In my last entry I shared -- well let's let the MCP explain, "At any rate, a quick shout-out to Marty, who for some misguided reason thinks girls with "long hair = good / short hair = not as good as long hair." I think this is a shallow oversimplification of the wonderfully nuanced subject of female beauty." Maria also jumped in with a comment that expanded on and supported this view. He countered with the example of Dana Perino which was very strong I have to admit. Now this is the way you learn right, you set out a hypothesis and not only try to prove it, but also look for counter-examples. I've often hear that one counter-example negates a hypothesis. I also know that anecdotal evidence isn't enough to disprove a generalization.
I will not cave so quickly my friends. Before giving up this life long paradigm of being "Pro-long-hair," I want to look into why I might have the propensity..... [Really?... "wonderfully nuanced subject of female beauty," could it make me look any worse? Touche. I'm just going to chalk that up to pandering MCP.] I decided to do some research on hair and found many sites similar to Yahoo Questions where people asked Are girls with long hair more attractive or those with short hair? It is mainly just full of opinions, but some are quite funny I think. I then decided I'm start with the true authority of all knowledge, Wikipedia "Hair".
Not too much could be learned to answer my question, but here are my highlights:
"Cultural attitudes- Long hair was almost universal among women in Western culture until World War I. Many women in conservative Pentecostal groups abstain from trimming their hair after conversion (and some have never had their hair trimmed or cut at all since birth). The social revolution of the 1960s led to a renaissance of unchecked hair growth.
Healthy hair indicates health and youth (important in evolutionary biology)
Long hair is considered to be the most attractive part of a womans body in India."
So I do concede that my statement was a shallow over generalization and there are exceptions to the rule. You can
throw in the cliche that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but for the most part longer hair is more symbolic of beauty than is shorted hair in my experience. I think that it is just my evolutionary drive for a mate with health and youth. I also agree that shorter hair looks more professional in the workplace and that older women sometimes look younger with shorter hair. There is also an argument to be said for face shape and hair style, but I'm not a stylist. Search as I may, I could not find a picture of Dana with long hair that wasn't that terrible looking one MCP found that started this. I'm sure if one cou
ld find some college pictures of her, she will have long hair and it will look better than the admittedly cute shorter style she has now. So I will change my statement to "personally, most of the time, long hair = good / short hair = not as good as long hair." It is now just an personal opinion statement. That that solve the problem? So I think despite the clarity of the pictures, Dana looks better with the longer short hair than the shorter version. Also in my defense, she was born in 1972 so she does qualify as old which justifies having shorter hair.You know what, imagine if I said thin = good/ not thin = not as good as thin. I guess there is a good middle ground because long hair to your waist does not = good. Back to my example, then someone pulls out a picture of Nicole Richie. Then you got the whole issue of Jenifer Love Hewitt and Tyra banks and all that media attention over the term fat. You, know, I'm going down a road here that isn't good, I'm going to stop. I'm digging a deeper and deeper hole. Sorry for the picture.
I really want to stop talking about hair (really I didn't plan to say that much), but I've always wondered why the hair on my head keeps growing, yet the hair on my arms stays at a current length and never needs to be cut. How does it know to stop? Why doesn't the hair on our head just do that too?
I'm still pro-NCAA football playoffs. At least I can pretend. Didn't this year prove how flawed the BCS system is? Oh yeah, it's backward looking, not forward looking.
Single and Loving It - very interesting read. About women and how medical studies show that married people are happier and healthier than single women, but it might not be true.
I got a book recommendation recently: Atonement by Ian McEwan. I hadn't heard of it. It's a movie that was out a while back (last Friday), but it isn't showing in Austin or the Valley nor out on video. I get lots of book recommendations, so I think I'm gonna pass on this one and skip right to the movie. Now if the movie is good, well I'll know I missed out and concede I may have not given the recommender enough credit, but I kind of doubt that will be the case. Isn't it a better gamble than reading the book first?
UPDATE: You know, I don't feel as bad, seems the Washington Post is talking about the same topic. Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair…
reading more
Ain't nothing better than the sound of concession.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I don't think arm hair or eyebrow hair stops growing. I think it just falls out periodically so that no single hair gets very long.
As I understand it, the same mechanism is at work with head hair for some people except the upper bound for length is much higher.
It is a "qualified concession" my finals studying friend. Maybe like Bush I should of been "more percise."
ReplyDeleteI equate "So I do concede that my statement was a shallow over generalization" with the White House Press Sec's response below:
Q: But the President said, “He didn’t tell me what the information was.” But you’re now saying he was told that Iran may have halted its nuclear weapons program and also that there may be a new assessment, right?
MS. PERINO: Right, but he doesn’t — he didn’t get any of the details of what the information, in terms of what the actual raw intelligence was.
Q He didn’t say, he didn’t tell me what the information –
MS. PERINO: Okay, look, I can see where you could see that the President could have been more precise in that language, but the President was being truthful.
As far as the hair explanation, that does make sense, but how do you explain "Rapunzel" That chick had some long hair.
it is really funny that hair provided the most controversy, lol. you walked into a minefield with that one.
ReplyDeletelast words on hair: long hair has come to represent youth and sex appeal. young women have the long loose hair, older women have the short or covered hair (in some religious and cultural groups). hot sexy women have long hair, that can be pulled and whipped around. look at music videos, the hot women all have long hair. men are drawn to that idea, youth and sexuality. but youth and sexy is not serious, which is why women in certain professions cut it. i think it says alot about our society and who we take seriously. i think it's that short hair brings out the idea of masculinity, and the qualities we assign to masculinity. women are competing with men for promotions and you have to give off the aura of being capable, serious, and professional. being feminine (with all the qualities we assign to it) is not considered an asset in the workplace. i just realized that i'm saying women need to be like men to be taken seriously at work.
Are you now saying you didn't say "concede?"
ReplyDeleteBack to hair. Now that we're in the realm of sweeping generalizations and personal preference, yes, anecdotal evidence has no effect whatsoever.
However, my personal view is that short hair can look amazing on a young woman. (Think Natalie Portman at any time after V for Vendetta - like her SNL appearance. I know this will resonate with Marty.) It all just depends on the woman. Women aren't all the same, you know.
Might I also raise another hypothesis: could the rate of short hair among older women be related to the fact that they tend to color their hair. Does more hair = hard work?
Maria, if this is the case, your observation that professional women have short hair might not be a causal relationship at all. Instead you might be witnessing to independent phenomena that both correlate with age.
Folks this is what happens when finals comes around, can't say I miss it. I can't believe I'm expanding on this topic, but I can't leave issues unaddressed.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, yes I do concede, was just trying to blatantly lie about it in the George W style and see how it worked. Good enough I guess to make you think I didn't concede.
I have to take exception with Natalie Portman after V for Vendetta. She is very much attractive with short or long hair, but I would rather her have long hair. A lot of attresses pull off short hair, (Halle Berry, Cameron Diaz), and they look good because they are attractive women, but I personally feel they look better when their hair is longer. So yes it depends on the woman, and a hot woman will still look hot, but I can't give up that she will look more hot than with shorter hair.
As far as your other hypothesis: I completely disagree. Loreal says 60% of women already color their hair and I don't know how coloring hair has to do with length. Secondly, your "hard work" issue, does that mean that older or professional women are just more lazy or too busy to deal with styling longer hair. Also, professional women are usually already older (I define old as 34+ (ouch) for my discussion)...you know what...I really need to stop...I just don't care anymore. Hot women = hot / less hot women = less hot. There is no reason a guy should be thinking this much about this topic. I apologize for my response (yet I still post it.)