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Original poster

To wonder why do few girls have short hair nowadays

526 replies

Chewystick · 05/12/2021 00:52

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?

OP posts:
kowari · 05/12/2021 15:10

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
I'm clearly failing at womanhood, I get my hair cut at the barber, just wash and comb it, and don't wear makeup either!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 05/12/2021 15:18

I'm even worse than you, @kowari, I have taken to cutting it myself! No makeup, no hair products, and yet nobody runs away screaming when I have the temerity to leave the house. I even managed to hold down a job in this unadorned state!

ldontWanna · 05/12/2021 15:22

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

OH gets his hair cut more than I do, so as far as I'm concerned, his hair requires more maintenance. That's without adding the curl and the frizz which would make a short cut definitely hard work even without the constant growth. I don't want to have a cut every few weeks.

A short style needs keeping short. A very structured cut even more so. Add in different hair textures ,thickness, curls etc and it can be a pain in the bum.

It's great if short hair works for a lot of posters and they find it easy and low maintenance. Why can't you accept that the same is applicable to a lot of women with long hair?

kowari · 05/12/2021 15:53

OH gets his hair cut more than I do, so as far as I'm concerned, his hair requires more maintenance.
The frequency of hair cuts is such a small part of it for me. I go about every six weeks or so but I'm in and out in no time at all, no hair washing or other fuss. Then it's worth it as it saves me so much time day to day.

It's great if short hair works for a lot of posters and they find it easy and low maintenance. Why can't you accept that the same is applicable to a lot of women with long hair?
I think many of the posters with short hair are just responding to those with long hair who don't seem to be able to accept that short hair can be easy and low maintenance too.

lazylinguist · 05/12/2021 16:39

I think many of the posters with short hair are just responding to those with long hair who don't seem to be able to accept that short hair can be easy and low maintenance too.

I think you're right. Short hair is more effort for me because I have poker-straight, thin, fine hair. So if I don't put product in it and blow-dry it, it looks utterly flat and awful, as though it's plastered to my head.

lazylinguist · 05/12/2021 16:51

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.

It depends what kind of hair you have though. I'd love to just wash and go,and I would do so if mine had any body, wave or curl to it and didn't have the texture of baby's hair. Putting wax on it just makes it look greasy.

MrsClatterbuck · 05/12/2021 16:58

A Facebook group that I'm in for my hometown often puts up old school photos going back as far as the twenties to the nineties. One thing that I noticed was that in the twenties up to the sixties girls had mostly short hair. And those bows which were popular a couple of years ago were in vogue then. I was in high school in the seventies and it was a mixture of long and short hair.

woodhill · 05/12/2021 17:10

Could that be connected to hair washing and lack of hair dryers and hot water perhaps, not so many servants to help you either as before 1914 itms.

It must have been much harder to maintain long hair in some sense

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 05/12/2021 17:22

The idea of washing hair every day or even every 2-3 days is very new. Until the 1970s, at a guess, most people in the UK didn't have access to enough hot water to do that - less efficient plumbing (not just no showers, would take ages to fill a bath and for water to make its way through the pipes to a washhandbasin); expensive and slow to heat that much water; no bathroom, so you had to wash in the sink, which would be needed for other things, and no privacy; no hairdyers, so you had to rub it with a towel and then sit by the fire waiting for it to dry. Not for nothing did women and girls used to say 'I can't come out that night, I'm washing my hair'. It wasn't just an excuse, it actually took all night, and if you missed your slot you could have to wait a while because other family members needed their own designated night.

My family's plumbing situation was a lot better than that when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, and even so we didn't have baths every night and didn't have a shower at all while I was at home. It wasn't expected that hair would always look and smell shiny and clean.

Kennykenkencat · 05/12/2021 17:22

GetTheFlockOutOfHere

Kennykenkencat
GetTheFlockOutOfHere

Do you mind not being so rude about my appearance. I struggle with what nature has handed down to me as it is
Yeah nice try @Kennykenkencat. hmm

You make nasty remarks about women, with (in YOUR words) big fat noses and fat jawlines, and then make out you're on about yourself when you're called out. Pull the other one

I wasn’t being nasty about anyone apart from describing myself.
I do have a huge fat nose and a fat jaw line. I can’t describe myself any other way.
I have always had huge issues about the way I look. It is my ethnic mix.

If you don’t believe me then that is up to you but realise that for some people this is their reality and exclaiming WTF at how someone looks is rude and nasty.

Rosebel · 05/12/2021 17:25

I was at primary school in the 80s and lots of girls had long hair. Perhaps we were behind the times.

Mischance · 05/12/2021 17:27

I found short hair much harder work than long (apart from getting it dry). I have very fine hair, which simply does nothing if short - it flies up in the air, turns outwards, either sticks up or glues itself to my head if I have worn a hat. If there is any damp in the air it goes curly and messy.

I now have it just below shoulder length and I can fix it up with clips and give it a bit of shape.

When I had short hair I was young and beautiful. Not any more!

Rosejasmine · 05/12/2021 17:28

It’s fashion, in the 80s, we followed pop stars and for a time the fashion was short hair. Nowadays it’s social media, hair extensions

dayswithaY · 05/12/2021 17:32

More famous women had short hair in the 1980s and hair products were terrible. No straighteners, no serum, hairdryers would burn your hair off, and all hair had to be grown naturally - no extensions existed. Some people just can't grow their hair long.

I do associate short hair now with women of a certain age.

AliceMck · 05/12/2021 17:37

@Fomofo

Being referred to as a boy isn't necessarily a bad thing
So if your a woman you would be happy saying you look like a bloke?
Crimeismymiddlename · 05/12/2021 17:43

In the 90’s everyone seemed to have long hair. Apart from me as it does not suit me at all, but my preference is generally a short bob. Every so often I get my hair cropped, I find it freeing but the maintenance is a bitch. It never occurred to me that the personal choice of hair style would mean being questioned over gender preferences, how fucking rude and ridiculous. Girls have so much they have to consider now, it must make life so hard.

Coffeepot72 · 05/12/2021 17:59

I was at primary school in the late 70s, in a fairly rural area. Obviously there was no social media, but even back then long hair was a desirable characteristic. Being chubby was a no-no, same with glasses, but if you were slim and had long hair you were automatically classed as ‘pretty.’

I’ve no idea where all this came from, but it certainly wasn’t from Instagram!

Fomofo · 05/12/2021 18:23

Alice mck, I'm taking gen z, alot of them are gender fluid and don't care whether they look like a boy or a girl

Fomofo · 05/12/2021 18:23

*I'm talking gen z

GetTheFlockOutOfHere · 05/12/2021 18:49

@Fomofo

Alice mck, I'm taking gen z, alot of them are gender fluid and don't care whether they look like a boy or a girl
Confused
GetTheFlockOutOfHere · 05/12/2021 18:50

Bit of a generalisation there @Fomofo !

EightWheelGirl · 05/12/2021 18:54

@Fomofo

Alice mck, I'm taking gen z, alot of them are gender fluid and don't care whether they look like a boy or a girl
😂
GetTheFlockOutOfHere · 05/12/2021 18:56

I LOLd at that too @EightWheelGirl. Daft!

Fomofo · 05/12/2021 18:59

Get the flock, possibly a generalisation yes, but in my experience of of gen z girls in particular, being mistaken for a boy wouldn't bother them in the least

gofg · 05/12/2021 19:00

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 - it's so, so easy!

As for all this talk about girls being referred to as boys- that happened to me right from the 60s to the 90s (I tend to wear more skirts and dresses now). It's not something new, and it never bothered me at all.

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