem rather homogeneously long and boring now - but a plus point is i do see more and more girls sporting natural texture, frizz and curls.

My hairdresser is now "allowing" a wavy finish do I guess that's progress.😂

GettheFlock - I LOVE that 80s picture I was a teenager/early twenties n the late 80s .
I had the short hair with a bit of height . And I wore the make-up and earings etc.

I have grown out my pixie hair partly because of the 5 weekl trims and partly because I got bored (growing out is a nightmare though)
I still have my great cheekbones but felt a bit blokey if I didn't wear some make-up.
The whole 80s look , short skirts , heels . Very of its time but I could not recreate it now .

My DS has sported a beard for about 5 years now , I did notice how many of the young football players had beards .

I think with my DD she liked to copy her friends or maybe they copied her ?
Her best friend had long , nearly black glossy poker straight hair which of course DD envied . Her friend envied my DD long , wavy , brown hair that would hold a curl . None of us are 100% happy !

Because they get referred to as boys if they have short hair. My dd cut all her hair when she was 7, she loved it, had a really cute pixi cut but got pissed off witch constantly being referred to as a boy. Even when she was blatantly wearing “girls” clothes, she had a full on sequin JoJo Siwa top on once and was still called a boy. She even said to me she could understand if she was wearing her football kit but she’s wearing a sparkly top with pink all over it🤷🏼‍♀️

Being referred to as a boy isn't necessarily a bad thing

Short hair looks like it would take so much effort. I can just brush my long hair and go.

I don’t even need to brush my short hair. I just go.

@uneffingbelievable

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.

Will people please stop spouting this nonsense! It's nothing new. Girls have always tried to look pretty and follow fashion trends it's not a new phenomenon. Also, as a PP said, parents are now giving their children autonomy over their looks and have stopped giving them hideous bowl cuts just to make their life easier.

Covid, maintaining a short style to look good needs regular access to a hairdresser, long hair is much more flexible!

This just came up on my Facebook feed. Never see Christmas tree hair anymore either.

You try brushing a 3 year olds bum length hair when it has been dipped in everything from her breakfast to the paint at nursery. Nothing easy about it and a 3 year old shouldn't be worrying about fashion.

There's plenty of options between short cut and down to your bum hair. I haven't seen any 3 yos with hair that long tbh, and it's not a requirement. I don't know where you got 3 yos and worrying about fashion from as I was talking about teens/young women. My own DD had short hair as a toddler because she took ages to grow it. Now she's 10 and halfway down her back with an at home trim needed every now and then. No idea what she'll go for once she's older.

I'm too fat/chinny for short hair!

There was nothing good about that cut. Nothing. And i was stuck with it for about 14/15 years.

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry

Short hair looks like it would take so much effort. I can just brush my long hair and go.

I don’t even need to brush my short hair. I just go.

Me too. With a bit of a shake and a tiny bit of wax or something

I don’t even own wax. I just go!

It’s just different haircuts go in and out of fashion. I remember mid 2000s shorter styles were in, lots of layers and feathering and side partings or fringes which you don’t really see anymore.

I remember Victoria beckham got the graduated bob cut with 2 long streaks of hair at the front, nicknamed the ‘pob’ by magazines and became very popular, I now see similar styles called ‘Karen haircuts’ by youngsters and deemed very uncool.

@theriverrunsthrough

Because SM has 'got them'.

This is why its banned in my house.

SM has been the scourge of our young females

You know that MN is SM right?!

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

GettheFlock - I LOVE that 80s picture I was a teenager/early twenties n the late 80s . I had the short hair with a bit of height . And I wore the make-up and earings etc.

I have grown out my pixie hair partly because of the 5 weekl trims and partly because I got bored (growing out is a nightmare though)
I still have my great cheekbones but felt a bit blokey if I didn't wear some make-up.
The whole 80s look , short skirts , heels . Very of its time but I could not recreate it now .

My DS has sported a beard for about 5 years now , I did notice how many of the young football players had beards .

I think with my DD she liked to copy her friends or maybe they copied her ?
Her best friend had long , nearly black glossy poker straight hair which of course DD envied . Her friend envied my DD long , wavy , brown hair that would hold a curl . None of us are 100% happy !

I love that early 1980s look too. Brings back lots of happy memories.

@theriverrunsthrough

Because SM has 'got them'.

This is why its banned in my house.

SM has been the scourge of our young females.

As a pp said, mumsnet is social media. So why are you on it, if it's so evil?

And you are deluded if you think that no-one in your family ever uses social media. Just because it's 'banned in your house.'

Banning anything like this is absolutely ridiculous, because it will just make people want it more, and it will make your children rebel against you, and resent you.

@ldontWanna

There was nothing good about that cut. Nothing. And i was stuck with it for about 14/15 years.

I'm sorry you didn't like it, @ldontWanna, but I like the look of younger you in that photo (if that is you) - you look happy, lively, interesting, interested. The kind of person I'd be happy to spend time with.

@GetTheFlockOutOfHere

Floogal

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.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

What utter nonsense. Nobody says anything equivalent about men with short hair.

I do think women should be allowed to do what they want/look how they want, but that comparison/analogy is a bit daft.

Is it daft? Who says to Dan Walker or Huw Edwards or Jon Snow that they rock their hairstyle or that they're not goodlooking enough for that hair length? Who even notices their hairstyles?

It's all conditioning. Women absorb the message from from their earliest childhood that no matter what else is good about them if they're not attractive they're of less account. This just doesn't happen to men. It's sexism, pure and simple, and it's so ingrained that many people can't even see it.

@discoland

It’s just different haircuts go in and out of fashion. I remember mid 2000s shorter styles were in, lots of layers and feathering and side partings or fringes which you don’t really see anymore.

I remember Victoria beckham got the graduated bob cut with 2 long streaks of hair at the front, nicknamed the ‘pob’ by magazines and became very popular, I now see similar styles called ‘Karen haircuts’ by youngsters and deemed very uncool.

Yes I had short hair in the 80s and shorter again then with that feathery look you describe and the Rachael in the 90s

Both my dds have always had long or shoulder length hair never short particularly.

I never let them have very short hair as my own dm used to keep my hair shorter

@ninnynonny

Baffled at people thinking short hair needs work. I am the lowest maintenance woman in the world. I had a good cut (only real expense) once every couple of months, wash it, shove a bit of wax on it and that's that. It's like anything, if you make it hard work, then it is.

I don't understand it either. Why would my hair be any more work than short hair is for the average man?

Because unless you're spending time and effort beyond keeping it clean and pulling a comb through it you're failing at womanhood.