When is long hair not "pretty"?

[share801]

I am secretly worried my hair will not actually be "pretty" once long . . . Of course I cannot magically change my hair type/thickness/color . . .

Will you have the courage to chop if it does not turn out "pretty" once you finally get to your goal? How will you decide?

[share801]

Sorry, men, I know many of you have great hair and didn't mean to exclude you by putting it in such feminine terms.

[Octave]

I think long hair can be pretty on any length as long as it's maintained well and looks healthy, regardless if it's on a woman or on a man. :)

ETA:Oh and if it turns out that really long hair won't suit me...well guess I have no other choice than to chop it shorter. But not short, as I don't feel like that is me. LOL

[milagro]

I agree with Octave, any hair is pretty if it is healthy looking.
Though there are people who look the best with short hair (thinking Jamie Lee Curtis now) but it's the matter of individual style and physics.

[JulietCapulet]

I asked this question before. I would just say go with it and see how it looks when it gets there without stressing too much.

[Rivanariko]

I'm more worried that if I were to cut my hair, that wouldn't look good! I've never had short hair!

As far as length, I'm less worried about whether it will look pretty, as I'm pretty confident that it will, and more that I'm not going to be up to maintaining classic and longer length. If that's the case, I'll cut back to TBL and maintain there. I'm pretty happy with it as it is.

[Heartwillfollow]

I would cut to a length I could manage well vs a length I coudn't. I would love to make it to waist but have already thought at any point along the way I need to stop and learn to care for a length before I keep going I will go into a holding pattern before moving forward.

It's an easy thought now, having no length, but I wonder if I can say that when I get there lol lol ...

[Armelle]

It's an upkeep thing. I have very thick hair and have to watch out for an overabundance of split ends that do NOT look good.:nono:
Well, really, if it just looks like you don't CARE about or for your hair.

[Bonkers57]

That's how I see it. If I don't like how it looks when I reach my goal, I'd probably cut it. How short? I'll decide then.


I asked this question before. I would just say go with it and see how it looks when it gets there without stressing too much.

[az_sweetie01]

This is a constant thought process that I can't seem to change for myself. My hair is so thin once it gets to waist-ish territory that I cut it every time out of frustration and thinking it looks bad *eye roll*. But, realistically, it's healthy with no splits. It's just thin.

[enfys]

It's not pretty when the wearer doesn't look like they like it. If you aren't happy with it your hair wont look good. It's a body language thing for me.

[mrs_coffee]

I'm not worried. If it doesn't look good I'll cut it.

[lapushka]

Yes OMG, the fear of not looking pretty really does rule my life. :roll: No, but seriously. Just grow it and see what you like best, long or short and find out what's easiest to take care of. I think that's all that should matter, anyway.

[Bene]

It's not pretty when it, quite frankly, looks like crap. It looks like crap when it's all damaged or dirty looking. If your hair looks like it turned one too many tricks in the alley behind some skeevy dive, then it's not pretty, doesn't matter how long it is :laugh:



I was in the supermarket the other day, on a munchie run and I caught a glimpse of some tailbone length hair from afar, so I sauntered down the aisle to get a decent look and it was bleached to shreds and dried out and gross looking. To make matters worse, the owner of said hair was tossing her head around as if she had something to show off. I kind of scoffed and thought "No, sweetie, that's not something you should be flaunting". AND, I caught a glimpse of her scalp and saw some ridiculously big flakes. Just nasty :nono:


Keep it clean, and healthy, and it'll be fine.

[Marjolein]

This is a constant thought process that I can't seem to change for myself. My hair is so thin once it gets to waist-ish territory that I cut it every time out of frustration and thinking it looks bad *eye roll*. But, realistically, it's healthy with no splits. It's just thin.

Ah yes, that's why we all obey the 2-week rule on here. Whenever you get the urge to do something drastic to your hair, you should wait two weeks before actually doing it. At the start of those two weeks post some pictures of your hair as it is. You'll probably get tons of compliments on it and the urge will disappear. Crisis averted ;).

