To think there's a lot of hypocrisy on here about feminism and long hair?

[AlpineAnja]

Noticed tons of threads over past few years, and i mean tons, where poster asks if long hair is ok after 40, etc.
All answers naturally say of course it is! And i agree!

But i also notice this weird thing where people go on to insult women over 40 who prefer short cuts. They claim that growing hair long as a mature woman is a feminist act, yet insult shorter haired women for choosing a 'dated' or 'ageing' style.

This is a massive contradiction, because if wearing hair long was a feminist act, so should wearing it short! All hair choices should be supported by feminism. If a woman grows her hair long and receives insults such as 'witchy' or 'mutton', then it is equally wrong to throw shade on short hair, too.

Surely I am not the only one who has noticed this. I am tempted to think this contemporary obsession with long hair as faminism belies a deep fear of ageing and a keeness to copy gen z.

So, all hair styles are acceptable, whether frizzy, short, 'karen' style, wavy, curly or straight. All lengths are acceptable, also. The endless threads about long hair and the users who pile on to tell everyone to grow it longer seems to me to be hiding a different issue than feminism.

Bash away!

I have a contrary opinion: almost nobody of either gender suits short hair.

Men can rarely get away without a beard or long hair in the same way lots of women look better with a bit of makeup or a better hairstyle. Big fan of guyliner too.

I'm an equal opportunities short hair hater.

@AlpineAnja - if you are still reading - I have seen people online saying that women over 40 shouldn’t have long hair - to be honest I don’t recall seeing anyone saying the opposite.

'Karen' style?! Yeah you sound really feminist using language like that?!

I've never heard anyone saying you shouldn't have long hair or any type hair over or above a certain age. Here or anywhere else.

It goes without saying both sexes of all ages can do as they please with their hair!

I have thin, fine hair - if I grow it, it weighs itself down so much that it looks almost non-existent, @TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis. If I have it short, it has a bit of body, and doesn’t look so lifeless and thin.

This is definitely an era thing. Growing up I remember all women seemed to cut their hair short after a certain age. Nowadays women are far more likely to keep their hair long into their middle age. I think it's one of the reasons women nowadays just seem to look younger. When I look at photos of my mum and her friends in their forties they look significantly older than my friends look today at the same age

Haven’t seen this either, but if I’d gone on the Style and Beauty board to ask for opinions on hair styles then I’d be hoping for honesty and straightforwardness about whether my idea was stylish and might suit me.
If the answer is always “Of course! Do whatever you want, regardless of your age, personal style or looks!” then it would be a pretty pointless exercise, even if feministically sound.

Is it unfeminist to want to look nice or stylish?

Me neither.

Strange thread.

Me too!

I had lovely long hair as a kid until I was about 11. After that due to health issue and some trauma my hair started thinning and slowly going white...

So I have had a pixie cut most of my life because it is the only cut that make my hair look decent and I have it coloured blonde.

I could not care less about what people think of it and I genuinely like having short hair.

But I must say that short hair on women seems to get a lot of negative feedback from men and women in general/in society because I think it goes against gender stereotypes and the belief that to be pretty a woman needs to have long hair or she is in danger of looking 'masculine'.

Agree.

Which board did you see "tons" of hair threads? I don't go on the fashion/style ones so if they are on that one I won't have seen them.

But generally speaking this is a very weird thread. I wonder if someone has told OP in real life their hairstyle is wrong.

Chin up OP. It will grow back. Probably doesn't look as bad as you think. And there's always extensions....😉

Mumsnet is not some kind of uni mind. ‘Mumsnet says’ is ridiculous

Some people may advocate long hair as a feminist ‘no imposed rules on women’ view, are these the same women who allegedly say whatever gets said about short hair?

How big is the crossover between the FWR boards and S&B?

There is no way to prove it, other than spending a lot of time researching old MN threads, but it is true. There are always unpleasant comments about short hair on threads about hair, every single time. The majority of women seem to think long hair, no matter the condition of said hair, is beautiful.

Can you link to any of the threads or posts OP? It’s easier to comment if we know what we’re commenting on.

I agree with you regarding the term, however it comes up on every thread about hair.

Like others I've never seen short hair criticised on MN, only long hair on older women.

Well, I don't think we'll see the OP again, seeing how resoundingly the unsupported argument went. Intellectual

There is no way to prove it, but it is true.

You've edited your post so I've returned it to what it was ^. I could say I am the Queen of Seba but there is no way to prove it, but it is true. That is how ridiculous your post is and sometimes you just have to prove it if you want to be taken seriously. OP hasn't brought the evidence.

Neither have I. And I can't imagine what a 'Karen' style is. And it's hard to believe someone's been on MN a long time and not picked up on the fact that calling a woman a 'Karen' is considered a slur.

I have short hair and have observed a trend for the past few years against short hair on women in general. This could well be my own insecurity.

The term "Karen" as an insult seems to reenforce this. I have also heard the term for certain short styles (like an inverted bob) being an "I want to talk to the manager cut". I have short hair because I like my hair short and easy. I am not trying to make a statement and find it unfair when I am judged for how I chose to wear my hair.

Yes I find it highly irritating when people talk about “Mumsnet” as if there was a homogeneous line on everything.

There are trolls on here and aggressive, toxic people and extremists and some posters who are batshit but for all its faults Mumsnet has never been a unified perspective. All human life is here and all shades of society, politics and perspective.

I think people use the “Mumsnet hive mind” thing to preempt backlash when they know they have said something irrational/silly/offensive.

I have never seen a post from anyone on here criticising women for having short hair over a certain age. Literally never.