Why do we want "long" hair?

[tapioca_pudding]

Ive had very short hair (see profile pic) since I was 16, 8years now. I believe that I can rock a short hair cut very well. But Ive always had the misconception that my hair just wont grow past a certain point; I tell ppl this all the time. After stumbling upon this website I honestly now believe that I may be able to grow some length on this stuff. So Im doing it for the following reasons:

1. to prove to myself that I can
2. for a different look after 8 years of short
3. to see what I look like w/ longer hair

Im giving myself a year to see what happens. After that Ill decide which way I want to go. Thanks to this board for the paradigm shift.

 

[InnerSoul]

I ain't about being brainwashed, because even before the "media" was prevelant long hair was always seen as beautiful. Check out the bible and other historical literature. White people aren't the only ones that can have long hair, so why should they be the only ones with it?

Like HoneyDew said, I see long hair as beauty and as youth also.

yep, I agree with this as well. Shoulder length is what I am used to(before usually breaking off!) on my head but when I was pregnant with both my children my hair grew so pretty..past shoulder length and now with more knowledge on how to take care of my hair.. I want to see for myself how long it can get. I have had my hair cut very short in the past and although it was cute.. I like myself with longer hair b/c to me it is more flattering to my eyes.

 

[naturallylovely]

I agree with this too. My hair isn't long yet but people are shocked when they see that my natural hair has a curl pattern. I always get the are you mixed questions but I get them more often with my natural hair out. Especially when it's slicked back. It's probably going to be pure madness when my hair gets long and I wear it out in a wash n go.

I've only been asked that a few times...but man, i'm gonna be so mad when i get my hair to BSL and people just assume that I have hair cause i must be mixed. when the truth is, my hair was the same length for years (before i found the boards, of course)!!!! but i can't get too mad, 'cuz most of the time i assume the same things

 

[InnerSoul]

Honestly, because I look better with long hair. It takes some of the roundness away from my face. But I don't want superlong hair like some of the ladies on this board. APL would be good enough for me. Maybe BSL but that's pushing it a little bit. I might just let it grow to see how long it gets but once it get's there I'll probably cut it and start over. I can't imagine dealing with all that hair on a daily basis. I already don't like combing the little bit I do have.

exactly what I think too!! I just look better with long hair b/c my face is round too!

 

[Softresses]

I want long hair because I love how sensual it feels. I love the way it feels against my skin, the way it smells when it is freshly washed, the way it feels when someone I care about caresses it. I guess this is part of the feminine feeling it gives to me.

Softresses

 

[RubyWoo]

I want long hair because there are more styling options with longer hair imo and I know those hairstyles would look good on me.

 

[guesswho]

well I want long hair because I just do alot of times people always feel there's a reason for everything and they look to deep into things that are very insignificant, I for one like challenges and I believe if on the average a person hair grows for the least 6 inches give or take per year and if that person protects there ends and don't need to trim in 3 years they should have 18 inches of hair give or take, so that's my personal challenge to myself and so on and so on, and I can't wait to see how long my hair will grow with my regime waistlength and beyond here I come lol

 

[lala]

I've always had long hair and I've never had to baby my hair in order for it to grow. I don't use any potions or pills.

My Mom didn't allow me to relax my hair until I was 16, and I had waist length hair as a natural (using vaseline/water).

Not trying to sound boastful, but for some of us -- long hair does come naturally .

 

[blazingthru]

I have a million styles in my mind of what I am going to do to my hair when its long. I have always wanted long hair I think it enhances a womans beauty if she does something with it. I know to many woman with long hair who do nothing at all and I cringe each time I see them with a raggety ponytail. I could never figure that out. My girlfriends hair is past bra strap but she does nothing to it. she goes faithfully every two weeks to get it up in a ponytail with weave in it. thats it. Thats what she does with her hair. I don't get it. Anyway I always wanted long hair I use to put blankets the receiving blankets on my head and pretend I was cher when I was a kid and I use to sing in the fan so it could blow. My parents would get so mad at me. I wanted to go to the store with that thing on my head. Now when I thnk about it I started laughing at how horrible I use to look. I think long hair is a womans crowing beauty and men love it I would save 96% love long hair.

 

[Country gal]

I think I look better with longer hair. Men tend to go crazy when I have sported longer hair. It does make my face look less round.

