How many feel less pretty with short hair?

[Brenda714]

I just don't feel as pretty with my hair short. It's funny how long hair really does and accentuates my features. I'd really like to know if there are others of you who may feel this way?

[MidnightStar]

Me! I think short hair makes me look like a man.

[emelnd]

I definitely feel much prettier if I have long hair.

[BeckyAH]

Add me to the ranks of the 'prettier with long hair'. I don't wear make up or jewelery, I live in jeans and T-shirts (often stolen from my husband). Long(ish) hair is the sole appearance related decision I make that is more vanity than practicality.

[slo2gro]

i do. I know it might be silly but I really do feel that I need hair to be even remotely attractive. Without it I too feel like I look like a man. :(

[GlennaGirl]

I do, but that's because I am less pretty with short hair. Believe me, I've had my short hair "phases" where I saw the cutest cut in the world and was POSITIVE it would be adorable on me. It never was. :p Bleah.

I don't have anything against short hair per se and in fact there are a lot of short, even very short, cuts that I absolutely love; I just know they will never look good with my face. Or vice versa.

[Mairéad]

I don't feel less pretty. I like both short hair and long hair on myself. However, I feel more myself with longer hair.

[dulce]

Me too,1 have broad shoulders-no feminine body build for me unluckily!Long hair adds some needed femininity for me.

[Ashenputtel]

I don't feel less pretty with short hair (never had a pixie though) but I feel sexier with long hair

[emelnd]

There is a theory about how hair on women increases attractiveness. Something about it being like the peacock feathers... They were saying I think, if someone is not healthy, it will show in their hair, it will fall out or not be shiny maybe.

[terrylillyd]

Absolutely! I feel like I look so much better with my long hair. I did not feel pretty at all with short hair. Occasionally I get told that I could sport short hair if I wanted to and I would look so cute. But I have been there before, and it doesn't look good.

[pepperminttea]

Definitely. I think I'd look like a giant baby with short hair. :blueeek: :p

[nena_shawty]

I feel so much prettier and mature with long hair ... with short hair i look more like 15 instead of 19.

[AnnaJamila]

I feel cute with shorter hair, but I feel beautiful with long hair! It makes me feel more graceful and feminine and serene.

Lol, a bit odd I guess but I hear you!

Remember, dove, just because you don't feel beautiful doesn't mean you don't look beautiful. ;)

[rapunzhell13]

I do feel less pretty with short hair. That's not to say I always feel bad, because I have had some awesome short styles. Long hair makes me feel different depending on how it's styled. Up in a ponytail is "cute". Down and wavy is "sexy". Up in a bun is "sophisticated". Other people might feel differently with these styles. It's all relative. :) Ultimately long hair suits me best. It took me a long time to realise it but everybody who knows me says the same thing.

[Messyhair]

I feel too man-ish with short hair. It's super easy to look after (I don't "do" styling) but I don't have a very girly face to pull it off.

[battles]

I don't need long hair to feel pretty. I'm still pretty damn cute with short hair, and I think of cutting it often. Often as in, everytime I see a cute short cut. :p

[Freitzeit]

I feel that I look more mature with long hair, which is important to me as a 24 year old who gets mistaken for a teenager fairly regularly. I also don't feel like "myself" with short hair. I don't think I'll ever cut above BSL again.

[joesgirl2011]

I know i'm way less pretty with short hair. I don't get noticed at all, and my features look way better when its long. Dummy me..keeps chopping..NO MORE!!! I really look totally different when its long.

[Mesmerise]

I certainly feel prettier with long hair. I don't know if I AM or not (although a couple of times after cutting my hair short, I was told by men that I looked more attractive with long hair :rolleyes:).

But yeah, how I feel is more important anyway, so if I feel prettier with long hair I'm better off keeping it long!

[CurlyCap]

I don't feel prettier with long hair. I think it's fun and awesome.

Other people seem to think I'm prettier with long hair, and that kind of...sucketh.

::shrugs::

I like my hair. It's on my head. I'll do what I want with it.

[boomtownrat]

I don't feel less pretty with short hair as long as it's at least a chin length bob. When it's shorter than that, I really dislike the way I look. That wasn't always the case, but then I used to be skinny and now I'm not (I'm not plus size, but very curvy and a lot of that is in the boobs). I feel like I need more hair to balance those curves.

