The question: Are men more intimidated by women with long hair than women with short hair?
The story: A woman (who is also my roommate) has been peer-pressured to alter her look - a shorter hairstyle. Her insistent male friend claimed women with long hair are more intimidating than women with short hair, and that quite possibly, she may acquire more phone numbers from interested males if she was less intimidating. He might have been joking, but the idea caused both of us to narrow our eyes and ponder. Really?
Obviously, this concept intrigued me. Thus, I quickly cruised online and signed onto Facebook to see whether or not my male friends had a similar sentiment. I spoke with four friends (well, actually five, but that's another story) and all seemed to have a few similarities.
1. In general, men tend to be more attracted to women with longer hair - the ability to run their fingers through hair is appealing, perhaps even seductive.
2. If a man was, in fact, intimidated by a woman with longer hair, he has bigger issues to worry about.
3. Certain hairstyles work better with certain people (i.e. shorter women with short hair and taller women with long hair)
4. Men are more likely to be intimidated by women who are taller, more intelligent and funnier, which I already knew.
As each conversation progressed, I became more and more curious and fascinated at the thought of something as simple as hair length affecting a man's interest/appeal. Ergo, I have created a list of my own questions; and for fun, a little poll. See above!
(These questions are for men only, thank you.)
1. What attracts you to a woman?
2. What characteristics or features of a woman do you find intimidating?
3. Hypothetical question: You walk into a bar and glance around the room. Do you tend to notice the blondes or the brunettes first?
4. Is it difficult for you to walk up to a woman in a bar and engage in a conversation?
5. If it is difficult to meet someone at a bar, why go? Hope of finding love? Fun flirtation? Fascinating conversations?
Of course, women generally have their own thoughts of men and hair. Again...all are merely generalizations.
1. Tall, DARK and handsome - ring a bell?
2. Scruffy beards, not Santa Clause.
3. Clean cut. Doesn't mean avoid shaggy hair, just controlled - which tends to be true for men and women.
4. Sure, baseball caps are fun, but let's not make it a daily addition to each outfit.
Keep in mind, all this is light and fun - just looking for some insight from the opposite sex. Cheers!
All right, I'll bite. I'm surprised that you're surprised that men find physical appearance a factor in a woman's attractiveness!
ReplyDelete1. Intelligence, and eyes.
2. The ability to reject (especially in front of the guys, haha)
3. I notice pretty women, regardless of
4. Yes and no, but I'm British. We're reticent about doing that with ANYONE.
5. Drink, usually.
I suspect that these are not fascinating insights...
Hmm, I find this topic very interesting. I'm surprised, though, that your friend finds women with long hair to be more intimidating than women with short hair--because I would think (and I might be reading a bit too much into this) that long hair = femininity, short hair = masculinity, and, thus, men are typically *less* intimidated by women with longer hair because, as they appear more feminine, they seem easier to dominate/manipulate/win over/mack on/etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is all so curious.
Okay Galacticos (AKA Craig), please don't undermind my knowledge of the male mind. haha. I suppose I never really considered there was, not necessarily an exact science to it, but a pattern.
ReplyDeleteShannon - I agree with your comment. For the longest time, I felt as though women with short hair were appeared more sophisticated, thus were more intimidating.
I don't know if long hair automatically equals more intimidating, but your woman roommate sounds pretty high maintenance as it is if her upcoming haircut gets its own blog post.
ReplyDeleteI would never doubt your mastery of the male mind Sam. I would only ask that you use this skill for good, rather than evil!
ReplyDeleteAs for patterns, I dunno. I'm not sure I'm an adequate spokesman for the male race, especially the American male race, but I would wager most guys consider hair as part of the package. I would wager there are more interesting attributes to be observed... haha x
This is a neat post, Sam.
ReplyDeleteI guess from a girls perspective, I feel a lot more attractive when I have long hair as opposed to short hair. But, I fall into that tall/long hair category.
And as far as guys, you know that my type defies the typical. But I do agree with controlled hair and scruffy beards :).
Love you!
Glo