Elle Presents Tailbone-Length Hair as an Exotic and Impractical Celebrity Style

[Bill D.]

Unintentionally amusing article in Elle magazine: http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/news/a45318/extra-long-hair-celebrity-trend/. The author (Kristina Rodulfo) tries on 32-inch extensions for a little while to see what they're like. In case you're interested in her statement that "Nicki" (Nicki Minaj) has/had ankle-length extensions, you can see one view of them here: https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/17126681_390745281289506_257618043994112000_n.jpg.

Anyway, this quote jumped out at me:


Nothing says "I'm rich and important" like stick-straight, shiny, butt-length (or in Nicki's case, ankle-length) strands–just think of the amount of upkeep it requires, the price of extensions or custom wigs, and the sheer implausibility of doing regular-person, day to day activities with 32 inches of hair affixed to your head [emphasis added].

Ms. Rodulfo has lower-back hair herself, but (at least in the article) seems to have no idea of how people with their own hip or longer hair are able to make it practical for daily life (braids, buns, other updos). Or maybe she sees hair like this as a fashion statement that needs to be worn loose all the time to maintain a particular look. There's also the matter that extensions of that length are not uncommon to see on my daily commute, on the heads of pretty ordinary white-collar workers. So hmmm...

The LHC consensus seems to be that classic length is the point beyond which long hair becomes a lot harder to take care of and typically needs to be restrained the vast majority of the time. My own personal longest-hair experience was with merely waist-length hair, prior to male pattern baldness and a job-search-induced haircut 35 years ago. However, that hair was 36 inches long, longer than Ms. Rodulfo's extensions, and yet it was not a huge deal to take care of. Of course, if I'd left it down all the time then it would have been seriously impractical at times. And in all fairness, it was only to my waist since I have a very long torso.

In any case, at no time did I feel like a rich diva when I had my hair down. ;)

Bill D.

[pailin]

'it's not supposed to be normal' she says.
That really was pretty funny to read- thanks for sharing.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Haven't they heard of bunning to keep hair out of the way? :p

[akurah]

Well of course instantly having 32+ inches of hair glued to your head is gonna make handling it implausible--you haven't learned how to move it to keep it out of the way while still wearing it down... It'd be like if I suddenly grew 3 inches height, I'd be bumping my head all over the place.

I wonder if she peed on her hair.

[Crystawni]

Haha! This was like reading about a little girl playing dressups, but with her rich aunt's doodads. All the glam. All the swish and swirl. I can understand that trying to cope with suddenly long hair would be awkward, painful and pretty weird, especially in wig or extension form. It's like putting on a weighted belt or pregnancy suit; it gives you a taste of what it's like from the outside, but with none of the gradual meat and potatoes experience that goes with it. It also highlights how naive, petty and pretentious the fashion industry can be. There's a whole world of longhairs out there, and a fair chunk of them can't rub two coins together.

It certainly was an eye-opener. Thanks for sharing, Bill!

[truepeacenik]

Yippee!
Now, when I'm too lazy to put up my hair I am a "rich diva" and not a "lazy hippie."

[neko_kawaii]

Yippee!
Now, when I'm too lazy to put up my hair I am a "rich diva" and not a "lazy hippie."

An amusing role reversal to be sure.

[Robot Ninja]

Haven't they heard of bunning to keep hair out of the way? :p

But if you bun, you can't properly show off your $2,500 hair extensions. For all anybody knows, you might just have a dollar store bun donut in there.

Next time somebody asks me if my hair is real, maybe I should tell them it's not so they'll think I'm cool, put me on Instagram, and I can make a million billion dollars. That's how it works right?

[Alex Lou]

Well I find wigs to be uncomfortable. For whatever reason, I never feel like I can turn my head fully in them. And with most wigs, you can't just put it up in a high bun. A low bun would be the most you could do.

So comparing a wig to real hair doesn't make much sense, even less than comparing extensions to real hair.

[lapushka]

Ugh, remind me again why I don't read magazines like that. :lol: ;) :rolleyes:

Yeah... yeah... enough said. :lol:

No, but seriously, if you can take something like this seriously, I wonder how they do their research. It could have been a well-researched article. All she should have done is typed in "longhair" into Google and it would have brought up this forum, no? But then you don't have the shock value of the article. Maybe they do rather have that.

[embee]

How funny! :) Yes, everyone is sure that long hair (anything past BSL) is terrible trouble. And I had so much more trouble (and expense) with my short hair...

[Dendra]

I wonder if she peed on her hair.

Hahaha what a funny thought ;)

[TatsuOni]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

So if I let my hair out at work I'm a rich cleaner? :laugh:

[lizardspots]

This article is so dumb xD I actually found short hair more difficult to care for than long hair, because of the careful styling required when I had bedhead. With long hair, I just whip it up into a bun and off I go.

[akurah]

Hahaha what a funny thought ;)

It isn't super common (or people don't fess up) but newbies who get to just a certain length who doesn't think of this and didn't notice they sat on their hair sometimes do this.