[SkinnyCookie]

My hair is my vanity! I love it LONG and LUXURIOUS. If I cut it off, not only would I feel hideous and boyish, I would have lost my best frennemy! (We argue sometimes. Less often since TLHC, lol!):luke:

Plus my hair was INSANE when it was short, flew straight up like I'd been rubbing it with a balloon.:afro:

[luxepiggy]

I've never had short hair precisely because I just know I would feel horribly unattractive (>(oo)<)`

[TheCaityCat]

At first I felt more grown-up with short hair, but now that it's starting to grow (it's getting close to shoulder length!) I'm swinging the other way. Almost like my hair length represents being more of an adult with real-life responsibilities and not just a grad student.

[alyanna]

Not me. I don't feel less pretty with short hair and I honestly don't think I am less pretty with short hair.

However, I think long hair on me gives me a bohemian, hippy look, which I think looks cools on me, while short hair kind of makes me look, mmmm, like a mommy?

I've had a million different short styles, but then tend to classify as bobs or shags most of the time. I like bobs a lot, but I always get compliments that it's a typical "mom haircut". Shags are cooler on me, but the cut doesn't always turn out. When it's good, it's unique and cute, when it's not, it's a "hot mess" like some LHCers like to say :)

[kiwiipop]

Depends on the level of shortness. I had a shaggy chin-length cut for quite a while that I loved. It was only when I decided to grow it out and it rested on my shoulders and did that flippy-end thing for a long time that I disliked short hair on myself.

[AcornMystic]

Having short hair for the first time, as I have had since 07' cut from APL and maintained that way, I don't feel less pretty. Experiencing short hair has actually changed me, in a way. I did it for my graduation ceremony and after that I became more confident and sassy, piecing it and spiking it up even. An attitude started to come out more, in a way that was positive for me.

Although, being the tomboy that I was throughout school, before the big chop, it was healthy and cared for, I had fun with it, but it was under-appreciated. However, one day, back in September of last year it occurred to me how much I missed my long hair. How much it was a part of me. I realized that I needed to do a little growing inside, 3 years to be exact, before I could appreciate having long hair and what my hair meant to me.

My second best friend (after my husband:p) who is a male says to me how he prefers me short haired. Not because of jealousy or anything like that. He sports a mohawk. He actually thinks it suits my personality more and a lot of the long haired girls he's met he says are so vain. Granted after he saw me at my wedding with BSL extensions he admitted how good I looked with long hair (but that curls are SO not my thing XD).

I do believe long hair that is healthy is a sign of maturity because of the responsibility with keeping hair that is long and in good condition. Sort of... a woman nurturing and all that. I wonder if that is one reason why men are so attracted to women with long hair. *shrug* it's not too far-fetched as a display of how a female will fair as a mother in her ability to nurture. Whether it's misplaced on on her vanity as opposed to caring for offspring well that's not covered haha. At any rate yeah. I wouldn't use the word pretty, I'll just say I feel more... mm.. "intense" with short hair and "complete" with long hair. I still have the sass that I've acquired to boot (though I guess I could contribute a lot of that to graduating and becoming a "woman").

[mrs_coffee]

I feel fantastic with short hair. I feel confident and like I stand out (I go super short). I think it can be the cutest thing ever if you have the face for it.

[Purdy Bear]

Having no hair as you all know, doesnt make me less pretty, but it does make me feel less feminine, but thats Alopecia for you.

[Armelle]

My hair mushrooms and cowlicks when short. It's laughable.

[Syrena]

I feel definitelly more feminine with my long hair! And more sexy! I have never had shorter hair then shoulder length. I don´t think that I would look good in short hair and I do not want to try it...my hair is very straight in its nature and if it would be cut short I would require some styling in order to get some wolume and look good.
It is also the issue of confidence by me. I feel more confident with my long hair!

[citadel]

I feel prettier with long hair, definitely. I go through periods, however, where I feel like I'm becoming too self-absorbed and predictable, so I cut my hair really short to "teach myself a lesson." :(

[AcornMystic]

I feel prettier with long hair, definitely. I go through periods, however, where I feel like I'm becoming too self-absorbed and predictable, so I cut my hair really short to "teach myself a lesson." :(

Ahaha, I love that! I don't know if I would go that far, but I think if I was to become too self-absorbed with my hair I would punish myself by keeping it up and not let myself enjoy it, so I would have the equivalent of short hair. I know many already do that with the "hair-up" challenges, but I think it would work with me since I enjoy running my fingers through my hair so much. If I really wanted to go the extra step I'd wear hats/toques to hide my done up hair.

[Rini]

No, I don't feel prettier with long hair. I actually quite like shorter styles on me, but I think I like the versatility and ease of longer hair. I also like looking a little different and longer hair is just a bit more out of the ordinary (at least around here).

