How long does hair have to be before it is considered long?

[Saisaisayonara]

Mid back I'd say is long. I recently just got long hair yay!

[bte]

It all depends on the context. I recently attended a meeting where I was the only person their with hair long enough for a ponytail, and seven of the sixteen present were women. On the other hand, if I go to an LHC meet, my hair is likely to be just about the shortest.

A different kind of context, somebody who has always had very short hair and grows it to shoulder length will appear to have long hair; someone who has ankle length hair and cuts it to knee will appear to have short hair.

So, in my opinion, there are as many answers as there are people!

[SupermanSeven]

Classic and beyond is long hair.

[Zindell]

My view:

Short hair = chin length and shorter
Medium long = between chin lenght and APL
Long hair = APL and longer

[NickalNack]

Any hair that's longer than mine is long to me.

[Bene]

i've heard some people say APL is long.



my hair is about in inch past BSL, and i don't think it's long, i consider it medium length. to me, anything longer than waist is "long"

[noelgirl]

There's a difference between "long" and "long for me", IMO. It's very context-dependent. If I were describing someone, I'd describe them as having long hair starting around APL. That's when it starts to have a flow to it, usually. But long for me would be below waist, since I'm used to lengths between BSL and waist but haven't been below waist in quite some time.

[ericthegreat]

My point of reference for how long your hair has to be to be considered long has shifted along with my own increasing hair length. I used to envy the locks of Jenifer Lopez and Britney Spears(that was until I found out they wear extensions on a regular basis!) and I would watch their music videos really to see their hair swing and fly around as they danced! But even with their extensions, they sport midback to lower back styles, never anything longer than waist as hair longer than waist would be considered "too long" by their fans.

Now than my own hair has reached the upper part of my butt, I now no longer envy their locks. Especially since now I know that the hair I'm seeing on them is (A) most likely extensions (B) highlighted or colored over again and again since celebrities need to keep "changing up their styles" to stay new and edgy (C) blown out, straightened, or curled on a regular basis. With all that being said and done, the hair of a actress or pop singer must in actually be quite damaged and only made to look superficially shiny and healthy with shine serums and flat irons and all those artificial gizmos. I now love and admire my own hair which is natural and healthy!

I'll get off my soapbox now and answer the question. At my current length right now, butt length and longer would be considered long to me.

[redcelticcurls]

For me, curl pattern plays into it.

If I see a 4a at APL, I know that her hair must be at least waist length when wet. Do I consider it medium because it's APL or long because I know that the actual length is taken up by the curl pattern? I usually consider it long. I know that growing long curly hair takes longer than growing long straight hair.

So, I feel that a 4a at APL is long but a 1A at APL is medium. The pattern plays a role.

In regular social context, I consider most types to be long at BSL. Here on the boards, I'd consider waist length and beyond long

[Lize]

I always though BSL was long before I came to this place. BSL was actually my goal length when I first came here. Now that I am almost at BSL I don't find my hair long at all. Probably I have changed to look at waist length hair as "long", and BSL as rather long.