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draysmir
January 23rd, 2017, 11:37 AM
I have seen quite a few discussions on LHC about people in real life tend to think APL or MBL is "long", and how it's often rare to see people with long hair in public. I'm not sure if it's just where I live, but it's basically the opposite for me! In highschool and University (currently in), I'd say at least half the females my age have at least MBL or longer hair. I also see many middle-aged woman on the bus with hair past their hips as well. It seems MBL-BCLish is "normal" for where I live. Is it just me or do a lot of woman have what LHC would consider long hair now? (I hardly ever see anyone with classic length hair though- long long hair is still rare for me to see) My hair is grazing waist and compared to the LHC it makes sense it would feel short compared to a lot of people with long beautiful hair on here, but I feel that way too in real life now! I find it a bit discouraging seeing so many people with longer hair than me, is this just where I live or is this a hair trend now? Do you guys see long hair frequently in your life too?

lithostoic
January 23rd, 2017, 11:43 AM
I have the longest hair out of everyone in my family (except one), at MBL. My aunt has TBL hair. Short hair is much more common here because of the heat and the salt air. Most women my age have shoulder length to APL hair.

lapis_lazuli
January 23rd, 2017, 11:44 AM
I am also in university, but I'd say BSL is still normally what I see. However, I've seen some girls at classic or longer as well - it's really a mixed bag where I go to school, especially since there are people of all races, ethnicities, and beliefs. It's wonderful seeing the diversity, and I get excited when I see a fellow long hair here :)

Though I can only speak for where I live. Perhaps long hair is becoming more popular these days... :hmm:

hayheadsbird
January 23rd, 2017, 11:49 AM
I see longer hair, waist to hip, on a fairly regular basis. Mostly it's younger girls though. A lot of my teenage daughters friends are around BSL to waist.
Longer than hip is more unusual.
Theres generally a few girls growing theirs out for uphelly aa if there dads are going to be jarl, as they will be part of the squad as Viking maidens kinda thing. The men tend to grow theirs as well, but going from a much shorter starting length they don't normally get much past shoulder or APL if they're jarl.

Acid
January 23rd, 2017, 11:56 AM
i mostly see a mixture of APL- Waist with the majority of waist (that ive seen in addition to coworkers and friends) being extensions (you can see the tracks or clips or the drastic change from thick bob to a few individual clip ins hanging down on strangers - not that theres anything wrong with that, just ho i know its extensions and not real). Ill occasionally see another long hair maybe once a month if im lucky and even then ive never seen anyone longer than classic.

wispe
January 23rd, 2017, 12:17 PM
At my university I see a fairly even distribution of short to long, with the longer lengths maxing out somewhere between waist and hip. Even around town, I rarely see anybody tailbone length or longer. In several years I've seen 2 tbl+ english braids on older women and distinctly remember one teen with tbl hair I saw while out shopping once.

sumidha
January 23rd, 2017, 12:21 PM
There's so many factors that go into how long the hair of the general population is in your area. In the US at least, I feel like in the past ten or fifteen years or so 'longer' hair has been having somewhat of a come back- remember in the 90's/early 2000's when 'The Rachel' was like, Americas most popular hair cut? Now I see a lot more BSL or waist length hair in the media, but like I said... Sooo many factors.

In my area BSL or longer is not unusual on women of all ages, I've seen obviously religious women at the grocery store with past classic length hair that didn't draw excessive attention. So here I go, I'm about to make some extremely unscientific broad generalizations... From what I've seen, rural areas tend to have more long hair than urban areas. Areas with a significant population of Latinas and Filipinas tend to have some people with longer hair, areas with a significant population of certain religious groups tend to have some people with longer hair. Areas that are less affluent tend to have longer hair. Because let's be real, it's a lot cheaper to just let your hair grow than to pay for regular cuts and dyes at a salon. :D

Oh yeah, also if you're around historical re-enactors a lot there's more long hair, for obvious reasons. :)

Anje
January 23rd, 2017, 01:08 PM
I think there's hair stylist long, and then there's actual long. Most people don't think that the hair stylist "anything below the shoulder" version of long is actually long hair on women. (It does seem to qualify as long on men, though.)

