Meaning of "Long hair don't care"?

[Kalamazoo]

Phrase comes from the U.S. where complete strangers will approach you and say "you need a hair cut". Long hair, don't care about your opinion.

The art of self-defense...

[spidermom]

The first time I ever saw a phrase like this was when long, straight hair parted down the middle was in style. Then there was an actress who had short hair, and the phrase was "short hair, don't care," which to me meant that she didn't care what was in style. I feel the same about the phrase "long hair, don't care." I don't care what's in style; I'm wearing it long.

[Stray_mind]

Okay, after a bit off good ol' google searching i found out that the phrase was widely used in the 60's and early 70's in support of the hippie movement.
It is a saying that goes against the widely spread opinion that long hair=unkempt life style.

[Siv]

Oh that's so cool @Stray-mind! Great find! Personally I've been using that hashtag on instagram, and took it to mean that I've long hair and I don't care if someone else doesn't like that. Cool to hear about its origins though!!

[leayellena]

long hair don't care... about damage, because hehe long hair must definitelly be damaged. so anything beyond shoulder length is damaged (aka ripped off trough tangles, split ends and dry and bend because of braids and/or updos)

[MusicalSpoons]

Okay, after a bit off good ol' google searching i found out that the phrase was widely used in the 60's and early 70's in support of the hippie movement.
It is a saying that goes against the widely spread opinion that long hair=unkempt life style.

That's so interesting to know its origins! I've been baffled every time I've seen the hashtag, and this thread shows there's evidently no uniform meaning to it at the moment - though 'long hair don't care about other people's opinions' seems to be the majority. I guess that works with any other adjective in place of long, too - especially if it's growing out natural colour or texture, going against the industry saying hair has to be xyz perfectly styled

[Stray_mind]

That's so interesting to know its origins! I've been baffled every time I've seen the hashtag, and this thread shows there's evidently no uniform meaning to it at the moment - though 'long hair don't care about other people's opinions' seems to be the majority. I guess that works with any other adjective in place of long, too - especially if it's growing out natural colour or texture, going against the industry saying hair has to be xyz perfectly styled

Yeah, well the meaning that one doesn't care about other people's opinions seems to be generally correct, since that's what the phrase is used to express.

[Simpscone]

This is so interesting! I've used this phrase myself, but not the long hair version. I remember saying things like "blue hair don't care" when I would change my hair to blue and post a picture. I didn't think into it at the time, but I think my past-self was also alluding to the "not caring what society thinks" or how it was "different" or "weird" to have neon blue hair

[hannabiss]

I always took it as meaning you dont care what trendy styles are in you're wearing it long. A lot of people think shorter hair is more professional... But I never really used it myself. I thinknits up for personal interpretation at this point.