People's Reactions to Your Hair

[maborosi]

How do you find that people react to your hair?
Negatively? Positively? Do random strangers fondle your hair without asking?

I get the occasional "CAN I TOUCH IT" while their hands are already entangled in my hair- the best one was a woman who had never met me before came up behind me and ran her fingers through it and asked, "IS IT REAL?" before properly introducing herself to me. :lol: Every now and then someone gives me their unsolicited opinions on how they think my hair would look best, but I'd say that, for the most part, people are pretty nice and lots of people are genuinely curious/want to grow their hair long but don't know where to start.

I guess I'm a sort of longhair ambassador. a lot of people are really surprised when I tell them I've not always had long hair- a lot of people have this idea that hair past classic must take a literal lifetime to grow, but when I tell them it took me 5 years, I think they get encouraged that maybe they might be able to grow their hair, too!

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I've had people ask if it's all mine, and touch it and say it's beautiful, and sometimes they ask how long it took to grow.

[Tosca]

I mostly get variations on 'ooooh it's so long!'. I had a friend take a photo to show her boyfriend after she saw it down just before I hit classic length.

[GrowingOut]

Most of the time I have nice reactions, especially if I did a dramatic bun drop, but I had someone drag me by my braid before and I was MAD! :mad::mad::mad:

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Most of the time I have nice reactions, especially if I did a dramatic bun drop, but I had someone drag me by my braid before and I was MAD! :mad::mad::mad:

Ugh, that would be awful! I have had someone grab my braid and pull it like a bell pull, that was bad enough. Don't people know that pulling hair HURTS?

[restless]

I can only remember one occassion when I got the "you should cut it"- comment and that was from someone who hadnt even seen it down. Other than that, people have been nice and positive about it and sometimes I´ll get a compliment for its length or its looks.


the best one was a woman who had never met me before came up behind me and ran her fingers through it shudder:

[esfand]

I have my hair to my waist, so it's longer than usual population but not so long that people gape. Correlation is not causation, but the longer my hair is, the more men fall for me. It feels like most men I meet seem to like me, and I am an ugly duckling so it's very surprising and scary at the same time, like I don't know what to do with all the attention. My hair has become one of the main points men go after, as if it is its own entity. More men touching, smelling, and laying in my hair while flirting or lovemaking, more men asking to smell it (and getting in my personal space to touch it or smell it), more men commenting on it. There seems to be no difference in reaction from women however. I can understand why headcovering is universal, and it took having long hair to understand how much affect it really does have on guys.

I never had anyone tell me to cut my hair or donate it, however I live in NorCal, where many women are from the "old world" (like China and former Soviet) so long haired women are quite common here.

[Acid]

i get mixed reactions but more because my hair is bleached and long rather than just long. I get asked where i got my extensions or my wig a lot (my hair is not thick enough to look wiglike, i wish! :D ) followed by surprise that bleached hair can grow past shoulder or APL and questions about my routine and how i keep it healthy, one person refused to believe it wasnt all clip in extensions and yanked on it whilst calling me pathetic for lying. My dads side of the family tell me it looks horrible and witchy and i should cut it but im not too fussed about their opinions on my hair.

My favourites have been whilst at a mcdonalds drive through at 5.30am (just got off work, the drive through was empty) the girl serving me told me my hair looked like liquid silver and was beautiful, we spent 20 minutes nattering about hair through the window and she gave me her number - were friends now! :o the other was from a mum who walked past me with her kid and told me her daughter thought i was elsa from frozen

[lapushka]

I get ZIP, nada. :lol:

1/ don't go out much
2/ it's always in a bun

But I have noticed where I do frequent places that people have either started growing their hair (maybe it's my imagination), or have started to wear buns more.

[Aredhel]

I occasionally yield reactions from people at work when I let my hair down briefly to redo a bun (ex., omg your hair got so long!!!), but generally I don't get reactions either because my hair is always in a bun. I'm glad of it - when I used to wear my hair down only, I used to get really awkward and embarrassed when people commented on my hair in public, even if they were positive comments. I just don't like attention at all. :)

[Anje]

Do you get people volunteering how long their hair used to be? I've even caught myself doing that. :lol:

[unheardletters]

I've has very long hair in the past, but no one said anything to me. My hair APL when curly and I'm getting comments of how long my hair is. I wear it up all the time, but I have to rebun it often because it is not long enough with my hair thickness to hold. People here have shoulder length or shorter hair. Rarely do I see someone with anything longer except for children.