And then there's LHC's long, which is usually somewhat past the point where the normal public's eyes are bugging out. :D

(No, not everyone has long hair. I did something crazy and now my hair is unequivocally short by all standards.)

Rebeccalaurenxx
January 23rd, 2017, 01:22 PM
I see a lot of waist length and longer here in Los Angeles so. But I think it's hard to say because people wear hair extensions and wigs and such. You can't really say what the statistics are from just visually seeing because you don't actually know if that's a persons real hair... as weird as that is to say.

littlestarface
January 23rd, 2017, 01:41 PM
I see waist to mid thigh here alot in my part of cali.

emptyque
January 23rd, 2017, 01:52 PM
It does seem like long hair is in right now. I see a lot of teenage girls with BSL to waist length hair around my city, but it is much rarer to see really long hair on an adult woman, though a few of the woman in my office have BSL hair.

sumidha
January 23rd, 2017, 02:01 PM
I see waist to mid thigh here alot in my part of cali.

I have a feeling we're neighbors! :cool:

pili
January 23rd, 2017, 02:20 PM
I'm currently in Cali too, and women of all ages definitely have longer hair than anywhere else I've seen. Some I can tell are extensions, but I live in an area known for hippy and granola. Here quite a few have long natural hair. Older women with beautiful silver BSL+ and quite a few TBL+ of the younger crowd.

Mrstran
January 23rd, 2017, 02:44 PM
Where I am at, there are mostly girls with MBL to HL hair. This is true for all ages here. I have maybe seen ten or so with TBL hair.

vampyyri
January 23rd, 2017, 02:58 PM
Where I am everyone has BSL and shorter hair... so I'm definitely the outlier here at least!

pailin
January 23rd, 2017, 03:51 PM
Definitely there are geographical and age related differences. Around my parents there's a lot of long hair due to religious reasons (not uncommon to see little girls with pigtails down to classic), and in the area of Asia where I work there's a lot of extremely long hair for cultural reasons- a lot of waist length and some classic or longer. But among the other expats where I live, not a lot of hair longer than mbl, except for teenagers.

Dark40
January 23rd, 2017, 05:06 PM
Whenever I'm at the store or out in public I will see a few waist to hip length hair. But not anything longer than that here in ATL.

Crystawni
January 23rd, 2017, 07:06 PM
Long hair on women of all ages is the norm here where the rainforest meets the reef. It's cooler to put your hair up than have it on your neck, and we're very laid-back here, so long and lazy (minimal interference, although some bold colours and braiding are about) suits our lifestyle. Many of the guys keep theirs buzzed, short, or long enough to be ponied and/or bunned. I have known a few guys who work outdoors to chop their dreads off due to the heat, but many still have dreads up in the rainforest tablelands where it's a tad cooler. As it's also a tourist hotspot, it's great to see all kinds of long hair being embraced from all over the world, and mostly in good condition, too.

Cherrys
January 23rd, 2017, 07:26 PM
When I was on campus in PA, waist length hair was pretty normal, maybe 30% of women had that length or longer. Now that I've moved out of state and into the real world, it seems like I'm the only one with hair last APL that's actually real.

MoonRabbit
January 23rd, 2017, 07:36 PM
MBL is the norm in my area of rural southern pa. I rarely see anything longer than hip. But long hair has been the typical style for my family. My Mom had knee length for my entire life up until a few years ago she got a pixie, my sisters have hip and waist and my brother has shoulder. I'm not sure why I consider male hair "long" when it's past chin. My boyfriend has collarbone length and I would easily classify him as long hair. But if I saw a woman with the same length I would say it was medium length. Maybe society has brainwashed me, It makes me feel bad that I see these different "standards". Does anyone else do the same?

