i've always thought of long hair as one of those major girly things - going short hair is like wearing sports bras or not wearing make-up or skirts, etc - it's a particular type of boy who doesn't mind a girl with fewer feminine cultural markers - but most guys I've dated have eventually really wanted to see me with long hair & in a skirt, even if they don't say so right away... I dunno what makes it so exciting to them - but I guess women tend to like guys who are tall, dark & handsome - the gender defining traits are often what people go for.
but yeah, long hair is totally part of that 'girl features' list.

I have a friend who has grown her hair really long, and she totally sees it as her magic potion - take the hair down and make the boys crazy, kind of thing. (she's in a relationship now. & yes, he loves her hair.)

A lot of men do go really crazy about long hair. When I had really long hair (mid-back), I got so much random male attention everywhere I went, it was overwhelming. Now that my hair is a lot shorter, I still get as much personalized male attention (meeting guys in bars, at events, etc) as ever, but the amount of random male attention has greatly decreased. And I love that.

I love long hair.

Until last September my hair was lower-back length and I got a lot of attention over it. It's still long but seemingly not remarkably so. Still, I never thought it was attention because my hair was hot or anything. It felt more like it was being remarked upon in the 'you're a spectacle' sense.

As for the question, "do 'most' guys go ga-ga over the long tresses", I don't know about that- I know there are plenty that do, but I think there are just as many guys that go ga-ga over short hair, or red hair, or small boobs.... you know what I mean? At the moment, I try to think of myself first- what do I like, what makes me go ga-go over myself when I look in the mirror? I style myself accordingly, and let the boys fall in line (and they do, oh, they do).

going short hair is like wearing sports bras or not wearing make-up or skirts, etc

I don't agree with this statement, by the way- I've seen enough really attractive short-haired women and really frightening women with long hair to know this is true.

I hate long hair. Short hair is good.

just as many guys that go ga-ga over short hair, or red hair, or small boobs

Heh. And lucky for me, as I found out over the years, there are some guys who like all of that in one package. And god bless 'em, I say.

I guess it's not so much that I'm posing short hair against long hair as attractive in general -- it's not like I never had a date or got flirted with when my hair was shorter, or that we all haven't ever seen attractive women with short hair. It's also not like I'm defining myself by how others are reacting to my hair -- I decided to grow it out (and to switch back from fiery red to a closer-to-my-natural shade of dark blonde) purely because I was interested in the change. The subsequent enthusiasm from my bf (and other guys I know) has just been surprising, given that I just don't recall getting similar attention based on my long hair back in late high school/early college.

Hmmm, yea, that is weird. Maybe because long hair is more common with younger girls, and as women get older, more women go short?

Well, MY husband asked me to get a haircut.

In fairness, at my age (47) long hair is more scary than sexy. It made me look old.

I look much better in short hair, but I miss the days where long hair worked for me.

(Before anybody disses the hubs, this is the guy who likes me at any weight I happen to be at.)

I know my dad likes my mom's hair long, even when it's scary scary long right now...

...I keep my hair somewhere between long-ish short and short-ish long - I don't like to get haircuts all that often unless I have a stylist I really really trust. But my boyfriend likes me with shorter hair because I don't wear it up as often...

methinks you all are overanalyzing this thing too much. scody, you totally rock the sassy mod rock and roll chick thing and the short hair works perfectly with that. All us guys have certain things we might think we prefer but ultimately it's the whole package that makes it work. Don't worry bout a thing.

oh, not worried a'tall...just curious. I like my hair longer because it's actually easier to take care of now that I'm not obsessively straigtening it; having guys just suddenly compliment me on it frequently has just been a surprising bonus.

(And a big *mwah* for the "sassy mod rock and roll chick" compliment.)

I had short hair for years, and after I broke up with my husband, began growing it. Now, five years on, I'm really happy with it. I feel more feminine (I'm not a very girly girl, so I need all the help I can get) and, on a day like today when the air's full of fine misty drizzle, it's just a mass of corkscrew curls that some women pay a hairdresser a fortune for.

People who knew me with short hair say they prefer it long.

Short hair is for old ladies. Say what you want about patriarchy and what men want and blah blah, but I have respect for women who don't bob their hair as they age. Cutting it short just seems like giving up. That said, once in a great while, there is a girl who looks awesome with short hair. The day my future wife lops off her hair is the day I cry. A lot.

See, that's why I usually make myself avoid threads like this. Because someone comes in and says, I don't find short hair attractive, therefore, it's ugly and for old ladies.

