Short Hair Raises Eyebrows

As a child, I had very long hair. It was something everyone always noticed or commented on. I had long hair throughout my teen years also. So when, I cut it into a bob for college, it was kind of shocking for me. I remember my roommate admitting to me that when she first saw my hair, she thought I had guts to cut it that short.

Recently, I had my hair cut very short. Most women compliment me on it. But men have mixed reactions. Especially older men who are of the notion that short hair isn't feminine. My father commented to me that he "read" somewhere that women with short hair send a message to men that they doo not want to be noticed or bothered! WHAT?

What really strikes me as weird is how short hair ellicits so many different responses and theories, especially from some men. Her hair is short, surely she's either a tomboy, a lesbian, a feminist, someone who doesn't want to look feminine, a neo-nazi, super daring, low maintenance. Wow, maybe she just likes short hair!

Depsite the feminist movement, there are many men, especially of the older generation, who just plain don't like short hair. It's the antithesis of beauty according to their standards. It also contridicts what we believe to be sexy based on Victoria's Secret, Sports Illustrated or the Miss America pageants ( and we know how up to date pageants are). When can we all just start being ourselves and present our own definition of beauty? I say, let's start now!

There is a Jockey commercial. It features young people of all different ethnicities and looks. They are on a conveyor belt and they get turned into the "ideal" men and women. Ideal meaning, big boobs, long blond hair for the women and the men with short hair. Two "rebels" escape the machine and run out into the fields with their identites intact. I say we all get off that conveyor belt and be ourselves. And by the time anyone starts talking, you'll be in a beautiful field somewhere.