[Alibran]

This has reminded me of the stress I had when mine was long and I worked as a bus driver. The passengers were always touching it as they paid for their tickets ... and that was when it was braided. I eventually started putting it in a single braid, and flipping it over my opposite shoulder where it was out of reach.

Hopefully I won't get so much of that kind of thing here because there are a lot more women with longer than average hair, and curly hair is much more common

[pili]

unheardletters, your my hair twin! :waving: (well, not the color)

I get comments, but no touching, thank goodness. I think I would freak. I've been told I'm a bit intimidating, so maybe that's why? I don't get it since I'm socially awkward and shy.

[Aredhel]

Do you get people volunteering how long their hair used to be? I've even caught myself doing that. :lol:
I've actually encountered this.:p From older ladies, I have gotten a lot of "Oh, I used to have hair alllllll down my back when I was younger, but then I grew up..." I didn't realize the two were mutually exclusive, but okay. ;)

[lithostoic]

People compliment my hairstyle on occasion. My hair is nothing to be in awe of.

[Garnetgem]

Many people mostly strangers seem to be amazed at its length then the questions start..how long it took to grow? what do you use to wash it? and so on..i usually wear a braid but that for some reason attracts the grabbers meaning they seem to think its okay to grab to feel the weight of it,but when its loose and free then they do run fingers through but they ask mostly but never ask when its a braid!

i have had people say they would like to stick it on their head wishing it was that simple..then there are the ones who simply stare if they get seen looking then they either smile or comment..i find long hair always gets a reaction of some sort..i have had some negative but the positive out weighs it..i have i had the donation comments but only from family or friends never from a stranger,strangers are always telling me to never cut,long hair is not that common where i live women usually have pixie cuts or shoulder length,i guess that why i get the reactions that i do its simply unusual and different,but i like different!

[truepeacenik]

I get:
Rapunzel comments
Requests to touch (and I'm chilling about that, and saying ok)
Questions about when I cut, what I use, etc.
Recently an old friend/new flame asked how long it takes to dry. I asked if he was planning on growing his more.
"Oh my gosh, I had no idea your hair was that long!" (From new coworkers. I guess my buns are too tight)

Antje, yes, I get people reminiscing about length given up. And orange-dyed ladies with poodle perms will try to convince me they had just my shade when younger. They are usually within a decade of my age.

[Cg]

Mine is always bunned when I'm out, but occasionally I do get asked how long it is. That's usually followed by a hair-care question. Thanks to LHC, invariably I do know the answer. So from those non-LHCers, thank you all!

[Lavendersugar]

I get oh it's so "healthy looking" comments once in a while.
I'm short so I guess hip length on me is not as impressive as someone taller.

[twill]

Lol. A lot of the comments I get are from older blokes who compliment me on my hair and then frequently trail off into "Women/girls today just don't grow their hair long anymore... My daughter used to have beautiful hair and then she cut it..." etc., etc. The last compliment I got was from an older guy with a very faded Crystal Gale teeshirt. I do get compliments from women, too, sometimes.

[school of fish]

Even though my hair has been about the same length for quite some time now, I'm getting a lot more notice on it in the last year or so. I think it's because I've really thickened up the hemline from fairytale (due to layers and damage) to blunt (through microtrimming maintenance) so my length 'reads' tailbone now whereas it appeared shorter before. Hemline definitely makes a difference on me!

Pretty much all the comments start with ' wow your hair is so long' and sometimes follow up with 'do you use oils on it', 'is that your natural colour', 'it looks so healthy' - that sort of thing. All very respectful in approach, even the occasional hair-touchers.

There's no shortage of long hair where I live - lots of waist length, a fair bit of hip length.. tailbone is less common so it gets notice. I've certainly seen longer here too but I guess anything beyond hip is enough to get complimented. I've appreciated any time someone's commented, it's been really nice :)

[Jas]

I get comments fairly frequently commenting on the length of my hair, have one coworker who likes to touch lol. She tugged on it quite hard once which was irritating >.< I just put it up around her now in general.