There's a sociobiological/evolutionary explanation, as there usually is: briefly, long hair indicates a prolonged period of good health and nutrition, and thus signifies reproductive potential. As with many sociobiological/evolutionary explanations, though, I think this one's wildly overstated.

I think that there are many kinds of beauty in the world, and I prefer to make hairstyle judgments on a case-by-case basis. What jonmc said, except that I've never seen scody, and I think that overanalyzing things is a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

TPS, there are some women whose features are made for short hair - Annie Lennox, Sinead O'Connor and, from the photos I've seen of you, you are one of those women too. It's a very hard look to get right, because it requires facial features that are both strong and delicate at the same time.

I like short hair and long hair on women as long as its styled to suit them. Which means, go to a pro if you're going to radically change your look and they'll help you get to where you want to be.

But I did love dating a girl with long hair who would encase me in her "hair cave" and make out that way! Rawr!

I'll second that TPS is perfectly suited for short hair, it looks great on you, from the two or three photos I've seen. But then, I think you could make bald look hot so......

I don't agree with this statement, by the way- I've seen enough really attractive short-haired women and really frightening women with long hair to know this is true.

But you've never seen attractive women in pants or unattractive ones in skirts? all i meant was that it's a cultural marker for 'feminine' - obviously it can be transgressed, but it's one of the basic ones...

I had hair to mid-back when i was 19, and was at a party on st. mark's when I casually told a friend I'd thought about shaving it off. he said he had clippers downstairs (we were on the roof) and before I knew it, a whole crowd of us had migrated to his room. after my head was shaved, another woman said, okay, I'm next! and by the end of the night, there were 8 of us. it was awesome.

A friend of mine collected all the hair (it was a great mix - purple hair, afro hair, blonde, black, etc) and used it for an art project as the frame around a mirror that had 'bloody mary' written on it three times in red lipstick. sumthin' about female power.

Maybe because long hair is more common with younger girls

Well, not in Thailand according to a recent MeFi post about the party girls there. I believe one of the stated insights was that you can tell the new, young girls by the short hair and the long skirts.

When my hair was short, I got flirted with by random women. When my hair was long, I got flirted with by random men.

I like long hair but I look way better with it short. In fact, I need to find some pics of cute short cuts so I can show them to my hairdresser...some kind of girly cute pixie cut.

cali, go to a Japanese bookstore if there is one near you. A big enough bookstore will have magazines with all the latest haircuts in them. Most of them will be short haircuts. They're adorable.

Timing, huh. I was long for years, then went short after making a big move about 2 years ago. It has worked well -- the short hair updated my look considerably. Basically, with the long hair, I looked like a crunchy natural chick who you'd meet at pottery class, and with the short hair, looked more hip and even a bit younger, or so I thought. But in the last couple months I'm noticing what I've lost with short hair. It's oddly true; I feel less feminine. So I'm experimenting with growing it again. The trouble is, my hair's ramrod-straight and very fine, so it wants to just lie flat when it gets long, and that's not so pretty. I'm going to ask my stylist for some creative intermediate solution, like a long shag or long layers.

But scody, I don't think you're making it up. I've read sociological studies that talk about long hair on women being a standard marker of youth and sexual vitality. But for heaven's sake, there are a lot of really sexy short-haired women on this site, judging by the pics. I'd say it comes down to the usual -- do you like it? Do you feel good/sexy/confident wearing it? THen probably you're projecting that, and others like it on you, too.

Short hair is ridiculously attractive. Thank You, women with short hair everywhere.

My hair is long (past shoulder length), even though I'm really too old for it, for two reasons; the biggest reason is that my husband gets really unhappy when I talk about cutting it, and since he's never the least bit demanding or domineering with me about anything, ever-ever, it seems a small thing to keep it the way he likes it. But also, I don't enjoy salon experiences, and having a "hairdo" that I have to maintain by regular visits to a hairdresser is kind of yucky for me. As it is now, mr. taz trims my hair. (When we were still in the U.S., we knew this amazingly talented, completely insane hairdresser who used to come to our house and cut our hair, and our next door neighbor's hair at the same time; It was like a once-a-month party. That was fun.)

Also, I really can't stand hair on my neck in the summer, and having long hair means that I'm able to easily put it all up in a bun; with shorter hair, it has to be really short to be off the neck - any longer, it's hard/impossible to pin up.

Short hair on all people. The more "boyish" the cut the better. But that's just my preference. I'll fess up to finding some people with long hair attractive, but it's more rare for me. Also, all that hair in the mouth when you're making out. BLEAH! Forget it. Long hair is to be admired from afar.