10/29/15
What Guys Really Think About Short Hair

Advice from three of our guy friends. This week they answer the following: Short hair vs. long hair? We’ve heard porno stars give advice to women like, “Never cut your hair short,” but then, they’re porn stars. What’s the real deal?

mark_luczak_100Straight Single Guy (Mark Luczak): I truly run the gamut on this one. I dated a girl who was a competitive dancer since childhood and was always required to have her hair long uniformly with everyone else — she now keeps it super-short and she’s adorable, cute as a button. I even had a long relationship with a girl who lost her battle with cancer — she was as beautiful to me when the radiation and chemo took her hair as she was when she still had her signature long, curly locks. But I gotta say I do dig the long hair for the most part. All done up to go with a formal ensemble, or held up with a pencil and ready to fall at a moment’s notice, or just simply pulled back with a hair tie for comfort and convenience? Yes please! I’m a runner, so if I see a girl on the street with a pony tail bounding behind her, that sexy/sporty look really resonates with me. Put that pony tail through the back of a cap and couple it with a sports jersey, and it’s a home run. So, while beauty can come in all cuts and styles, keeping it long gets my vote…by a [groan] hair.

daniel_100Gay Single Guy (Daniel): I honestly think the question of hair length is secondary to general hair aesthetic – meaning, it’s more important that one’s hair has an appealing cut, shine, and feel. Think about all those makeover shows when Jane McDull-looks is unveiled at the end to her husband/boyfriend/oddly close brother and they marvel at the usually chopped off hair. See, these “before” women stopped caring about split-end maintenance, hot oil treatments, and, well, brushing. What should men think about a woman who doesn’t even bother to take care of her own hair? But if you’re already split-end free with a killer $150 cut and you just wonder what turns your mate on more — short or long hair — the only thing to do is ask him, “Honey, do you like my hair longer or shorter?”

However, if a woman is trying to decide to wear her hair long or short just to attract a man, then she needs to take a step back and remember she needs to look good for herself first and she shouldn’t let theoretical men “out there” dictate what she should look like. Think of it analogously to this: if straight men prefer large breasts, how far are you willing to go to stay aligned with that preference?

anonymous_suitStraight Married Guy (Fred): What’s this about guys not liking short hair? I think everyone can agree Carrie-Anne Moss looked pretty freakin’ good in The Matrix. I don’t give a crap what length of hair a woman has; if it looks good, I like it. Okay, everyone has their own preferences, blah blah. This is a perfect time to mention my number one tip for women in monogamous relationships: It’s unfortunate, but guys crave variety. So give him some! If you have long hair, cut it! If you have long hair and you don’t want to cut it, wear a short wig one night. If you have short hair, wear a long wig one night. Choose a wig that is a different color from your own. I think you get the idea. He gets the thrill of someone new, but it’s you! So, short hair vs. long hair? I say both!

Our “guys” are a rotating group of contributors. This week’s Gay Guy is one-time stripper and sex columnist Daniel; our Straight Single Guy is Mark Luczak, a tech geek at Carnegie Mellon University; and our straight married guy is shy. To ask the guys your own question, click here.



30 Comments

  1. a girl might be able to pull off short hair (and when i say short i mean above shoulder length) but girls with short hair are EXTREMELY less attractive than they would be otherwise HANDS DOWN.

  2. First of all, I’m straight and a girl.
    Personally, I prefer girls having short hair (and remember I’m straight) because I see too many girls everywhere with long hair. Though I don’t think girls should just cut it off randomly to such a short length (Emma Watson) because some girls just can’t pull it off if they’re aren’t attractive enough (yes I think this is an issue). Some girls (with chubby faces) just look bad with it because it highlights their negative (basically it makes them look fatter). Girls with thin faces look better because it emphasizes this trait). I think the perfect length (despite having my hair up to my waist) would be as far down as your shoulders, and anything longer depends on you (your confidence and how you wants others to see you and also the community you live in). I would love (I actually think about this everyday) to snip my hair off down to my shoulders but what always stops me is the fact that I have a chubby face, and if I cut it off, I feel like all everyone would see is my fat face. Another con includes the community I live in have a mixed variety (southern California highschool kids must I add).

  3. @Vixxy I know what you mean when you say other girl’s long hair rattled your confidence. Mine is shrinking everyday.

  4. I went short in 2003. I was really bold when I was 18. I cut 10 inches off of my hair. I was young, hot, and had the face shape to pull it off. It was an interesting experience.

    I guess the small unfashionable area in northern Fl where i’m from wasn’t ready. I found my best friends saying things like “Wow..I just have to get used to “this” being you now” or “I need time to adjust”

    When I would go out in public some people were very rude to me. I over heard people saying things within ear shot like “Is that a boy or a girl.” and “Here comes that dorky looking lesbian”. Customer service in stores gave me dirty looks.