[lapushka]

It's not pretty when it, quite frankly, looks like crap. It looks like crap when it's all damaged or dirty looking. If your hair looks like it turned one too many tricks in the alley behind some skeevy dive, then it's not pretty, doesn't matter how long it is :laugh:

OMG you kill me! :misskim:

[LotusFIre]

This thought HAS crossed my mind, especially since I have fine(but not thin) hair. But I think it will look good, judging by the picture of me when I had it at my waist at the age of 9. I looked like a little hippie girl, but it was virgin hair and in was really pretty. Granted, that was 19 years ago, but my hair is virgin again, after growing it out from coloring it, and I have no split ends, and plan on taking the most excellent care of it from here on out. I even put my satin nightie over my pillow last night! I guess theres not much use in worrying when it will take ages to grow it out, the process witll be fun, anyway. I guess if it doesnt look too good, there may be other options besides chopping it all off, like growing all the layers one length blunt, or trying different shapes for the hemline to thicken it up.

[DARKMARTIAN]

when I just wake up.....

[Akiko]

Honestly, I don't think I look good with my hair down any more at my age. My hair looks OK. But waistlength hair does not match my aging face when I wear it down.:o

So I wear it up all the time, which I love. If I start feeling an updo does not look good on me, yes, then I will cut. But I don't think that time will come any time soon.

[LaurelSpring]

I think any length of hair can not look pretty for the most part. I had less pretty days with shorter hair than I do with longer hair. Now I can always pretty it up with awesome toys and updos. That wasnt an option before. Bad hair days were just bad then.

[DorothyAtForty]

It's not pretty when it, quite frankly, looks like crap. It looks like crap when it's all damaged or dirty looking. If your hair looks like it turned one too many tricks in the alley behind some skeevy dive, then it's not pretty, doesn't matter how long it is :laugh:

Ahaha! ^Pretty much, yeah. It's not the length, but if you have very unkempt hair, it doesn't look so nice. I try to keep mine braided while it grows out.

[spidermom]

If it's shiney and in good condition, it's pretty. I hope that people will look at my pretty hair and ignore my ugly old face.

[aenflex]

I've always like the way long hair looks, so for me aesthetics won't be the issue. I hate dealing with it and the way it feels on my skin, which are usually my reasons for chopping. This is where I have to be careful to keep it very soft :)

[Angeletti]

Well I haven't chopped my hair so far even though most of my family and I'm sure others consider my fairytale ends to be ugly unkempt hair. When it comes to other people's hair, as long as they are happy with it then who am I to tell them it's not pretty : )

[Eireann]

I am secretly worried my hair will not actually be "pretty" once long . . . Of course I cannot magically change my hair type/thickness/color . . .

Will you have the courage to chop if it does not turn out "pretty" once you finally get to your goal? How will you decide?

I plan to maintain my hair at a length that looks good. If that turns out to be shorter than I had hoped, so be it. As for how to decide, I'm constantly bugging my DH as well as close family and friends to tell me when my hair stops looking good. I'm sure DH will be hesitant to say anything negative, but I trust my sisters and my mother-in-law to be up front with me. (In fact, it was my MIL who recently trimmed an inch off the bottom that made a big difference in the healthy appearance of my hair.)

[Eireann]

If it's shiney and in good condition, it's pretty. I hope that people will look at my pretty hair and ignore my ugly old face.

Oh, stop!! :lala:

[Alexandriaweb]

So long as Look after it propperly I don't see why it wouldn't be pretty :)

[hairspastic]

My mom and my old boss both thought my hair was ugly. I believe they thought that was mostly because it was long, not unkempt. I rarely wore it down. I think they thought it made me look "out of fashion." That was the impression I got anyway.

I actually think some people just don't think anyone should have very long hair and are bothered by it for some reason. (For example all those tv shows with people getting makeovers simply consisting of chopping hair; regardless of how the hair looks just to make it shorter and more "trendy.")