Probably not a very common answer on a long hair forum, eh? :D

[citadel]

Ahaha, I love that! I don't know if I would go that far, but I think if I was to become too self-absorbed with my hair I would punish myself by keeping it up and not let myself enjoy it, so I would have the equivalent of short hair. I know many already do that with the "hair-up" challenges, but I think it would work with me since I enjoy running my fingers through my hair so much. If I really wanted to go the extra step I'd wear hats/toques to hide my done up hair.

I think, for me, it also had to do with the idea of being able to let go, so the hair up challenges wouldn't be the same. If I cut it off and force myself to see that it's just hair, it's pretty calming and reassuring. It's like, "yes, you love your hair, but you can do this. if you can't, then that's a problem."

[discoisntdead]

Definitely! I got a pixie when I was 17 and I felt a lot less feminine and pretty. My face doesn't suit short hair. At this point in time, I'd kill for a blunt, even shoulder length bob. Growing it out is a pain.

[celebriangel]

I don't feel prettier, precisely. I've had long (APL-BSL) hair my whole life, and at this point it just feels like *me* - comfortable, secure and blankety :D.

I look much more androgynous with short hair - I have a serious hourglass figure and my face is definitely not a "pixie" face so I don't pull off that petite, fragile and elflike thing at all. But that's okay, cause I ain't petite and I ain't fragile. I liked looking androgynous for a while (even when I had long hair, for most of my life I would dress in boys clothes and wear my hair in a ponytail) but in the end it was always going to be a temporary thing.

I feel much happier with my hair back. Do I feel prettier with my hair this length? Well, no. I don't feel pretty at all. I definitely think I conform more to a certain ideal of beauty than I did before, and evoke different reactions from people. But I do think that my hair, in and of itself, looks more attractive. However, the length affects me more in the feel of it than the appearance.

So...not really. But I do prefer the feeling of long hair, both because of the actual touch sensations of its presence and because it causes me to feel comfy inside. I am not a very visual person.

[QMacrocarpa]

I didn't feel pretty with a pixie-ish cut, but I was fine with a chin-length bob. My husband prefers my hair longer though, and is more interested in combing it when it's longer, which gives a boost to the pretty feeling!

[ZeppHead]

I do! I hate cutting my hair but sometimes I know its needed. I don't go for regular trims because it makes me sick sitting in that chair and letting someone come at me with scissors. I love the feeling of long hair running down my arms or seeing it whip behind me as I walk.... I want my long hair back now!

[redcelticcurls]

Not me. Pretty is based on a lot more than just hair.

[sarahbrownie]

Definitely. Of course, I had less than .5 inch at one time. Of course when I cut my APL into a very short pixie cut in high school it was really depressing because I was really into historical reenacting, so I had to play someone who had a fever and hair had to be cut, and that year I also traveled to Russia, and was even further depressed with all the women with long hair. It was ridiculous. Nearly 1 out 3 women had TBL or longer hair. Once my hair grew out I actually heard behind my back from a boy in study hall such as "Wow, Sarah is pretty now that she has long hair." Short hair is great, but not for me.

[Jing]

I love having short hair! Trimming it all off to .5 cm felt absolutely awesome. Not only was it ridiculously convenient, knowing I dared to do such a thing made me feel very confident and helped me care less about what random strangers on the street might be thinking. It suits my face and my skull shape, too.

[kielrain]

I love short hair, and I love long. I can even pull off buzz cut.... now that was a fun cut. :)

The length of my hair isn't what makes me feel, or not feel, pretty.

[irishlady]

I can get away with short hair because of my face shape, however I only really feel pretty when my hair is longer.

[viking_quest]

It depends on how short is short. I don't feel pretty when my hair is in a pixie cut, but I feel much prettier when my hair is at collarbone compared to at waist length.

[angelfell]

When I had shorter layers, I actually pulled my hair back and left the shortest layers to see what I'd look like with a bob.. and I thought I actually looked pretty good! However, I went with better judgement and continued to grow my hair.. and as it turns out, I think longer hair suits me much better :p.

[GlassWidow]

Not only do I think long hair makes me look prettier, I feel like even updos look awful on me. It stinks. :p

[Saraya]

I always see these great short haircuts that look fabulous and make me want to cut my hair, which i did but then it never quite looks the same on me. Even the "messy" where you just wash and wear was never a look i could pull off. I always had to try and style it to make it look the way it was supposed to and that was the exact opposite of why i had cut it short. Now that its not yet shoulder length i can wash and wear better than i could when it was really short.

[Kayla Nyx]

I do.. I've done the big chop twice so far, and I've hated it each time. also the fact it was probably only an inch or 2 long both times...

