Why is it...?

[pinchbeck]

very long hair is not featured in advertisements for hair product?

I have only seen one commercial where a long-haired women pulls something with her long hair to show its strength (not sure if the prop she is pulling is real, however, but it gives that impression!).

[Fiferstone]

Because the fashion is for no longer than BSL hair. To the mundane fashion world. BSL = long hair :cheese:.

[Longlocks3]

Fashion has evolved against long hair. Not that long ago(100ish years ago?) long hair WAS fashionable. It seems as time goes by hair gets shorter, like hemlines? LOL I sound old.

[eadwine]

Also.. general opinion of very long hair loose is that it is unkempt and not neat.

Also related to the fashion thingie, obviously.

[DaveDecker]

I've seen the ad you mentioned, which as I recall is full of trickery. Even the length of the model's hair varies considerably throughout the ad.

One possible answer to your question is that the companies want to sell their product more than they want to sell desire for very long hair. So if the hair is "longish" and looks clean and well-conditioned, it may be more likely to sell the product, but if the hair were very long and looked clean and well-conditioned, the viewer might be more impressed (in whatever way) about the length (because very long hair is not common) than about the benefits of the product on the hair.

[Elenna]

Before I joined LHC, I used to go to salons for cut & color (not anymore I hasten to add), but the hairdresser said that those pantene locks were not real. She was really upset about it. That's all I know. Isn't that false advertising!

[Roseate]

The majority of women in the US have hair BSL or shorter, so... usually that's what you see. It's usually not super-short in the ads either, unless it's an ad for some kind of spiking product.

I think they are just going for the middle of the road, so that people looking at the ad can imagine that the product would make their hair look like that.

[Leena7]

Maybe because women in advertisements constantly have their hair styled for their job. They get it dyed, blow dried and flat ironed or curled all the time. Perhaps it is just convenient that long hair for the fashion world is BSL because if it were much longer, it would be harder to be styled for the commercials and the hair would not look as good because of the damage of styling.

[mizk5110]

Before I joined LHC, I used to go to salons for cut & color (not anymore I hasten to add), but the hairdresser said that those pantene locks were not real. She was really upset about it. That's all I know. Isn't that false advertising!

If that's true, then I am very sad...I've always loved the long locks in pantene ads...:(

On a slightly different (but sort of same) note, anyone notice on "America's Top Model" practically the first thing they do is chop up and dye the girls' hair? And some of them have gorgeous hair to begin with!! :mad:

[Flynn]

O.o Don't you get the Head and Shoulders ads with the Eurasian girl with the TBL pin-straight black hair? Or any of the Pantene ads we do?

I think part of the reason for keeping it around BSL in a lot of ads is that "swing and shine" shot: the hair swings forward over the shoulder, flowing smoothly like it was liquid, and shines like glass as it does so. That's not so easy to manufacture with longer hair.

When there is longer hair, you'll note they do a "flow-over-hands" shot from behind. It's a little difficult for the actress to give a meaningful look to the camera during one of these shots, so I can see what it might be a little less popular.

[Bene]

Because hair civilians think long hair is gross and nasty and they let the media keep telling them that it is. And the media responds to popular opinion of long hair. It's a cycle.

[nowxisxforever]

O.o Don't you get the Head and Shoulders ads with the Eurasian girl with the TBL pin-straight black hair? Or any of the Pantene ads we do?

I think part of the reason for keeping it around BSL in a lot of ads is that "swing and shine" shot: the hair swings forward over the shoulder, flowing smoothly like it was liquid, and shines like glass as it does so. That's not so easy to manufacture with longer hair.

When there is longer hair, you'll note they do a "flow-over-hands" shot from behind. It's a little difficult for the actress to give a meaningful look to the camera during one of these shots, so I can see what it might be a little less popular.

I don't recall seeing any advertisements for hair products on the TV here with longer hair... but, admittedly, I don't even own a TV anymore.

[enfys]

I've seen it with Garnier Fructis long hair range, hair around waist isn't too uncommon in ads, especially when it's a range for long hair. Long hair is often used in straightener ads because it's more impressive.

Shiny long hair at BSL will look the same as at TB, just longer, so you can imagine how the shampoo might make your hair look.

I'd say there is far, far less representation of short hair in adverts, even above shoulder length rarely features in adverts.

Also, in print and on tv, to show very long hair from roots to tips would need to be so zoomed out you'd lose a lot of detail. At BSLish you can show a face at almost life size and the hair. Expression on the model is as big a factor as the actual hair.

ETA: This is only based on UK ads, and I pay a lot of attention to adverts because I have a background in graphics. It's beeen trained into me to not have bias!

[Coriander]

1. The camera wouldn't be able to zoom in to show the beautiful photoshopped shine. ;)

2. If people saw really long hair, they may wonder about the cost of how much conditioner they might need. :D

[JamieLeigh]

Shorter hair is easier to manipulate in close-up camera shots, would be my opinion.

Not to mention that the target audience of most of these products are not VERY long-haired people.

Also that there probably aren't that many people, who have spent a lot of time growing VERY long hair, willing to go through all the blow-frying and other things involved that help the BSL- hair look so shiny and put-together.

[BranwenWolf]

They go for the image that is the most appealing to a large demographic. According to some long hair is perceived as hippy-dippy, folksy, lazy, weird or conservative Christian.
If everyone is getting their hair styled APL and above with straight irons/blow driers, that's what you'll see in an ad.

The hair in ads, if not extensions or wigs, is layered with lots of silicone gloss. Flyaways are photoshopped out- heck- the whole damn thing is photoshopped.

I should scan an ad in my most recent edition of Marie Claire. (I get the magazine for the comedy value but also for the women's rights articles) The woman has Barbie-doll looking hair or hair that almost looks like a solid plastic piece that someone stuck on the back of her head.

[Deb!]

Do any of you remember Clairol's "Long & Silky" line? Some of the models featured in the ads had very long hair.

Of course, long hair was the norm, but some short styles were fashionable at the time.