I actually think wispy fair tale ends can look really good on a lot of people, even though some people see those as damaged ends. I can't exactly say when it doesn't look good on someone; it's just you know it when you see it. I do think long hair that has been damaged and broken off due to a perm doesn't look good. Or even long hair that has been permed broken off or not. (This is just my opinion. I think naturally curly hair is beautiful or hair that is curled without chemicals.)

I think everyone has a right to wear their hair the way they want to though and be appreciated for it. I do think people should be more intentional and personal about how their own hair is though and not thinking everyone should fit a mold.
(Sorry to go a little off topic!)

[DreadfulWoman]

My trouble is that I like the way my hair looks when it's very long, or very short, but it always looks awful in between. So I've spent much of my life with very short hair (which I don't personally enjoy, even though it looks good) simply because I didn't have the courage to get through some ugly in-between stages to grow it out. I think that if you worry too much about how pretty it looks at any stage, you will end up cutting it off, because it's just not going to look awesome-amazing all the time at any length.

The thing about long hair, too, is that if you don't like the way it looks you can always find ways to pull it back or wear it up that do suit you.

[prosperina]

As others have said, pretty hair = healthy hair.

I personally dislike curly big hair that people don't know how to manage and silky fine hair that people don't know how to wash. I worked with a guy who had otherwise nice looking longish hair, but even after he washed it (presumably washed it at least, he came to work with it wet), it looked greasy at the roots. Ugh.

[girlcat36]

This is a question I struggle with. My hair is very difficult to manage, and is quite thin. The way I see it, it's just going to be difficult, long or short! Since I love long hair, it might as well be long.
I often wonder if people are thinkg, "why doesn't she cut it into a decent style?". In fact, I'm sure they are thinking it.
Even though my hair is very healthy(no splits), it may come off as not being healthy due to its thinness, and sometimes, frizz(which goes with curly territory).
Guess I shouldn't worry about what people might be thinking.

[DreadfulWoman]

I think that girlcat36 pretty much summed up my thoughts on the matter - the important thing is that you yourself are happy with your hair and think that it's pretty, not what other people think of it. You're the one who has to carry it around, after all.

Just a side-note: girlcat36, your hair is fantasma-gorgeous. Don't ever cut it! ;)

[girlcat36]

Just a side-note: girlcat36, your hair is fantasma-gorgeous. Don't ever cut it! ;)


Thank you, Dreadful! :)

[leslissocool]

I have split ends :( and have had my hair turn tricks (4 inches left of bleach!). Funny though, since I oil and henna, my hair looks shiny and just healthy, even if right now I have a bit of uneven color. People complement my hair a lot more now :)

so yes, pretty= healthy no matter what kind of hair it is. And if it's dirty, please keep it up.

[Tia2010]

I was all set to chop my hair into a pixie but have decided to try for tailbone instead. After I reach my goal if I think I look better with short(er) hair , well then I will cut it back to a pixie. :) I'm really hoping tailbone hair suits me but since I have never had it that long , I'm not sure yet....so I'll see :D

I agree with what others have said as long as its healthy , shiny , and well kept it will look pretty ... .but I also think it has to suit my personality and face. I don't want to have long hair just to have it if I look better with short hair.

[az_sweetie01]

Ah yes, that's why we all obey the 2-week rule on here. Whenever you get the urge to do something drastic to your hair, you should wait two weeks before actually doing it. At the start of those two weeks post some pictures of your hair as it is. You'll probably get tons of compliments on it and the urge will disappear. Crisis averted ;).
I should really be much better at the whole 2 week rule thing but, alas, I am also impatient and stubborn ;), lol....

[bluesnowflake]

I think hair is pretty at any length as long as it's healthy and well cared for. It is true that some people look better with shorter/longer hair, but I think anyone can pull off long hair.

[christine1989]

I constantly worry what my ends will look like when long. I think the only thing that REALLY takes away from hair's beauty is see through, thin ends. Luckily there is a lot that can be done to fix those :).

[Carolyn]

Pretty is in the eye of the beholder. It's your hair and only you get to decide. If I think my hair is pretty, I'll keep it long and screw the naysayers. My hair doesn't affect anyone but me.

