Long hair/ short hair

[Lylddlebit]

This is a poll, no one has to write their experience if they don't want to. I was just wondering if any ladies on the board had ever been teased or insulted for having short hair/long hair, and if so does that impact you wanting to grow it now? I remember from grammar school to high school girls would be called "bald headed scallywags/*****s etc", "chicken heads" and the like for short hair. I remember if your hair came even a centimeter past your shoulder people would be checking for tracks. I remember it being nothing for a girl to be teased all day long if her hair could barely fit in a ponytail, cover the sock of her bun, barely attach a barret(sp ?) or hang bead on the ends. I remember hair insults being some of the first hurled if a girl with little hair was involved in a argument or fight. I remember long hair being threatened in that same scenario.

I know a lot of children, had longer or healthier hair as children, but I remember those who didn't as well. They caught teasing, laughter, and insults from kids and adults.

******
Me: I got my first perm when I was in about to got to kindergarten. My hair wasn't extremely long but it fell within "acceptable" range and I never got teased about it. I got checked for tracks a couple times, usually by girls with hair the same length as mine (shoulder to apl at the time). I am down for anyone but me having short hair. My hair has to at least hang in a effortless ponytail or be shoulder length to like it.

On the flip side I had a friend who cut her hair off, because she was sick of being talked about when she was in junior high(she was older than me) and became an adult before realizing how beautiful her hair and she was in general.

 

[MrsHdrLe]

They were too busy calling me "Oreo" to check for my hair (thank God), I had a dry, crusty jehri curl...or should i say jeri fro? :/

 

[topnotch1010]

I remember those names being hurled all the time and sometimes I was the mean a**hole kid doing it.

I never got hair insulted because my hair was in the acceptable range at SL.

Kids can be so cruel.

Another good point that hair is not "just hair".

 

[Ozma]

Interesting. I grew up at a time when most of the black girls I knew had SL or longer hair and weaves and tracks were not popular yet. In New Orleans, you definitely got teased if you had "nappy, bad hair"

 

[Detroit2Dallas]

They were to busy calling me "Oreo" to check for my hair (thank God), I had a dry, crusty jehri curl...or should i say jeri fro? :/

omg I'm sorry but this almost made me choke on my pb&j sandwich. forgive me

 

[beans4reezy]

I got teased over my short hair, particularly in JHS. Now that I see I can have long hair with patience and the right regimen, I am on a mission to grow my hair to unimaginable lengths.

 

[prospurr4]

Yeah, I had short "bad" hair as a child and was teased about it....mostly by family members. My mother washed/pressed my hair every 2 weeks, and it never grew past a scraggly neck length. I was athletic in school, so a press wouldn't last very long, and before you know it, here comes the bead-de-bees...my brother would be the first to point them out.

At age 20, I got my first relaxer, but since I didn't know how to properly care for my hair, I didn't see much progress. Fast-forward MANY years to the advent of hairboards, mainly LHCF, which has been a God-send for me. I transitioned to texlaxing (which I love, love) and started seeing progress in length and thickness.

Now, when my family sees my hair (even my brother), noboday says a thing!!

ETA: I almost forgot: my dad has always supported me. He never "made fun" of my hair as a child, and now he compliments me everytime he sees it down.

 

[LadyRaider]

I had 2 long thick twisted ponies in high school. My ponies probably just grazed my shoulders, so I assume my hair was APL. I REALLY was not aware of the length of my hair when I was a kid. It just did not matter to me. Plus, others in my family had much longer hair. So as far as I was concerned, my hair was nothing to boast about.

I remember a girl said something to me in a teasing way that, "Long hair is out of style."

So I responded, "Yeah... that's why my cousin cut her hair to the length mine is."

The girl looked at me strangely and walked off. I was basically saying to her yeah... I HAVE the short hair that is in style. Obviously my perception of my hair was that it was short and she perceived my hair as long.

Other than that I have never been teased. But pretty much until I started coloring my hair and getting regular relaxers in the last decade, I had the longest hair of the girls around me. It just wasn't long compared to the hair I see here, or others in my family.