Eriu
January 23rd, 2017, 07:37 PM
I mostly see bsl long here. it's on trend. I'd call anything you can get into a high ponytail or a braid "long hair." Like stylists I tend to classify it by what styles you can wear. Absolutely where you are matters. In elspeet [rural Netherlands) women did not seem to wear their hair shorter than mbl, and never loose. they also never wore pants only skirts, not even little girls {unless on horseback} and always washed the windows on Saturdays so they'd be ready for the Sabbath, when they would wear all black to church, like black flowers with black stems adorning little old ladies black hats. These things weren't religious as much as they were cultural, but the culture was one of religion if that makes sense. {like if I'd ever asked "do you grow your hair for god?" I think they would have answered no, but if they'd cut it the town would have seen it as a slap it the face to tradition, which was obviously very important to them}. For the record the part of canada I'm in is pretty hippy-ish, and once you hop a ferry to any of the smaller gulf islands you start seeing a lot more waist to knee on women, and a lot more apl to tbl on men. Even a few miles makes the difference it seems!

marvel-lover
January 23rd, 2017, 07:40 PM
In my area (which experiences extreme seasons) most women have hair BSL or shorter, but it's not uncommon to see a girl with hip length hair, though "long hair" by my area's standards is waist and below. I've never seen anyone with hair longer than hip, as it becomes really hard to maintain long hair in my area with the seasons.

Sarahlabyrinth
January 23rd, 2017, 07:46 PM
Here, the usual length for long hair on young women would be mostly BSL with a few at waist length. For ladies my age :p the hair is always pixie to collarbone, nothing longer.

turtlelover
January 23rd, 2017, 08:51 PM
I am in the Midwest. Until recently, I lived in the suburbs and saw VERY little healthy long hair past bra strap, and at over 40, was starting to feel a lot more long haired than most women in my age group even before hitting waist. I recently moved to a bigger but not HUGE city, and I see quite a bit more long hair here, because there are a lot more Hispanic and Indian/Middle Eastern people in the area, and those groups tend to have longer hair. There are also some Apostolic ladies in my area, though most of them wear their hair up so it is hard to see it too well. I feel less special here for sure! HAHA

Dante
January 23rd, 2017, 11:46 PM
I see a lot of women with BSL to waist hair where I live. I thought for a while that it was as I worked at a university campus (younger people = longer hair) but I switched jobs about 6 months ago and now work at a hospital and it's exactly the same (but with a much greater diversity in age, socioeconomic status). So major it's just common where I live?

I must say, I've never seen anyone in person with hair past TBL (although they could but just have it up in a bun or under a hijab or dupatta, and I'd never know).

VersLaLumière
January 24th, 2017, 12:18 AM
I just tend to notice longer hair being more common among younger people, although waist+ seems less prevalent. BSL length seems to be the longest that many will go, especially for those in their mid-30s and up. There's a lot of fried or over-processed/over-manipulated longer hair out there, though. Or just dried out/frizzy hair that clearly needs some help. So while I see plenty of longish/longer hair, I wouldn't say I see a lot of LHC hair ;)

Most people's concept of "long" does seem to be different than what I'd expect. I've been surprised when people refer to my almost-BSL hair as long.

VersLaLumière
January 24th, 2017, 12:35 AM
To comment on trends, though, I actually have noticed more people wearing longer styles (as opposed to bobs and such). Just not usually past BSL.

mayfaring
January 24th, 2017, 12:47 AM
Since joining the LHC, I have noticed so many more people with waist length and beyond hair. APL to BSL is a really popular length here, but it's hard to nail down a trend since there is such a huge variety.

eladriel
January 24th, 2017, 01:33 AM
Over here most women have APL to BSL hair. But it's not that rare to see someone with TBL hair, for example.

Meredith_Sulok
January 24th, 2017, 01:57 AM
It's not pretty common to see long hair here--what I consider long is maybe hip length even though to other people it's not that much--and saying that it's because it's hot in the Philippines is not a valid reason (look at India! The hairs on those girls I'm willing to kill for!) so I guess it's simply not in our culture to grow very long hair, even for girls. And those who do grow it longer than usual only do it out of preference. Meanwhile, guys who grow their hair long here are stereotyped as belonging to an alternative/rock subculture, being artsy (in my college, there are a good amount of guys growing their hair most of which belonging to Fine Arts... I'm from the Music Department), or implying that they're emulating someone they idolize--in my case, only one of those things are true, I swear!

draysmir
January 24th, 2017, 10:23 AM
Wow, all of these responses are very interesting! It seems like a lot of whether or not longer hair is common to see depends on where you live. LHC's classification of long hair is still rare for me to see, although I do see TBL occasionally. I saw a cashier a few weeks ago with hair at least mid thigh and it was quite lovely :o she seemed surprised by me complimenting her on her hair though. Being surrounded by students may explain why I see a lot of waist length and hip length hair, but I do still see a lot of older woman with hair down to their butt. A few people mentioned hair extensions though, which I had never even thought to consider. A majority of people around me at least like to wear their hair longish even if it isn't so, I suppose is a more accurate statement of hair trends around me.

