Why did Golden Age actresses choose short hair over long hair?

[RealVegetarianShark]

I'm scrolling through old black and white pics of Hollywood's Golden girls and it just hit me - women we still consider to be some of the most beautiful of all time like Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Austrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Ingrid Bergman had short hair. Even the long hair starlets had fairly short long hair like Lauren Bacall and Rita Hayworth. Given that there seems to be a strong bias towards long hair being more attractive on women across space and time, it's strikes me a bit interesting that some of the most iconic beauties had hair cut to their ears.

I wouldn’t describe their hair as short. All the actresses you have listed were stunning and actually I don’t think would have looked better with longer hair (especially if straggly and in bad condition). Many people (especially if beautiful with a good bone structure) suit a more bob length of hairstyle.

I don’t think it’s true that longer hair = more attractive. It depends what suits you.

The ones you mentioned are all of the same era, so there would be trends of the times.