 

[bellebebe]

As a child, I struggled with a scalp condition that disabled my hair from growing like it should. Until I came to the U.S, I was prescribed medication for it. After that, my hair never grew past shoulder length. Growing up with short hair, society always made it seem like a disease. Long hair was much more accepted, long hair is better. Looking back, I guess that's what motivated me to grow my hair long because I'm tired of our people thinking that black hair can never grow.

 

[MrsHdrLe]

Oh I failed to mention the root of my hair care disaster: When I was 11, we moved into an apt complex with indoor and outdoor pools. Needless to say, I relocated to the pools all day everyday (when not in school) AND was self perming the HECK outta my hair so it would lay down like the white kids (there were two black boys w/ shaved heads and two black girls who SHOULD'VE just shaved to get it over with) living in the complex.
My oh my, I had NO idea what I was doing and since my mom was, and still is, one of Jerhi (Curls') Kids, and didn't know how to or what to do with hair, (I mean she didn't know how to braid or anything) it was all down hill and bumped along there for years until I discovered mircro-braids in my early 20s. A HOT Mess! (SMH)

 

[Curly Lee]

When I was 11 my hair began breaking off from a bad perm. My mom tried to save it with protein treatments and hot oil treatments. When this didn't work she cut all of my hair off, like ALL of it! I was all natural with a short lil fro like thing plus no edges from traction alopecia. I got made fun of ALL the time. "Bald head scally wag" "Velcro hair (referring to my braid STUCK on the side of my hair)" "You look like a boy" I could go on because there were a lot. The no hair situation combined with me being a little ahem CHUNKY made 6th grade ROUGH.
...But the story gets better.
I moved to a different school. I kept my hair in braids for like 2 years. my hair grew out down my back. AND i lost like 50 lbs (I said I was chunky ok) So you know when I came back to my old school those SAME boys and girls who were making fun of me were all on my bumper! hmph

 

[LaFemmeNaturelle]

My hair was long but I got teased because it was "nappy"

 

[Raine054]

I've always had long hair and was mostly complemented on it. I had a friend who was attacked in junior high with by two angry girls with scissors. They cut her WL hair down to SL. She had to switch schools.

 

[Mercie]

In sixth grade my hair was natural and very short, I would wear it in twists.
I had just moved schools at the time as well and the people at the new school teased me relentlessly and called me bald and ugly.

 

[Janet']

My hair was long and I didn't get teased but because it was JUST relatively long with no style...I was always seen as "younger"...

 

[Janet']

I've always had long hair and was mostly complemented on it. I had a friend who was attacked in junior high with by two angry girls with scissors. They cut her WL hair down to SL. She had to switch schools.

That's a da*n shame...For real...

 

[Sianna]

My experience is a little different. When I was in elementary and middle school, I think I got the occasional comment about my hair, though I still don't consider it teasing about its perpetually super short length. It was never really that deep. Plus, it only took one or two comments before people would leave me alone, I was a scrapper!

Anywhooo, when I got to high school I started wearing all kinds of weave and learned to do some really cute styles. Weave ponytails were really popular at the time so I learned how to do all kinds of elaborate phony ponies and people basically thought my hair was on point! No one really knew how long my real hair was so when I wore shoulder length tracks, no one questioned whether it was my real hair or not.

To answer the OP's question, my childhood experiences have not really influenced me to want to grow my hair. I've always liked longer hair but didn't think mine could grow. Now that I have learned better hair care practices, I am ready to give it a try. Really, its simply the pursuit of a lifelong dream for me.

 

[drappedup]

I've never really been teased about the length. I've never really had short hair until once right after high school graduation when I cut it into a bob, and then again recently when my hair broke off and was such a disaster.

I do agree with the original post, though. Personally, for me, a big factor of me enjoying my hair is length. I need length. I feel I look much better, honestly.

I've always had long hair and was mostly complemented on it. I had a friend who was attacked in junior high with by two angry girls with scissors. They cut her WL hair down to SL. She had to switch schools.

That's so messed up.

 

[dachsies_rule!]

I always had a problem with other kids thinking my hair was fake. I remember in junior high i had two french braids and i had pinned the long parts up. This girl kept bothering me about wearing fake braids until i took all the pins out and showed her it was all my hair. And she was mixed with wavy SL hair.