[Brenda714]

thank you all for writing, it is delightful and insightful to see the difference in opinions! But ALL of you I appreciate each and everyone of your posts. You have helped me tremendously, I guess I have llearned alot you arre like me, but the main thing is that we arre not our hair, it is after all just hair and it's not what makes us pretty. xoxo

[maborosi]

I don't really like the way I look with short hair, but that's just me personally. I associate having very short hair, subconsciously, to some really crappy times in my life when I just chopped it all off to almost nothing.

I've almost always had long hair- ever since I was a little kid. When I was 9 or 10, it was almost at WL for me, then my mom made me cut it all off when I was having a hard time taking care of it, and I didn't like it. Same with when I was really sick 4 years ago or so, and I cut it all off.

Now I know better. I just don't like the way it looks on me.

~maborosi~

[nobeltonya]

I used to always keep my hair cut short, and in HS I was called Tony because I looked like a boy lol... I was actually mistaken for a boy in a store one time.. :P But, now that I have long hair, I don't want to cut it short again. I love my hair, and it looks a lot better long now that I know how to take care of it. Before, I wouldn't grow it long, but now that it is long, I wouldn't cut it..

[dRummie]

When I had short hair, it wasn't a particularly feminine cut, so I didn't feel as "pretty", but I still felt "elegant" in a different way.. I think no haircut can really make you look worse, it's just hair, after all. All about how you carry it :)

[Eirelin]

Definitely! It also makes me look older, too, which is why I cut it in my mid-twenties and worked for eye doctors (too many older patients who would ignore all my advice because, as they said, "You remind me of my grandbaby!"). Now that I am ulp 39, I certainly do not want to look older!

Before:
http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m407/4EverTogetherWeddings/Leu%20Gardens/WeddingSONY043-1.jpg?t=1314388971

After:
http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m407/4EverTogetherWeddings/Leu%20Gardens/DSCN1796.jpg

Most recent (not my best, but I never was very photogenic):
http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m407/4EverTogetherWeddings/The%20Park%20in%20Winter%20Park/04-01-2011%20Heather%20and%20Michael/DSCN4800-1-1.jpg?t=1314388551

These pictures were only taken 2 years apart from each other.

[oktobergoud]

I have had a pixie for years and loooved it! I felt badass with my pixies, however, I think I do feel more pretty with longer hair (to me, a bob is already long ;) my pixies were shoooort!).

[MissAlyssa]

I agree that I feel more pretty and feminine with long hair. My hair is very poofy so if my hair is any shorter than BSL I get the whole triangle head thing going on. I always grow my hair out, and then think that short hair wpuld be a fun change, and then i remember how hard it is to make my poofy hair look good when its short, especially without any heat styling. So since my last cut, i've made a vow that I will not cut my hair shorter than BSL, and if I do, I won't cut more than two inches at a time, because then if I get annoyed with it, it'll only take a few months to get back to the starting point. :)

[Ligeia_13]

*raises hand*

I feel I don't have the necessary facial features to pull off short hair and still look like a girl.

[invisiblebabe]

The last time I had short (above shoulder) hair was when I was a toddler. :) I would imagine it would be very strange for me if I cut my hair that short now, because I am not used to it on me at all.

I feel prettiest when my skin is behaving, when I am wearing an outfit I really like (complete with awesome heels!), and when my hair is newly highlighted and trimmed.

[swetiepeti]

My face looks better with short hair. However I personally like my hair long and don't care that it makes my face look longer. I could cheat and get face framing bangs but they drive me crazy by week two. Can't stand hair falling in my face while I'm working. Perhaps when I'm no longer woking as an RN and can leave my hair down whenever I wish I reconsider the bangs and short front layers issue.

[Cowgirl16]

I don't know if I look "less pretty" with short hair, but I know I feel less attractive. I had a Dorothy Hamil (sp?) haircut when my boys were little. Everyone commented on how I looked like one of the kids :confused: I am more "me" with long hair :cheese:

[bluesnowflake]

Me! I don't feel like my facial features are pretty at all. They're maybe average at best. My hair is the one feature I like, and I don't feel as feminine with short hair.

[sabreena]

I had short hair up to my neck for many years. It did not flatter me because I have a strong jawline. When I grew out my hair, I think i started feeling more beautiful. All lengths are beautiful. It all depends on your face shape and whether you can pull it off.
But i prefer long hair on a woman because its so feminine and I am inspired by greek goddesses.

My favorite fairy tale was Rapunzal...so you can guess how biased i may be ha ha!

[Auburn_locks]

I've had APL hair pretty much all my life and got it cut into a short chin-length bob a few months ago. It doesn't really make me feel less pretty, but I have no idea how to style it (plus I don't use heat and try to avoid chemicals in mousses and hairsprays) so that makes styling harder. I think if I was less reluctant to style it better I would feel much prettier, though. I feel much less sexy with shorter hair and my hair was never even that long!

