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

[GlennaGirl]

I think to say that one's hair must be bsl or waist or whatever before it can be considered 'long' is hurtful and discouraging to others. Anyone who's hair touches their back and shoulders has 'long hair.'

Well, I don't know. I think anyone who has been on LHC for any amount of time at all knows that we who view only very long hair as "long" are in the minority. I'd imagine pretty much anyone knows that for the vast majority of society, anything beyond the top level of the shoulders is long.

So I wouldn't worry very much about that, but that's just me personally. Which brings me to Point Two: This is what we personally feel is long. I suppose we could all just not answer, but the OP did ask; or else tell an untruth, in which case is our input at all valuable?

If everyone either lied or simply elected not to answer, frankly, this wouldn't be much of a thread.

[LILBERT]

I think long hair is a matter of perspective. i had hair nearing waist length and it didnt FEEL long, but now i have APL hair and it does FEEL long because its been short for a while and just grown out. compared to a pixie, jaw length would be long. if you feel your hair is long then dont let anyone else tell you otherwise even if it will be longer in the future, ever inch is an inch longer after all.

[Garnet66]

To me anything beyond shoulder length is long. I don't know if I feel that way because my hair has been short for so long.

[florenonite]

I think to say that one's hair must be bsl or waist or whatever before it can be considered 'long' is hurtful and discouraging to others. Anyone who's hair touches their back and shoulders has 'long hair.'

(I have always had hair much longer than that, so that's not why I say this.)

Each individual may feel dissatisfied with the length of their own hair until they reach some far-off target length, but that does not mean they don't already have 'long hair.' I would never tell someone their hair is not 'long', nor would I judge their hair as 'not long' in my own mind because I think that the term 'long hair' is exclusive to those who can grow their hair to some quite long length. We can become such snobs about hair on a board such as this one.

Sorry if I sound irritated, but I guess I am a little. I hate to see women discouraged by the snobbery of other women. For many it can be like holding the carrot on a stick in front of the poor donkey. Almost anyone can have 'long hair.' Let's don't make it harder than it is.

I disagree. A lot of posters have said that they consider hair to need to be at least waist-length to be long. I haven't had waist-length hair since I was about 11, so I don't even know if it's possible for me to grow to that length, and I certainly don't have it at the moment. Yet I am not offended by posters saying that they don't view hair as being long until it's at waist length, why should I be? It really doesn't matter to me whether or not other members think my hair is long as long as I'm happy with my hair. No, I don't think my hair's "long" yet, but if it doesn't make it to waist I'll come to terms with that and be happy with it the way it is.

I also agree with GlennaGirl that it would be a pretty dull thread if we didn't say how long hair needed to be for us to think it was long!

[LadyGunn]

I consider hair on other people to be long when it's about BSL, but I'm at the can-I-call-this-hip? length and still am not quite ready to call it long yet.

As far as telling other people that their hair is not long, I would never do that. I've had people (a hairdresser, in this instance) go "Ugh! That's way too long!" when I told her my hair was at waist. I know that different people have different preferences so I'm not going to tell someone "Ugh! That's way too short!" I had a friend post on Facebook that she just cut 3 or so inches off & loved it. Her hair is just past ear length now. My response was "Noooo!!! says the long haired friend. ;p I'm glad you love your new cut. " With the wink & knowing each other like we do, I knew that she would know I was joking about the "No" response.

[Firefly]

Like others, for me personally I think of long hair as being around waist. My original goal was waist, and now it's tailbone, but I still think of waist as long. I know that is when it started finally *feeling* long.

[feralnature]

...anything longer than mine

[Feline]

The public in general seems to think anything past shoulder length is "long"; personally, I think it has to be waist length before it is long. Just my opinion, YMMV ...

[florenonite]

I've been puzzling over why below shoulder-length hair is "long". That would make a bob medium and a pixie short, so there's only a few inches variation in short and medium, then many in long. I think it has to do with the fact that most women wear their hair down much of the time. A pixie looks vastly different from a bob when worn down, and a bob very different from shoulder-length/APL. However, once you get below the shoulders, there's not a huge difference in the appearance from the front due to length alone. Layers will make a difference, but beyond that the hair looks more or less the same.

That's just my conjecture, though

[smerrie]

I think long is a completely relative term. For example, my hair used to be mid-back, and when I cut it to BSL with layers, I complained that it was soooo short. But others around me just gave me weird looks, and said, "Um. It's still long!"

Now that I've been at shoulder length for about 2 years, whenever my hair starts to creep below my shoulders, call it APL, I can't get over how long it feels!

I also know a woman who keeps her hair short, and she will start complaining that it is too long when it hasn't even hit shoulder length.

And of course, for people here who are aiming for terminal length... BSL is going to seem ridiculously short.

Thus it is all relative

But for me personally.. I consider long hair to start somewhere between APL and BSL.