Also kids used to say i thought i was white with all that hair, when they realized it was real. My hair was usually APL-BSL in length.

 

[Stormy]

I've always had short hair (except for the jheri curl days), but I don't remember being teased about it. Now, I do get a lot of skepticism from family members whenever my hair grows anywhere close to my shoulders and when it started thickening up through the years (without the curl) They seem to be surprised by this and constently trying to figure it out. Shoulder length is considered long in our family. Anything past that shoot, it's down her back and she must have some indian or white blood! Or some reason they'll think of. Having a good regimen and taking care of it is just out of the question.

I would like to just get to APL and see the look on their faces then!

 

[Bnster]

Never got called out for having short hair. I just want my hair long, now I have the know how to make it happen. Thank you LHCF and YT ladies!

 

[MonPetite]

I always had thick CBL - APL hair and caught grief over it. Usually jokes by family members that I wasn't really my father's child at my mother's expense. Such foolishness. I've recently cut it short, with going natural my third time and I still get wig/weave checked because it's so thick, though shorter (when worn straight).

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

My sophomore year in high school my hair was almost waist length. I always wore a long braid or bun. Well, for career day I wore my hair down, pressed and curled. This girl tried to set my hair on fire with a match and burned my blazer instead. The French teacher witnessed. She got suspended for 5 days.

Girls can be mean as hell.

 

[dachsies_rule!]

My sophomore year in high school my hair was almost waist length. I always wore a long braid or bun. Well, for career day I wore my hair down, pressed and curled. This girl tried to set my hair on fire with a match and burned my blazer instead. The French teacher witnessed. She got suspended for 5 days.

Girls can be mean as hell.

OMG! She should have been arrested...that chic is crazy!

 

[authormom]

I have always had long, thick hair. I remember one day in 5th grade this girl made me undo a braid to prove all the hair was mine and all I could think about was how much trouble I was gonna get in when my mother saw my hair out.

For some reason I tend to lean towards long hair. I've had short hair cuts (think Toni Braxton) but I just prefer myself with long hair I guess, hence the weaves and braids. My goal is to have thick, HEALTHY, MBL hair.

I am praying that through gaining knowledge about my hair, and respecting it more and also with the help of the ladies here on LHCF I can achieve not only my goal of long hair, but in the process let go of my misconceived notion that my hair makes me instead of the other way around.

 

[Solitude]

I feel kinda lucky reading through this thread. I honestly don't remember ever being teased about my hair. No matter how long or short (bob-cut) my hair was, I generally got compliments on it when it was healthy. I did get teased a *little* about my forehead, so I wore bangs for years. I got over it when I was about 17 and stopped wearing bangs unless I wanted them.

I got weave-checked even though my hair wasn't particularly long. It was usually jet-black with a blunt cut or fly layers, so people thought it was a weave.

 

[KSand]

I wasn't necessarily teased about the length but my hair line is strange so i have baby hairs on my forehead... I ended up just cutting bangs.

 

[Sianna]

My sophomore year in high school my hair was almost waist length. I always wore a long braid or bun. Well, for career day I wore my hair down, pressed and curled. This girl tried to set my hair on fire with a match and burned my blazer instead. The French teacher witnessed. She got suspended for 5 days.

Girls can be mean as hell.

Sorry, but I would have knocked her teeth down her throat! Believe that!

 

[brg240]

My sophomore year in high school my hair was almost waist length. I always wore a long braid or bun. Well, for career day I wore my hair down, pressed and curled. This girl tried to set my hair on fire with a match and burned my blazer instead. The French teacher witnessed. She got suspended for 5 days.

Girls can be mean as hell.

Someone threatened to do this to me in 10th grade. Along with cutting it. This was always my fear growing up too.

I always had long hair and I didn't really receive negative teasing over it. I'd just get from people 'can I get some of your hair, I want to cut your hair and keep it.' erplexed Mostly from adults and this used to creep me out. I never knew how to answer that. :/
I got teased over other things.

 

[Aviah]

Relatively long hair (roughly APL). Was never teased about it. People liked it. Still I look back and pics and think that the ends were see through, and that Blue Magic should have been set on fire and the residue discarded from my house