I've been trying to wear my hair up more so people around me were used to me having hair down.. now I've had it up more, when I do let it down they seem to notice it a lot more.

[Dark40]

I can remember one occasion when I was little that as I passed by an old lady at my great-grandmother's house grabbed my MBL hair, and told me, "Give me some of that hair," and I was wearing it in pigtails too! Ha Ha

[SunnyRose]

Erased comment

[SunnyRose]

That reminds me of a similar experience I had! I was like 7, playing outside. And this very old lady beckoned me over to her. She grabbed a piece of my hair and said to me "Your hair is so beautiful. Never cut it". I did end up cutting it into a bob a few years later.. But that memory, what she said has stayed with me. And that is a very cute story btw.
Oops this was meant to be in response to Dark40's comment. :)

[Siv]

That reminds me of a similar experience I had! I was like 7, playing outside. And this very old lady beckoned me over to her. She grabbed a piece of my hair and said to me "Your hair is so beautiful. Never cut it". I did end up cutting it into a bob a few years later.. But that memory, what she said has stayed with me. And that is a very cute story btw.
Oops this was meant to be in response to Dark40's comment. :)

When I was about that age, my family was on vacation in Greece, and being a white blonde little tyke apparently wasn't very common around there. Mum told me that after a few days I would grab my head whenever a Greek person got close to me because so many of them would pet my hair :p

[YvetteVarie]

I always have my hair in a bun or in styles that don't show off my length (which is pretty long for where I am) So when someone actually sees my hair stretched out they say "I had no idea you had long hair''

[Cherriezzzzz]

I've always been complimented for my hair, especially it's colour. But I don't control what colour my hair grows out of my head, so idk how to reply other then thank you. Bc it's nothing of my own doing!

[martyna_22]

I've been on my iternship for the past three days. I think I may have got about 10 or so remarks over how pretty the length/color/both are. I'm wearing a braid so that it does't irritate me on the job, still, I'm quite amazed at how nice people are.

[Astroflammante]

I've mostly gotten comments like "wow, you've got long hair!". I usually wear it up when out of the house, so these are from co-workers who happen to pass my office just as I'm re-bunning.

But I did get a sad one a few weeks ago when working at the information desk. For once, I had my hair braided, not bunned. And one of the patrons saw it, and said "I used to have a braid that was down to my knees! Then I got ill and couldn't care for it anymore and had to cut it..."

[macguffin]

Do you get people volunteering how long their hair used to be? I've even caught myself doing that. :lol:

There have been a few other guys who have talked to me about how they used to have long hair.

[MusicalSpoons]

I've always had positive comments about long hair (even pre-LHC when it wasn't quite so healthy). My first year in my current job, I used to wear my hair down occasionally and one colleague would always make comments like 'it's like a river of gold' and tell me how much she loved my hair! I work in an area where most people are from the middle East,
and for many of them long hair is not uncommon - except on a white woman. So I've had a fair few comments about how unusual that is. And the children often just tell me how long my hair is :D

I've never had anyone run their fingers through my hair, thank goodness! :shudder: But one uncle will pull my plait or ponytail like a bell pull (on the rare occasion it's not bunned) or,
on the even rarer occasion it's actually down, he'll run his hand gently down over the top of it. I don't mind though, because he used to do it to another family member when she had even longer hair, and I know he means no harm.


Do you get people volunteering how long their hair used to be? I've even caught myself doing that. :lol:
:agree: Often older ladies will tell me how long they/their family member/a friend/anyone they know used to have their hair! It's generally quite sweet :)

[Dark40]

That reminds me of a similar experience I had! I was like 7, playing outside. And this very old lady beckoned me over to her. She grabbed a piece of my hair and said to me "Your hair is so beautiful. Never cut it". I did end up cutting it into a bob a few years later.. But that memory, what she said has stayed with me. And that is a very cute story btw.
Oops this was meant to be in response to Dark40's comment. :)

Hey, thank you for commenting sweetie!:) I think I was around like 9 myself when that old lady grabbed my pigtail. I bet you did end up cutting it into a bob few years later... sometimes you want to experiment. Or, you want a change. I also bet what she said did stay with you too. I think your story is cute to btw.:)