 

[Jas123]

I want to disprove the myth that AA women can't have long hair..also I agree w/Honeydew as far as youthfulness..and long hair looks good on me..and D@MMIT, just plain ol' vanity, LOL

 

[gymfreak336]

I want long hair because I have never had it.

 

[shocol]

Why do I want long hair? Because I'm a woman and I want it. More than anything else, I think long hair is the closest to being a universal beauty standard for all women. And because I like real things, a lifetime of weaves, braids, falls and phony ponies is not going to cut it for me. So that means that I have to grow it.

I ain't about being brainwashed, because even before the "media" was prevelant long hair was always seen as beautiful. Check out the bible and other historical literature. White people aren't the only ones that can have long hair, so why should they be the only ones with it?

Like HoneyDew said, I see long hair as beauty and as youth also.

ITA! Just because too many of us don't know how to grow and keep long healthy hair, doesn't mean that it was not meant for us. There is always someone lined up to tell the Black woman what she can't do, can't have and can't be. It's too easy to accept that long hair isn't meant for us, than to realize that maybe we're listening to the wrong people and need a different source of knowledge. IMO, this is just as much a form of brainwashing as following the European beauty standard.

*stepping down off my soapbox now*

 

[Cichelle]

I think long hair is beautiful. I love the way it feels on my body. I feel prettier and more youthful when my hair is long and it's also much easier to care for.

 

[PinkPeony]

Honestly???? So I can flaunt it
That's not the only reason but def. one of the many reason's.
I asked this question in a similar thread awhile back... seeing that I obviously can grow my hair long if I stop abusing it why SHOULDN'T I want it?

 

[myco]

I've always had long hair, so to me that's the norm. Even when I cut it short or broke it all off, I grew it back out. I think part of me feels obligated to prove that Black women can have long hair that is growing out of their scalp. I get tired of people assuming that short hair is our "genetic lot" in life. I'm a firm believer that our hair practices have just as much, if not more impact on our collective lack of length than genetics.

 

[GoldenBreeze]

My hair has been many lengths throughout my lifetime. When I graduated from HS, I wanted my hair short to "fit right under my cap". The stupidity of youth. My mom didn't want me to cut it, and told me that "as long as I was under her roof, I could not cut my hair". A couple of nights before graduation, I tood the scissors, went outside, and cut my MBL ponytail at the neck. By graduation day, my mom had recovered, I was happy, and all was well. Since then, I've worn it from 3" to APL, but never let it get any longer.

In Oct, '05 my grandmother died, and had beautiful hair at 100 yrs old. I loved her long silver braids. At that time, I decided I would at some point allow my hair to grow back. I just wasn't certain when. In June '06, I begain to feel very strongly about allowing my hair to grow long again and leave it that way for the rest of my life. Hence my journey to regrow my hair. It's growing more slowly now than it did when I was younger, but I still get at least the average 6" per year which is surprising to me because I'm 49. So, that's my story; no Euro envy, no I don't believe it can be done, and no prove it to the world. I just want to honor my life, and the lives of the women in my family who have come before me. It's sentimental and sappy, but that's me.

 

[Silkycoils]

Part of me feels that long hair is a cushion . . . how many of ya'll have seen ppl. who've "gotten over" b/c they have long hair. I'm transitioning and debating if I should just cut it all of like I've done in the past when I went natural . . . I just don't feel like my "gear" and my body are right. But I'm sick of the obsession with long hair. I mean, I like it . . . and even if I do cut it off to go natural, I'll try and grow it as long as I can. I'm just tired of feeling so "attached" to my hair.

 

[janeemat]

I want long hair because I've never had it. The longest my has been is shoulder length. I would love to have APL (I'm 5'7") so that I can have more options with my hair as I move through my forties. I also want to break the myth that hair does not grow as long when you reach 40. And there are some people that I just want to shock!

 

[maleucia]

I want long hair so I can hide my big head under it!

Other than that, like others have said, to prove to myself and others, it's something that I CAN have. I told my mom in the fall that I was going to have hair down my back come this summer and she told me it could NEVER happen. I recently washed my hair and had her stretch out the nape hair - the same nape hair that completely fell out a year ago which caused me to go natural - to see how far I'd come. I was like "what are you doing all the way down there ma? what? that's my hair? Right between my shoulder blades??? I don't know, would that be considered down my back yet ma? It's only spring!"

