For most of us here, I think it's fair to say that we think of hair as more than something that merely covers our heads. And we probably think about hair more than when we just wash it or get it trimmed.
My question: Who or what influenced how you currently think about hair?
My answer: I'm in my mid-thirties and grew up in the late 60s and early 70s when obviously long-haired "hippies" were the counter-culture, and pixie cuts were the norm for little girls. I wore a pixie as did nearly all of my friends. Maybe Walt Disney had too much influence on me {grin} but I wanted long, flowing hair like the Disney princesses. But my mom wouldn't let me grow me hair until I was older. I came to abhor short hair on women and girls.
This opinion stayed with me until recently. My preference is almost always for longer hair on women, but I have come to appreciate that some women do look better in shorter hair, and actually prefer it. Sometimes, we tend to think everyone thinks just like we do, so whenever I saw a woman with short hair, I thought she either bowed to pressure to have short hair or else had low self-esteem for not wanting to look her best (in longer hair) or else simply wasn't very feminine.
Obviously, those are rather harsh opinions, and I'm not so proud of them. However, I am pleased that I've mellowed a bit in my views! I still definitely prefer longer hair on me but don't have such a negative opinion on shorter hair.
I have a daughter with gorgeous waist-length hair. I've always let her wear her hair as she wishes (my only insistence is that it is kept clean), which has included both long and short hair. Fortunately, it looks like she's opting to keep her long hair! But, I very much want her to like her hair, no matter what the length, and to harbor no ill feeling towards the subject.
Anyway, I think that being forced to wear my hair short as a young child harvested some strong views on short hair that really weren't so healthy. I actually almost became scared of cutting my hair at all until a lot of feelings exploded one day, and I cut off several inches. It was almost like I was cutting off my fear.
I'm just curious to know if there are events or people in your lives that influenced how you currently think about the subject of hair.
I look forward to reading what you have to say!
Jennifer
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