[LotusFIre]

I constantly worry what my ends will look like when long. I think the only thing that REALLY takes away from hair's beauty is see through, thin ends. Luckily there is a lot that can be done to fix those :). HM me too, but if you grow it all out one length that should correct shouldn't it?

[Kosmos]

The only time I've ever thought long hair didn't look pretty is when it was severely damaged and broken up the shaft. Healthy hair generally always looks pretty.

[feralnature]

Anyone who takes care of their hair the LHC way will have beautiful hair. I love my hair. I'm an older woman too, in my mid-50s. I look just fine with long hair, no problems with me being self-conscious with a this style. I love it!

[Rebelkat]

HM me too, but if you grow it all out one length that should correct shouldn't it?
Not really. Some people's hair just grows that way, like mine. I trim every other month, and while it helps some, the only way my ends will be perfectly blunt is if I grow several inches past each goal and cut back. My opinion is that thin ends can be beautiful if they're healthy and not breaking off. Not to mention they're a lot easier to do buns with. :p
*ETA: My ends do this even as short as shoulder length, so it doesn't really matter what length I'm at, they'll still be on the thin side.

ETA AGAIN: I think long hair is no longer pretty when it's not being taken care of. If it looks abused, it's no longer a positive feature.

[princessp]

I'm sure there are people who don't think my hair is pretty, but I don't grow it for them.

Grow your hair for you. If pretty is important and you no longer feel as if you look pretty then cut it to the length you are most happy with.

[dropinthebucket]

I worry about the same thing. Even if it's healthy, it's just so thin and sparse - there's nothing I can do about that. My friend at work has hair about my length (just past APL) and hers just seems so much longer, because there's more of it - mine just looks thin and piddly and like there's hardly any hair there. I'm gonna keep growing 'til I hit my goal, but if I don't really like it much, I may cut back to shoulder. I actually held one of my hairs between my fingers beside one of my cat's hairs, and *my hair was thinner!* :eek:

[Cailie]

I think beauty in long hair is all about health :flower:


I rather have shoulder lenght hair that is lucious and healthy than waist lenght fragile-broken-dry-and-split-ended hair ...

[MsBubbles]

I think the only thing that REALLY takes away from hair's beauty is see through, thin ends. Luckily there is a lot that can be done to fix those :).

Not really, not when you're born with fine, straight hair that isn't (iii) thickness. I guess I could do what a friend of mine suggested IRL and wear extensions to 'thicken it up'. Gee thanks, IRL friend :rolleyes:. This is a sensitive issue for me. I think if you have fine hair with a uniform wave, or girlcat-like curls, it can look great! Problem solved! But if it's fine, thin and straight, people are going to judge your see-through ends as not pretty.


HM me too, but if you grow it all out one length that should correct shouldn't it?

Naah. It helps, but still doesn't always eliminate see-through ends. But anyway, Enfys has a great solution:


It's not pretty when the wearer doesn't look like they like it. If you aren't happy with it your hair wont look good. It's a body language thing for me.

[Cailie]

On very thin hair types, I still see a huge difference when they are damaged / split / not well trimmed
compared to when they are well trimmed, the ends more blunt and healthy. It can be very pretty !!!

[Dragon]

As long as you like it, that’s all that matters. You can’t impress every one. But I think any length of hair looks good when it’s kept clean and healthy.

[DARKMARTIAN]

Long hair is NOT pretty....when its coming out of a nose.....or an ear.....

[share801]

Interesting feedback. Mine is very healthy but fine and ends do not hold up well. I do keep them, trimmed, etc, but at longer lengths they are not what I would wish.

[UltraBella]

I have a friend with classic length hair and I frankly think it is really ugly. It is damaged with split ends everywhere and her hair is black so they really show up. I don't think she detangles it often. My daughter wanted to see her hair down and when she took the claw clip out there was a giant knot bigger than my fist at the back of her head. It just looked abused and neglected. I think she needs to cut it if she can't take care of it.