 

[Andrea']

OT,

I have seen your Fotki and you are very nice looking. Nothing to worry hun

I'm going to be completely candid here:

I've never really felt...attractive, even as a child. Somehow, I got it into my head that it I had longer hair, I would be prettier.

Even though I'm growing more comfortable with myself and my looks, somewhere in the back of my mind, I still think I would look better with longer hair, at least better to people who are drawn to long hair .

I don't know, for me, it's an issue of self-esteem.

 

[DSP]

I want big hair. Not necessarily long hair. Big hair.

I remember my mother getting dressed to go out on special occasions when I was little. There'd be clouds of perfume, the click of high-heels and the swoosh of her gorgeous lion's mane of hair. It was amazing to watch her fluff out her 'fro so big it had its own gravitational pull. As she sat at the mirror applying makeup, my sister and I were the moons circling Planet Afro; eyeing each soft coil with fascination, wanting to help pat the "globe" into place. I couldn't imagine anything more womanly or grown-up than to be rid of the braids I wore to school to wear my hair out like that.

By the time I was 12 and old enough to wear my hair down every day, the current styles called for weekly hot combs, daily curling irons and gallons of spritz. My hair grew shorter and shorter as I tried to tame my big hair into sleek flips or smooth pageboys. I hated that we lived in a humid climate where my freshly pressed hair would swell and reach out instead of down. I hated my not-quite-big-anymore hair, so my mother let me perm it at age 13. After a few weeks, my shoulder length hair broke off to ear length and I was so ashamed.

It took a year until my hair reached my shoulders again, never to grow longer, always too break off from some hair experiment gone wrong or chopped off by some careless stylist. I assumed that my type of hair was just meant to be short, forgetting that through most of my childhood my hair had been around armpit length when stretched. Until LHCF, I didn't know I could reclaim my once-hated big hair. So yeah, I want big, lush, full hair.

 

[PuffyBrown]

For me the answer is why not?

Many black women grew up with long hair and lost their length because of not properly taking care of it, not having the correct products or hair care regimin.

Some black women with short hair may have the ability to grow their hair long, but society has always associated black women with short hair. A primary example of this is my sister. My sister was always treated like her hair would not grow. Her hair would grow but it grows slows and it is really dry. When she went off to college and came back home, her hair was past her shoulders. Everybody was so surprised to see.

I think that probally because most black women have experienced some type of negativity associated by our hair whatever lenght, it behooves us to see just what part of us we truly like and this life experience is just something that we can have as a part of who we are.

 

[CurleeDST]

Funny I am growing my hair back out and this white woman I work with asked why grow it out when it looks so beautiful short. It does look good short but I want longer hair.

 

[Cleve_gryl]

I have that 'why not' attitude too. I think long healthy hair looks good on all races of women. I had long natural hair as a child and lost it all when I started relaxing and doing it myself. Up until a couple years ago, I rocked a short do, and then decided I was tired of paying my hairdresser gobs of money to maintain it every couple weeks. I'm a ponytail/bun girl and I can't do that with ear length hair.

 

[CHECKMATE!]

I think long hair makes women look even more beautiful...even I have done a double take at a woman with long healthy hair...its a very attractive trait...just like nice skin and teeth

 

[PinkSkates]

I want long hair because its versatile!!! and I am very fickle when it comes to my hair. One day I want a ponytail and the next day I want nubian knobs and the next day I want long flowy curls. When I have long hair I have many options. When I have short hair all I have is short hair!

 

[br0wney3z]

For me first and foremost its about having healthy hair. However, I have never had long hair and would love to know what it feels like to have MY own hair dance across my back . And as a previous poster said, I think that black women have been conditioned to think that they can't and shouldn't aspire to want long hair b/c it would be seen as wanting to be european. But why should that be the case? Obviously the women on this board have showed that anyone, even dark-skinned black women like myself can grow hair down to our waist! All it takes is knowledge, perseverance and patience. I have acquired the first 2 but lawd, that patience thing is killing me. I want results now

 

[aurora3140]

Thank you Andrea ! I'm trying not to be so hard on myself and I'm starting to realize that long hair won't really change the way I feel about myself. That change needs to come from the inside, not from without.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

I'd rather have long, healthy hair than long, unhealthy hair.

For me, I have a round face that tends to look rounder if I gain a couple of pounds. Long hair looks better on me and contours my face nicely. I think long hair for many women accentuates their beauty. I can say this about most women other than Halle Berry. She's one of few women besides my mother who looks best with short hair.