It's really cool to hear about hair trends and typical lengths in other places around the world and how they differ from mine though :) I wonder if shorter lengths are more common for more urban city areas? I've lived in sub-urban towns the last few years

alimc
January 24th, 2017, 01:53 PM
In scotland its very rare to see a lady over 40, if not even 30, with 'long' hair... (even past apl is quite rare).

It does however depend on geographics here, city and more urban areas seem to have shorter hair (more hairdresser action), whereas countryside, rural areas seems to have a longer more relaxed trend...

I dont think i've seen anyone yet with hair past waist.... *watching and waiting*

Adavidal
January 24th, 2017, 05:05 PM
Hair between shoulder and waist is the norm where I live. I, however I live in Miami- which has a very high Hispanic population. In my Hispanic culture, it's very common and generally encouraged/expected for women to have long hair. Most girls from 12- early 20's have hair around or approaching waist. Ive seen women with hair longer than that, but not super often.

silverphile
January 24th, 2017, 05:26 PM
Long hair seems very uncommon on older women in my area, but BSL - waist is quite common on younger girls. I do wonder though - as many of us keep our hair up in buns so much of the time, either for protection or for ease - if many more of us actually have longer hair than is perceived! I am 51, with waist length hair that I nearly always keep up in a bun. On occasion, when my bun falls out and I need to quickly reinsert my stick or fork - people seem really shocked at the length of my hair.

I wonder, when people "see" hair up in a bun or braids - that they don't seem to realize the length required to achieve these styles - and don't recognize "long" hair. Just a thought!

emptyque
January 25th, 2017, 07:10 AM
I wonder, when people "see" hair up in a bun or braids - that they don't seem to realize the length required to achieve these styles - and don't recognize "long" hair. Just a thought!

I've seen a few woman with really large buns recently, and I wondered how much hair they must really have. Since I joined this website, I've been more aware.

Alissalocks
January 25th, 2017, 07:25 AM
I hang out with belly dancers, and many of us have BSL or longer. Several women (all but one?) in my troupe are BSL, MBL, Waist and TBL. One dancer in our community has FTL but that's quite remarkable to see IRL.

I do notice a lot of the teenage girls where I teach choreo have BSL and longer. It seems kinda average. It's true about the Rachel cut being the rage in 90s, etc. like sumidha says. Seems like long hair is more "in" right now.

In Jan 2013 the short, spiky bob was all the rage when Karlie Kloss cut her hair (featured in Vogue). I ran out an cut my then-MBL (and very damaged) hair just like it. That year, a lot of celebs cut their hair like that I noticed. A mini-trend.

I have a theory about that ombré trend from the last year or two too... bleach damage. Suddenly a lot of long and ombres became short and single toned after a season or two.

ETA: Good point, draysmir, I live in New Mexico and we have a high concentration of Hispanic and Native Americans, where long hair is more common culturally.

Scottster
April 8th, 2019, 08:25 AM
I agree that longer hair seems to be the trend these days. One demographic where I have seen a significant growth in long hair is woman over 50. We have a lot of those here where I frequently see woman over 50 with waist length hair. A long haired friend of mine recently sent me an article from Goodhousekeeping magazine where the beauty editor suggested to someone to a hair dusting versus a hair cut. Outside long hair community circles, I have not seen that term used very often. So I decided to reach out to the beauty editor staff and ask about future hair trends and whether they thought I could sustain a long hair only salon. They came back with a very positive response: "Thank you so much for writing in and sharing your idea—it sounds like a great one! We definitely think you’re right about the trend toward growing hair longer and a salon specifically for those needs is a hole in the marketplace. Wishing you the best of luck in your venture and thank you again for reading!" So a very positive response indeed. Scottster

Sora Rose
April 8th, 2019, 08:58 AM
In my area of Canada (New Brunswick, near Nova Scotia) I see a lot of university goers with BSL to Waist with the very rare outlier at hip. Anyone older than that is probably BSL or shorter. Senior women are almost always pixie or (at longest) a bob. I've seen very few people with longer hair than me.

