The average woman spends a full 10 days a year making her hair look perfect, and will fork out around $50,000 in her lifetime on products to care for her locks – yet how many of you have stopped to ask what your hair says about you?
Whether you wear it short and styled or long and bouncy, how you choose to wear your hair says a lot more about you than you may realise, while also playing a huge role in the way you feel about yourself.
‘Hair is called a secondary sexual characteristic,’ says leading trichologist Philip Kingsley. ‘You can’t flaunt your primary sexual characteristics in public, at least not in western society, so that’s what makes your hair important from a social viewpoint.’
Only a few short years ago, long, straight hair and honey highlights were seen on women everywhere, perhaps trying to replicate Jennifer Aniston’s iconic look. Now, thanks to the likes of Rihanna and Miley Cyrus who have braved the chop, things have changed. From Katy Perry’s bright purple do’ to Anne Hathaway’s cute pixie cut, runways and streets are awash with all kinds of different colours, lengths and styles.
According to fashion historian Caroline Cox, the dominant trend today is for styling rather than cutting and for ‘long, glamorous hair and lots of it.’ This is a look that cuts across social classes and is as likely to be spotted on a reality television star as it is on royalty. From Kate Middleton to Kim Kardashian, long hair can also convey that a woman has the time and money to spend on her locks.
‘It’s about sexuality and morale,’ says Kingsley. ‘Lots of women – and men – find that if they are not happy with their hair, then they are unhappy people.’ And it’s because hair is a secondary sexual characteristic that long, glossy hair – which denotes youth and fertility – has been popular for so long.
As a result, short, cropped styles are widely considered masculine, according to Karin Lesnik-Oberstein, a professor of critical theory at the University of Reading and editor of The Last Taboo: Women and Body Hair. ‘Short hair is still equated with masculinity,’ she says. ‘I have very short hair and I often get mistaken for a man.’
Colour too is changing. ‘Blondeness used to be a sign of youth,’ notes Cox. ‘Now because so many women post-50 are dyeing their hair blonde, it’s a sign of maturity and young women are increasingly dyeing their hair in a grey tone that’s almost silver or pale blue.’ But with dip dyeing, ombre and bright colours being big trends recently, it seems that anything now goes.
What your hairstyle says about you:
Straight hair = unexpressive
Brightly coloured hair = quirky
A fringe = individual
Wavy hair = likeable
Long hair = glamorous
Short hair = masculine