    At the hight of it all someone mistakenly called me “Sir”. What sucks is that it takes so long to grow out. Waiting about 3 years to get my hair back into a decent length and style seemed excruciating. If you have an adverse reaction to cutting your hair short it takes so long to get it back.

    Don’t get me wrong. Like I said, I was hot and someone who could pull it off. I heard a few flattering now and again, “I like it…because you know only the really hot girls can pull that off.” I attracted some admirers who really liked it. And after I grew it out I had a lot of people tell me years later that they knew me from around and thinked it looked amazing.

    Over all, I heard more harsh words. It could have been the timing or where I lived….the fact that every girl I knew had hair to their butts. It really rattled my confidence. My long time boyfriend started looking at other girls right in front of me. He told me he “just liked long pony tales”. We broke up. It was hard to find out how much people judge you by how you look. It made me appreciate what people in the gay community must go through.

    Just thought I’d put my story out there.

  5. I have Natural hair and I feel I’m not pretty enough unless I have long hair. I started wearing my hair in a slightly “natural-Afro” style with a headband-thingy and I actually look cute. But, when I go outside and see Ads and posters with black girls with weave/long hair (and that annoying natural hair twisty-thing) I feel less pretty. I’m on a mission to grow my hair long, but for now I’m trying hard to accept my hair the way it is now. This is a very touchy subject for black women and black teenager girls such as myself. Pop Culture has idolized long hair: you can run your fingers through it, it can flow down your back, etc.

    I’m only interested in White guys, and being Black I can’t grow my hair long in a matter of months!

    But, I can make my short hair look good, but it’s hard to find a good outfit to fit my hair. It’s even more stressful when when the most beautiful person in my family has long hair. She’s mixed, so she was saved from this curse of kinky Afro hair. I’ll keep trying hard to be comfortable with my hair, but it’s hard to feel attractive with it.

    Sincerely,
    A Concerned Citizen (a refrence to the Half Life comic, Concerned).

  6. I know that men like long hair for a fact most of the time.
    But I never got any attention when my hair was long – NONE whatsoever.

    But now I cut it short and i actually turns heads! I think I pull it off really well and it makes me look cleaner and more gorgeous than I already am.

  7. if a dude dumps you b/c u got a haircut that’s just psychotic. i expect him to be working in a wig store or something.

  8. ok i just got my hair cut to my shoulders and it used to be down to my boob and it looks really cute! if you can pull it i say go for screw those men who say short hair isnt hot. im a straight girl and i still think that women with short hair are really pretty and just sayin that guys with really short hair is a big turn off… and also think about this, guys like girls with confidence so be proud of your hair and who you are.

  9. I am seeing someone who loves long natural hair. I am very hurt by this because he makes me feel as if i am less than a woman. I wear extension, and wigs when I want a certain look. The look that I love is impossible for me to achieve with my natural hair. I am to the point where i want to break up with my boyfriend because of it.

  10. I normally wear my hair in a short cropped Afro…but an ex (cue the scary music) who had a thing for long hair, kept asking me to let it grow. It took over a year to get six inches of hair, but he was thrilled. We were in bed and he kept playing with it, twirling it around, happy as a kid in a toy store…until the inevitable happened. He got his fingers stuck in my hair. He freaked out and started yanking to get his fingers free. I was screaming from the pain, which only freaked him out worse. We managed to hobble into the kitchen, where I had to cut my hair to get him loose. Of course, I couldn’t see what I was doing and ended up looking like I had mange…which meant I had to shave myself bald. I will keep my iddy-biddy ‘fro from now on. 😉

  11. I personally think that women should embrace their short hair. They should love it because THEY LOVE it. They shouldn’t try to grow it out long or cut it short for a guy. Yes, I’ve heard that most guys love the “long, flowing hair” but shouldn’t it be up to the women of the world to choose how to wear it?-After all, it IS their hair! 🙂

  12. While the only genuine answer to this is that different hair lengths suit different people, I have to admit I have a “thang” for short hair.

    This is mostly down to the woman I’ve spent nearly 8 years with having short hair and looking amazing with it, but it predates her.

    I’m sure it’s irrational, but it seems logical to me: anyone can wear their hair long, but only certain women can pull off a close crop. Therefore this small elite of women, including Winona Ryder, heyday Grace Jones and of course my wife, are the hottest.

    It’s gotten to the point now where I don’t understand why anyone would choose to wear their hair long. They look so… hairy.

  13. Well, as a straight married man, I have to disagree with the whole wig comments. My wife has super long hair (think just below her knee) and I wouldn’t prefer it any other way. I don’t think I would ever be aroused if she showed up with a short wig on. However, there are plenty of other ways to do variety, such as, curly, straight, pony tail, bunned up pigtails, etc.

  14. My own personal taste is mostly in line with what Rogue wrote, though I have dug bald on women before.

    Daniel’s second paragraph in the original post is the most important point, I think.

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