Hair Advocacy

Dawn,You have chosen a very interesting issue to discuss. I have thought much about this very issue for quite some time. You may recall I commented a few weeks ago on Karen's experience at the hair show in Portland... Laura Jane has made some very insightful observations as well.Dawn, I must say that I think you have hit the nail on the head. You wouldn't believe just how many women, of a wide range of ages, have told me that they cut what used to be long hair short at the urgings of friends/family/others. All of the "typical" reasons were given to these women by these people. Just this evening at the grocery store, the checkout clerk (whom I'd never talked to before about this) admitted that she cut her hip-length hair to chin-length two years ago because of several of the "typical" (and maybe not so typical!) reasons given to her at the time by her friends. And yet you are absolutely right, I have never heard of or known of any long-haired person to recommend that a short-haired person go long for a reason which might be construed as a backhanded putdown.Laura Jane, I have had a number of people try to "sell" me on short hair. But as my hair get increasingly long, this seems to happen less often. I wonder if this phenomenon happens in reverse for women, that the longer their hair grows, the more negative "comments" they get? Anyway, the last time it happened to me, it was sort of humorous. It was the husband of a married couple, both about 70 and both with very short hair. Nice people, yet that didn't stop him from just "starting" with his unsolicited pitch. He proceeded to tell me the wonders of short hair. I got the impression that his attitude toward hair is that it is just a nuisance to be minimized. He talked about it in utilitarian terms as if he couldn't understand that one might actually have an appreciation for it. I had short hair for many years, so I've been on both sides of the hair ocean. It really comes down to a matter of appreciation, and to me, if someone has long hair that means that in whatever ways and for whatever reasons, they appreciate long hair. This is why I just don't understand why short-haired people try to talk long-haired people into cutting their hair. They may not understand or appreciate our like of long hair, but it would be wonderful if they would respect our choice for it.Regarding hair lengths, "I've tried the rest, and now I've got the best." :)Dave

This is a phenomenon I find quite intriguing. We have heard so very many stories from women with medium, long and super long hair who have had people openly denigrate their appearance and blatantly advocate that they try harder to fit in with everybody else by cutting their hair in a more "appropriate" fashion, yet I have never heard a long haired woman walk up to someone and say, "you know if you would just let that poor hair of yours grow you'd look so much younger and wouldn't have those miserable bad hair days and would have so many other styling options, etc. etc. etc." Why the difference in attitudes? I would never dream of telling a short haired person that if they only had a measure of commitment and personal fortitude they would be able to have hair like mine, why would a short haired person be so comfortable asking me to just toss aside and abandon twenty years of loyalty to my personal choices? Harkening back to a recent story from Karen regarding an incident at a hair show, such comments can often be quite insensitive and coercive. Why do you think that is? Comments ladies?Very best wishes to all and may your hearts guide you to choose what truly feels best for YOU, whether it's long or short, Dawn