Dung Beetle
April 8th, 2019, 12:18 PM
Yes, since I've been paying more attention recently, I've noticed that LOTS of women around here have long hair (and most of longer and nicer than mine, dagnabbit). I live in a college town but I see it on all ages. I would say mid back to waist is common.

Natalia_A00
April 8th, 2019, 05:23 PM
In Madrid, my city, it is rare to see people with long hair. The average is shoulder or APL. Hair longer than mine (waist-hip length) is not common at all. But I've seen for example a girl in my uni with floor length hair (wearing it loose)

CampFireTiger
April 8th, 2019, 05:48 PM
From my experience long hair is common, but usually no longer than MBL and it looks damaged and heavily tapered from layers and heat damage. My hair naturally tapers, but a lot of what I've seen is stick straight hair that has white dots on the ends and looks extremely dry. It may be long, but the difference is when you're growing long hair for personal reasons, and when you're following a trend, long hair is currently a trend.

ursaV
April 8th, 2019, 07:09 PM
I'd definitely say longer hair is more common where I'm from than shorter hair. Most women regardless of age usually have between APL and WL, and girls/teenagers often have between WL and classic. There's also a lot of highlights and dye going on. I've seen lots of horror stories on here with stylists taking too much off, but at local salons I've always been met with an emphatic "are you sure????" when I've chopped my hair many, many times in the past, which kinda reflects the local attitude.
Long hair on guys is still pretty uncommon, though I have noticed a trend on younger guys with curly hair to have a very short on the sides and a long spirals on top!

RavennaNight
April 8th, 2019, 08:04 PM
I live in an outer borough of NYC, and long hair is pretty common here. I often see women with TBL hair, most of the time they are Hispanic or South Asian. We are a beautifully diverse borough, and there’s all types and lengths of hair. I do come across many Caucasian women with hair BSL-TBL as well. There is one blonde lady with a classic + hair that I run into at the local gym now and again, and a few classic+ roaming about. Not to say there isn’t short hair, there is, but long is by far not unusual like in some parts of the country and world.

Dark40
April 8th, 2019, 08:12 PM
My hair at it's longest it's ever been in my whole life, and it's the longest in my family too. Everybody else in my family have SL hair or shorter. But where I live you do see some people with hip length or TBL. But it is very rare these days I see classic length or longer.

Joules
April 9th, 2019, 06:24 AM
I see very long hair (like, hip+) reasonably often, but go ahead, ask me how often I've seen healthy long hair. The answer is not often at all. Only once in my life have I seen a healthy knee length mane, and a handful of times I've seen nice tailbone length hair. Usually long hair comes with absolutely horrific damage on the bottom third part of the length. I'm not talking about taper, I mean damage, like, each strand would have multiple white dots or it would be split in multiple places at once. Their owners weren't treating it nicely, like, the hair would be caught under a bag strap or they would sit/lean on it, so its condition wasn't surprising at all. So yeah, maybe "everyone has long hair", but still not many people have beautiful long hair.

1689r
April 9th, 2019, 08:33 AM
Well, I know I find it a fascinating contrast between here and where I live, but I’m a bit unique in that I’m likely to be said to have long hair if it touches my ear. I get told I have long hair, but in comparison to (even the other men on) this forum, it’s extremely short! Long is largely just a perspective, it seems.

zmirina
April 14th, 2019, 10:41 PM
From my experience long hair is common, but usually no longer than MBL and it looks damaged and heavily tapered from layers and heat damage. My hair naturally tapers, but a lot of what I've seen is stick straight hair that has white dots on the ends and looks extremely dry. It may be long, but the difference is when you're growing long hair for personal reasons, and when you're following a trend, long hair is currently a trend.

I agree with this. Though the further east one goes, the longer hair gets (until one reaches coastlines of far east asia)

mackensey
April 16th, 2019, 03:02 AM
I live in South Korea, generally elementary and high schools don't allow their female students to have their hair longer than shoulder length. So I've noticed a lot of college-aged girls grow their hair out to MBL because it's the first time in their life that they're allowed to. I've never seen anyone here with hair longer than MBL that wasn't another foreigner or a K-Pop Idol.