[dropinthebucket]

Thanks, Callie. My bottoms are looking ok so far, because they're hennaed. Letting my own colour grow out, though, 'cause I don't want to cover the silvers I'm getting. I do see a huge difference between the hendigoed hair and my bangs (all virgin!) - the bangs are fine and floaty and easily damaged. The hennaed hair, seems like pretty normal hair. Wish there was something like henna to give us finey-s strength and thickness, but no colour! My grandmother had the same kind of hair as me, but she grew it to her ankles using henna!!

[09robiha]

for me its when it becomes very poorly taken care of and is better of being cut and managed better.

[Bonkers57]

:laugh: :laugh: I'm glad I wasn't eating when I read this! :puke: (the flakes part!)


It's not pretty when it, quite frankly, looks like crap. It looks like crap when it's all damaged or dirty looking. If your hair looks like it turned one too many tricks in the alley behind some skeevy dive, then it's not pretty, doesn't matter how long it is :laugh:

I was in the supermarket the other day, on a munchie run and I caught a glimpse of some tailbone length hair from afar, so I sauntered down the aisle to get a decent look and it was bleached to shreds and dried out and gross looking. To make matters worse, the owner of said hair was tossing her head around as if she had something to show off. I kind of scoffed and thought "No, sweetie, that's not something you should be flaunting". AND, I caught a glimpse of her scalp and saw some ridiculously big flakes. Just nasty :nono:


Hear ya, brother! Mine's downright scary sometimes...


when I just wake up.....

[DreadfulWoman]

Long hair is NOT pretty....when its coming out of a nose.....or an ear.....

Hahahaha, that totally cracked me up. Yeah, can't say I've ever seen a pretty nose hair...

[BunnyBee]

When it's on somebody that obviously doesn't appreciate it. I hate seeing long tangled, split and dry hair <_<

[Annalouise]

My hair is fine and thinning. It's not easy to grow it past bsl because the ends are so fragile and they dry out and split.

I'm not sure that everyone can grow waist length hair that looks healthy and nice.

I've been trying for many years and I can't seem to grow healthy hair to my waist. I think it might be genetics too.

I think hair might be like body type. Not everyone has the same body type, and not everyone can grow really long healthy hair.

But I'm still trying.:)

[thatjengirl1]

You just need to treat your hair very nicely, and no matter how long it gets it will look "pretty" its not about length, it's about how you take care of it depends on if its pretty.

[spidermom]

One nice thing about long hair. If it doesn't look as nice as short hair, you can put it up and have a similar to short hair look. Then you can have the pleasure of taking it down and enjoying it for yourself. (I find it relaxing to let my hair down at the end of a long day and comb it out.)

[Schipperchow]

I agree with the unkempt & uncared for look as being not pretty on hair of any length. I was pleasantly surprised to begin working with a guy who has mid-back hair until I saw the dreaded flakes on his shirt. He has skeeved me out since.:disgust:

My hair is more on the thin side & I no longer wear it down (straightened) because I think thicker fuller hair is prettier, but I am enjoying the updos that I am learning so will continue to grow to goal length of TB for now..

[mali]

I think hair that is too long,just doesn't cut it for me.Usually,hair past waist is not working for me.I love it (or hate it) on other people,just not on me.
I also don't like when people leave their hair down if it looks awful.My female math teacher ALWAYS has greasy BSL hair and she ALWAYS leaves it down.We're like : Wash it already or put it up!
My music teacher has +shoulder length hair and 5 inches of her hair is fried to death.It's still that way but she dies her hair different shades of red.You can see it's really dried,tangled and just awful looking.Most of the time she wears it in a ponytail so everytime I see her,I just want to take some scissors and chop the ponytail off.It just looks awful.

[redwoman]

To me, long hair is not pretty if it is bleached to death, dried out like straw, tangled, oily or otherwise neglected. A person has to show some care for thier hair, otherwise just cut it off and spare my eyes.