[RainbowHawk]

I felt adorable while I was bald. *heh* An acquaintance in college told me that she thought you needed big eyes to pull off short hair, and that was the reason hers had never been very short (it was probably hip-length at the time). "You can do it, because you have big eyes. My eyes are kinda small, and they're kinda close together." I thought about it more and I think she had a point-- I was very baby faced, so for me being bald just meant I looked like a toddler. It didn't help me get dates, but I didn't look scary, either.

These days my face is more angular, I actually have cheekbones and visible collarbones, so I probably wouldn't look or feel as cute bald. :o

[wvgemini]

Less pretty, no. Less ... whimsical? If that makes any sense. I don't feel like I can be as free or something. Bah. I can't figure out how to explain it, lol :o

I thought my short hair was rather cute. But it got old. With length, I can do more :)

[FireKat]

Not less pretty... when I cut my hair back to pixie all my friends went on and on about how much better it suited me. Apparently I have one of those faces that looks good with short hair.
I don't feel like a boy 'cause I have boobs, a waist and a butt. Boys don't.
BUT. I'm sick of being "edgy", "sassy" (I loathe that word), "fun". I'm just bored with short hair and want to go all out feminine.
I turned 35 this month. It's time to stop being "cute".

[Copasetic]

I definitely don't feel "less pretty" with short hair. I actually think short hair cuts (like a nice bob) would look really good on me. I just don't have the hair for it. My hair is so much easier to manage when it is longer.

[neko_kawaii]

I feel equally pretty with short hair. I felt the most noticeably feminine while bald. I just dislike maintaining a short hair cut and find that in ways that important to me, long hair requires less maintenance.

[pes3108]

Long hair is like a comfort thing for me. I think if I had short hair above my neck, I would feel naked!

[tolly]

I have always had short hair, not by choice but I had no idea I could grow long hair with the right practices. I didn't fell less pretty but I admire long hair on others, now I can have it too

[archel]

I love the short bob on me! But it requires blow drying and flat ironing and it is just too much work. I need a wash n go style for my work at home life :)

[Carolyn]

I've never had hair short enough to look like a man or feel mannish so I can't speak to that. I've had shoulder length hair as recently as 1999 and I definitely noticed a difference in how I felt. I felt less pretty, less feminine, less attractive, less womanly. As my hair grew longer I started feeling prettier and more attractive.

[AnqeIicDemise]

Even at my shortest hair, I still felt amazingly feminine. And I LOVE my short hair, it really flatters me... but I like the versatility and ease of long hair. I mean, sure, it took like ten minutes to dry when it was shorter than my chin... but there was only so much I could do to change the look every day.

My short hair usually fell into these flavors:

- The Slickback (and I don't look good with it. Requires a metric ton of gel and hair spray)
- The Cat Ears (where the bangs got tied up in little pom pom ponies at the top of my head resembling cat ears. This one was fun.)
- The Headband (or bandana variations.)
- All over my face. (which drove me nuts when my bangs fell over my eyes)
- The Hell Raiser aka crapton of bobby pins used to keep short layers in a pathetic excuse of a half-up.
- The Roll Outta Bed look... (aka my hair refuses to budge regardless of how much product I have used to tame it. It WILL stick up every which way because I got the layers much too short. )
or
The Oil Slick... the greasy, not so stiff cousin of the Slickback. It allowed for a more 'natural' part and it not be so hard to the touch, but still a godly mess.

Then again, not even a blind man can confuse me for a man with this body. 9-9 There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.\

ETA: and all those 'hair styles' required me to wake up an hour or two before school for me to duke it out with my hair. I always lost. xD Teh Hair would do what it would. These hair styles often bled into one another through out the day too.

0 period: The roll outta bed.
1 period: gravity finally won... All over the face.
2nd : The Hell Raiser.
3: the headband!
4: Migraine from the headband made me go to the Cat Ears.
5: got tired of having T play with the 'ears' during lunch. Ripped them out and moved to the Slick Back (I was a colorguard girl... as much as I was at the bottom of the totem pole in the Spirit Committe, it paid to spend the whole period with a bunch of cheer leaders and drill girls when having a Bad Hair Day.)
6: The Slick back hurt my eyeball when a bit of hair 'broke away' from the helmet. Sweat and Gel turned into Oil Slick.
7: Stuck a baseball cap over my gross head for practice.

And then when I got older it pretty much stayed the same except it wasn't periods anymore, but hours of the day.