With as, ahem, "not-thinking" as she is, I suspect she may have done this

[Kikyou]

From what I've read, the whole trouble is the wig, not the length itself (her own hair is not much shorter, after all, and with hemline so dense, she could easily grow it that long). To me it was like:
Her boss: Write something about how weird is Nicki's hair
Her: Got it.

So it was supposed to turn out that long hair is too much and ridiculous. No matter the truth. That's how press works :)

[Quasiquixotic]

From what I've read, the whole trouble is the wig, not the length itself (her own hair is not much shorter, after all, and with hemline so dense, she could easily grow it that long). To me it was like:
Her boss: Write something about how weird is Nicki's hair
Her: Got it.

So it was supposed to turn out that long hair is too much and ridiculous. No matter the truth. That's how press works :)

Nailed it

:silly: quality post

[languagenut]

Guess I can't be a rich diva; my hair is neither shiny nor stick-straight! I'm so gonna flood my pillow with tears over it... :rolleyes:

[JadedByEntropy]

It wasn't even that much longer than her own! hypocrite...
They need to understand what ankle length is...it has to reach said body part.

wow was that just a ''i can afford to do this stupid thing'' article a lot more than a review of long hair.

[MrsDay]

To pull a little positive from the article - I love how the author describes the way she FELT walking around with long hair. My hair has always been my confidence booster. Wearing it down always makes me feel like I have a little extra pep in my step too. It's a thing of beauty, of sacrifice, of dedication... one COULD just walk into a wig (or "crown") shop and get hair the length most of us have, but they have to deal with the heavy, hot, itchy, EXPENSIVENESS of fake hair. For us, it's been years upon years of care and growth to acquire the hair we have (or we want). So I celebrate my hair every chance I get.

I'd venture a guess that this is why so many people - as annoying as it is - want to touch long hair. It's like gold. Not everyone can have it. ;)

[*Wednesday*]

The woman in this article has beautiful hair. Such a shame hair extension/wigs puts her off to growing longer hair.

[twill]

If it's not supposed to be "normal," please explain why the majority of humanity has the genetic capacity to grow long hair! :rolleyes:

If you're not used to it and if you got something that made you instantly have long hair, yes, you will struggle with it. You will get it caught in bag straps, seatbelts, your shirt, your purse, and somehow, other people's mouths. It's going to happen. Just like if you've never worn stiletto heels and suddenly you're crashing into doors and falling down and tripping over flat surfaces.

My hair is the same length proportionally as the first several pictures of those celebs, and I can tell you, if you're growing it out yourself, you get used to it and you compensate for it. I don't get my hair caught in doors (https://youtu.be/7oVKsnvGtOE?t=1m8s), and generally speaking it's not in my way unless it's windy or I'm around fire (lol). And that's what hair bands are for.

[Beatnik Guy]

Her boss: Write something about how weird is Nicki's hair
Her: Got it.

Exactly! :agree:

[EdG]

I didn't bother reading the article. I thought "If only the author knew about the LHC." ;)
Ed

[hobbitlocks]

I mostly found it funny -- plus, of course it's heavy. You have all your normal hair on your head PLUS the wig. That's more than double what you normally have. But I found the part about how her coworkers "couldn't take her seriously" with long hair very annoying. I mean, I always wear my hair up in professional situations (and my hair isn't even that long!) because I assume people are judgmental jerks, but it's still not to nice to read it! :mad:

[Aredhel]

Yippee!
Now, when I'm too lazy to put up my hair I am a "rich diva" and not a "lazy hippie."


An amusing role reversal to be sure.
So true.:rolleyes:

[triumphator!]

Huh. Rich diva, you say? Why did I never make this connection in my head... I suppose not having a personal stylist takes away some of the effect....

[maborosi]

I giggled at that article. She does look really great with the extensions, though! Long hair really suits her! ^^

I'm happy that 'super long hair' is in style right now!! :D MORE POWER TO ME!

[laidy]

So obviously, we all aspire to become rich divas with unpractical hair :queen:

[meteor]

I'm not too surprised. :) Extremely long hair is simply not mainstream (yet? anymore? right here?) and one tends to get that reaction and some misconceptions with lots of uncommon things.


Well of course instantly having 32+ inches of hair glued to your head is gonna make handling it implausible--you haven't learned how to move it to keep it out of the way while still wearing it down... It'd be like if I suddenly grew 3 inches height, I'd be bumping my head all over the place.

^ Yes, I think that's very true. Some people don't know or don't want to contain their hair (bunning/braiding/...) and that would mean that they'd have to get used to wearing suddenly long hair down without having had the time to adjust to the kind of change that naturally would have been way more incremental.

[pandabarrier]

My hair is straight, looks shiny under the sun or bright lights, and is longer than 32", but I don't think if I walk in a high end store in NYC the clerks will think: "here is a rich and important diva".

[Avital88]

Yippee!
Now, when I'm too lazy to put up my hair I am a "rich diva" and not a "lazy hippie."


Hahaha yes indeed, i love to know that i actually look rich :D:cool: