View Full Version : Hair length perception....
marikamt
November 11th, 2010, 04:32 PM
Why does hair look longer on other people??????
Whether in real life, or on tv, I see hair that should, technically, be my length or shorter, yet my hair looks shorter to me???????
I don't get it, :confused:
girlcat36
November 11th, 2010, 04:34 PM
Yes---it's hairnorexia. I have it. My hair is nearly waist, but I still think of it as short!
tinygirl
November 11th, 2010, 04:35 PM
I know what you mean - when I look at my hair in the mirror as I'm getting ready, I think to myself, "Hmm, it's really not that long..."
Then I see photographs, especially from the back when my hair is down and I think "Holy Moly, is all that hair mine?"
I just think its some kind of weird self perception thing!
girlcat36
November 11th, 2010, 04:35 PM
Funny---I looked at your siggy, and thought SHE has long hair. Then I realized my hair is the same length as your siggy!
ddiana1979
November 11th, 2010, 04:38 PM
LOL. . . I got my first, "Wow, your hair is really getting long!" comment yesterday, and I actually turned around to make sure no one else was on the elevator with us. My hair isn't long at all.
marikamt
November 11th, 2010, 04:39 PM
Funny---I looked at your siggy, and thought SHE has long hair. Then I realized my hair is the same length as your siggy!
LOL!!!! see , that is exactly what I mean..... when I see my hair in shadow (outside when I am walking) it looks long.... but then I will see someone and think 'hmmm..... I wish my hair was that long" and then realize it is, but it doesn't look it (to me in my head).....
What brought this question about is I am watching Burn Notice (a tv show) and Gabrielle Anwar has long hair... and I was thinking that my hair doesn't look as long as hers.... even though I am waist, and I am not sure she is (at waist)
rhosyn_du
November 11th, 2010, 04:40 PM
For some of us, I suspect it might have to do with certain *ahem* endowments making our hair appear much shorter when it's pulled around front than hanging down our (flat!) backs. From the back, my hair is very nearly TBL, but the way I usually see it, pulled over my shoulders, it looks barely BSL.
marikamt
November 11th, 2010, 04:41 PM
tinygirl.... you hair looks really, really long to me, yet I think you are only a couple inches ahead of me..... (my siggy pic is outdated, I am inching past waist)
marikamt
November 11th, 2010, 04:42 PM
For some of us, I suspect it might have to do with certain *ahem* endowments making our hair appear much shorter when it's pulled around front than hanging down our (flat!) backs. From the back, my hair is very nearly TBL, but the way I usually see it, pulled over my shoulders, it looks barely BSL.
yep- not that I am overly endowed, but my hair hangs just past my girly parts in the front (my upper girly parts, :heehee:) but is very slightly past waist in the back
<3OnHerSleeve
November 11th, 2010, 04:44 PM
defo the 'hairnorexia' (lol love that word girlcat36!!) but i think it's also a matter of the individual. I mean, compare a kid who has waist length hair to an adult with waist length: there's a lot longer hair on the adult. It's more subtle between other people, but it's still there: we have different neck, back, torso lengths than others and our hair will look shorter in comparison to someone who has longer torso and neck but then again it's almost better to be short waisted because you don't have to grow your hair for as long as the person who is very longwaisted to get to waist :) I have the misfortune (only when it comes to hair length, otherwise I love my body) to have a very long neck and back/waist length in comparison to my rels. So it takes FOREVER to grow long. oh well, at least when it gets there it'll be defo long :)
spidermom
November 11th, 2010, 04:52 PM
I think it's because when you see somebody else's hair, you see it as it is without any goals or expectations in mind. I know for a long time when I checked my own length, all I thought was "not there yet".
StephanieB
November 11th, 2010, 05:01 PM
I don't describe my own hair as "long", except to people whom I know consider it long. (like my mother, who has worn short hair since 1950-ish - for much the same reasons that I wore my hair short in the 1980s: job necessity)
I usually describe my hair to most folks as "medium length"... and many who just look quickly at me say it's short hair (because all they see is the put-up hair that's nearly always in a French twist or bun).
After all - it's only APL+ and that's rather short by LHC standards.
starlights
November 11th, 2010, 05:02 PM
yep i have this same problem, my hair feels short to me and then i see people with long hair on the street and stare. Then my friends tell me i have that length anyway, but i cant see it!! i think i need to get some glasses ;-)
IcarusBride
November 11th, 2010, 07:30 PM
I would describe my hair as long when talking to 'normal' people, even though *I* don't think it's very long...
I think it has to do with the angle. When I take pictures over my head, it looks much longer than it actually is ^^;
Jezerellica
November 11th, 2010, 07:47 PM
LOL!!! I feel the same way!! It just looks so short, when I KNOW it has not been this long since about Jr High!!
FrannyG
November 11th, 2010, 08:04 PM
I don't describe my own hair as "long", except to people whom I know consider it long. (like my mother, who has worn short hair since 1950-ish - for much the same reasons that I wore my hair short in the 1980s: job necessity)
I usually describe my hair to most folks as "medium length"... and many who just look quickly at me say it's short hair (because all they see is the put-up hair that's nearly always in a French twist or bun).
After all - it's only APL+ and that's rather short by LHC standards.
Seriously Stephanie, in the real world and even in the fashion world, APL is definitely considered to be long hair.
Medium length is generally somewhere around the top of the shoulders.
We all get so jaded by looking at the lengths here at LHC that we forget what long hair really is in the real world.
Having said that, my hair always seems shorter to me than when I see others who have the same length as mine.
JulietCapulet
November 11th, 2010, 08:15 PM
It's true...it really does! I don't know why. I guess it's the grass is always greener thing.
AnnaJamila
November 11th, 2010, 09:26 PM
Sigh. I cannot WAIT until my hair is long. My husband is from a somewhat traditional Turkish family, so his mother and sisters all have loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong hair and I assume his sister-in-laws have long hair as well, though he wouldn't be able to tell me and I've never met them. And it's not that ratty "I haven't cut my hair in eight years" stuff that sparks when they shake their heads. Long, silky waves and curls hennaed to perfection... Oh, whoops, just got drool on the keyboard! :redgrin:
dreamsofthewind
November 11th, 2010, 09:31 PM
my hair is dusting my waist, but I still consider it very short, especially compared to most of the girls at my school, whom all have TBL-classic length! but compared to my friends, my hair is quite long, since they are all shoulder length or shorter. they always tell me how amazingly long my hair is getting, but they really don't understand how far i still have to go to my goal length. :justy:
Henrietta
November 12th, 2010, 10:15 AM
~because some people are shorter:) My short friend with SL+ hair is considered to have it long when I, at BSL+ am the short haired one.
~colour makes the difference
~shape of hemline as well
~and layers (V-shaped, layered hair looks WAY shorter than straight cut)
;)
BrightEyes7
November 12th, 2010, 10:36 AM
~shape of hemline as well
~and layers (V-shaped, layered hair looks WAY shorter than straight cut)
;)
This is funny.... I think the opposite. When I had a more V shape I felt my hair was longer for some reason. Like the pics in my album, I have a V shape. Now I have pretty much straight hemline with a very very slight U shape with my whole length being where my longest point was in my album pics. But I feel like it's shorter now? :shrug:
I think it is because what Spidermom said, the expectation. When I was at BSL aiming for waist the hair I have now would've seemed so long, but now that I'm at waist aiming for TB it seems short.
sibiryachka
November 12th, 2010, 10:51 AM
I think for me hemline shape has a lot to do with it. When I look at it from the side, so that I can see all the length, it looks long to me. But because of my U-shaped hem, it's still relatively short in the front, and from that angle it doesn't look much longer than it did this time last year :(
I actually had a moment around exactly this last night while watching "The Mentalist", admiring the lovely Amanda Righetti's hair like always... I realized that in back, my hair is now about as long as hers (yay!!), but hers looks so much longer because of the straight hemline. Hers covers her bosom in front. Mine probably won't be there for at least another year. Oh well, another milestone to look forward to!
Embrace1913
November 12th, 2010, 12:38 PM
I feel the exact same way. It seems like everyone has longer hair than mine even though mine is sometimes the longest in the room. I have hairanorexia :poot:
Angeletti
November 12th, 2010, 02:35 PM
I agree with Henrietta, my V shaped hemline always makes me feel like the length is not as long as someone with a blunt hemline, that's one reason I plan on getting rid of my V hemline once I reach classic! I actually photoshopped my current length with a blunt hemline and it did make it appear to be longer.
curlymarcia
November 12th, 2010, 03:15 PM
I also have V hem, from behind is almost at BSL in the front is APL. Many people called it short (me too).
Dreamkitty
November 12th, 2010, 03:25 PM
I feel the same way. I see someone else with the same hair length as me or maybe even shorter hair then me and I immediatetly think, wow its longer then mine!. I don't even feel like doing any hairstyles because I haven't reached BSL yet when my hair is dry so it makes me more frustrated and I think what is the point? yet I see people who style there hair, exactly same length as mine and I feel that their hair is much longer.:o I also get very paranoid about my hair length and I have to keep rechecking it with a measuring tape because I keep asking myself these questions
- what if I measured it wrong? is my hair really that long? when I look at the mirror, why doesn't it look that long then?
Vermelha
November 12th, 2010, 05:25 PM
The front of my hair hasnt quite caught up with the back of my hair, so I keep thinking that it is shorter than it actually is. I guess I would feel like a longhair when my hair in the front gains some length.
Also, when my hair is in the usual fro, it always appears that my hair is shorter than it looks, or even appear as if it isn't growing. If it were straightened or relaxed, I would definitely see progress.
Copasetic
November 12th, 2010, 05:29 PM
This just happened to me. I saw a picture of Jessica Simpson, where she had boob length hair. I had such length-envy, but then I realized my hair was longer. I really don't think it looks that long, though.
redneckprincess
November 12th, 2010, 05:43 PM
i do that all the time, look at others with hair as long as mine or even shorter and think, wow i cant wait till my hair gets that long...then i realize it is.
ravensinger13
November 12th, 2010, 06:01 PM
My hair is solidly at hip, but it really doesn't feel like it's much longer than when it was at BSL. I guess it's not wearing it down? I dunno.
MNoelH
November 12th, 2010, 06:08 PM
My hair is solidly at hip, but it really doesn't feel like it's much longer than when it was at BSL. I guess it's not wearing it down? I dunno.
Do you braid often? That's when I really realize how long my hair is.
BeautifulBella
November 12th, 2010, 06:36 PM
same here with me. I am forever comparing my length the others.
squiggyflop
November 12th, 2010, 06:41 PM
i frequently still see my hair in my head as bsl when its obviously not.. when i see hip length on other people i have to remind myself that its actually shorter than mine.. although bsl on others looks sooooooo short.. its like if my hair had a baby.. and then after seeing true bsl hair my hair suddenly grows in my mind to almost hip, but still not its true length
Aria
November 22nd, 2010, 02:14 PM
I'm a solid hip-length, but very short. Still, when I see LHC members with hip-length hair, it tends to look waaay longer than mine, even if body proportions could only make a few inches of difference at most.
I think some of it has to do with the quality of the hair--mine is very straight by nature but has a ton of splits and kinks from tangling most of the time, and not as much shine as I'd like, so it lacks strong vertical lines. It does look a bit longer when my hair's being nice and smooth and falls properly.
When I pull it forward, though--ugh! I always feel like it's waist. A braid, which I usually keep over my left shoulder, always gives me the impression it's around BSL.
Avvoltoio
November 22nd, 2010, 04:25 PM
i feel my hair to shoulder or arm pit length, but it is waist length, and as i see myself at the mirroring of a shopwindow, i realise my hair is longer than i thought.
MeganE
March 9th, 2011, 11:28 PM
Yes---it's hairnorexia. I have it. My hair is nearly waist, but I still think of it as short!
Ahaha, hairnorexia. I love it.
Arctic_Mama
March 10th, 2011, 01:11 AM
I so suffer from hairnorexia! My hair is well past was it and I've even trimmed a few inches off for health purposes (it is dye and heat damaged) and yet... I see short, or barely long. I see the same length on someone else and think "wow, I wish my hair was that long!". Smetimes people with shorter hit look longer than mine, as well.
Even in my mind, I didn't classify my hair as long, or getting long, until waist. Now it is barely long, tb length will be long, below my butt will be really long, thigh or knee will be insanely long, etc etc.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.