[madeline_]

I can totally relate to your problem. I myself am plowing through even though friends keep telling me I looked better with my short hair and bangs. I was one of those girls who was told she could never ever grow long hair because it's so fine, and I accepted that, going from pixie to barely shoulderlength my entire life. I had a sort of shaggy Beatle do for almost ten years, usually bright red. I liked it. But now I want to try longer hair and have grown to BSL in the past two years. There are moments when it feels incredibly bad and I want to chop it all back off, but I'm going to see this through to the end, which for me is maintaining at BSL but adding thickness by all the habits I've changed in my months here at the LHC. At the moment it's supersuperfine, my fingers almost touch bare scalp when I touch my head and my ponytail is very puny indeed.

Here's a comparison:

Short short short:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v323/34/109/567367884/n567367884_817947_6251.jpg

Shoulder-length, mostly in updos because of the awkwardness. This was the summer of 2009.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs198.snc1/6691_107273382884_567367884_2144301_6000611_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs222.snc1/6930_142364012884_567367884_2566219_1750895_n.jpg

and now, candycotton thin and frizzy, flat, almost impossible to get it to hold any kind of curl and to top it off, recently bleached (and hennaed)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs359.snc4/44234_442092162884_567367884_5238580_1702038_n.jpg

[Arya]

It doesn't look pretty...when it's FAKE.
I'm sorry, but all these girls I see, tossing their hair around like they're supermodels, when it doesn't even match the colour or texture/is super shiny in a way that can only be produced by plastic/or the tracks are popping out all over the place. Seriously, I don't think they know how ridiculous they look.

[beez1717]

if you didn't think your hair looked good I don't think you'd be here would you? At least those are my thoughts. You will have your own unique hair that we will all admire one day!

[Karala]

I can totally relate to your problem. I myself am plowing through even though friends keep telling me I looked better with my short hair and bangs. I was one of those girls who was told she could never ever grow long hair because it's so fine, and I accepted that, going from pixie to barely shoulderlength my entire life. I had a sort of shaggy Beatle do for almost ten years, usually bright red. I liked it. But now I want to try longer hair and have grown to BSL in the past two years. There are moments when it feels incredibly bad and I want to chop it all back off, but I'm going to see this through to the end, which for me is maintaining at BSL but adding thickness by all the habits I've changed in my months here at the LHC. At the moment it's supersuperfine, my fingers almost touch bare scalp when I touch my head and my ponytail is very puny indeed.

Here's a comparison:

Short short short:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v323/34/109/567367884/n567367884_817947_6251.jpg

Shoulder-length, mostly in updos because of the awkwardness. This was the summer of 2009.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs198.snc1/6691_107273382884_567367884_2144301_6000611_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs222.snc1/6930_142364012884_567367884_2566219_1750895_n.jpg

and now, candycotton thin and frizzy, flat, almost impossible to get it to hold any kind of curl and to top it off, recently bleached (and hennaed)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs359.snc4/44234_442092162884_567367884_5238580_1702038_n.jpg

These are some seriously gorgeous pictures and your hair looks very pretty! I especially like your bangs on the second picture, in fact they are the type of bangs I want to get for myself when mine grow a little longer :] I might even save that picture and take it to my hairdresser sometime!

For me, long hair that doesn't look pretty is long hair with fried ends, like mine are from all the past chemical dyes, all liveless and thin and dull (I know they don't look so bad in my avatar pic, but believe me, they are, it just doesn't show as much when I've just washed and combed my hair and it's all lying still down my back)

[dropinthebucket]

Madeline, we are hair twins!! and your hair looks great!! I was also told by hair stylist after stylist that I could never have long hair, it was just too fine. I had to stop going to gain the courage to grow it.

[faeflame]

Personally, I think long hair and a balding, really peek-a-boo scalp is the one situation where long hair doesn't look quite so pretty. Unfortunately, after I've hit 40 my hair is starting to feel thinner and look sparser near my bangs so I dread ending up looking like that. It is my absolute worst nightmare and deepest fear and the only thing that would make me cut my hair short.

[jenjen10]

To me, it long hair doesn't look "pretty" when the ends get really thin... I like a thick hemline but that is just my preference.