Browse Review

You’ve got that killer outfit, those perfect shoes, and just the right amount of make-up. As you’re brushing your hair, you notice strands of hair in the comb. Your hair. Poof! You’re down in the dumps. Indeed, nothing kills self-esteem the way hair trouble can. While this may sound like a petty problem, studies have linked hair and self-image to confidence and performance. Women who feel good about themselves and their hair can be attentive, focused and present in the here and now (Tolle 2001, 2002, 2003). Women who feel unhappy with their hair, suffer. Through internalized social comparisons and real experiences of criticism from peers, partners or parents, they feel small and inadequate, unhealthy and unwholesome.

There’s more to the whole hair than self-confidence and self-image though. Let’s look at some interesting connotations related to hair:

Hairstyles and image

* Hairstyles are a medium of expression. Teenagers may adopt hairstyles that provoke shock, puzzlement, or even disgust as a means of indicating rebellion.

* New hairstyles indicate change (McAlexander and Schouten, 1989) while familiar hairstyles symbolise personal continuity.

* Women of mousy-coloured hair often choose to dye it blonde to signify sexiness, fun and availability.

* Blondes are considered more glamorous than brunettes and redheads (Heckert, Heckert, and Heckert, 2003)

* When making recruitment decisions for professional positions, it is often brunettes that are preferred and awarded higher salaries over women of other hair colours because they are seen as more capable (Kylie and Mahler, 1996)

Hair as a symbol of sexuality

* In many cultures, hair length and quality are indicators of reproductive ability, and thus younger women are concerned with displaying good hair, wearing longer hair than older women.

* Nuns cut their hair short and cover their heads as a symbol of renunciation of sexuality.

* In India, women make a pilgrimage to Tirupathi in South India, where they then shave their heads as a symbol of gratitude for favours received from God, thus signifying willingness for a time to become asexual persons.

Hair and Opposites (Synnot)

* Opposite sexes tend to have opposite hair (men have short hair, while women have longer)

* Head hair and body hair are opposites (Women keep longer hair, but depilate body hair; men keep shorter hair, but bodily hair is a symbol of masculinity)

* Opposite ideologies have opposite hair (Professional hairstyles are medium length and neat, alternative hairstyles are either very short (i.e. Skinheads) or very long (i.e. Hippies) or variously coloured (i.e. Punk)

Hair Politics

* In the late 19th and 20th century women were required to have long uncut hair, which could be moulded into elaborate shapes as a symbol of the family’s wealth and status.

* Beginning in the 1850′s feminists called on women to dress with freedom and have simpler hair.

* In China and Japan, bobbed hair was seen as a symbol of female promiscuity and a sign of defiance of the domestic ideal, and was banned. The state took control over women’s hair, and short-haired women were publicly executed or heavily penalised (Sun, 1997)

Condensed and adapted from “Living in the hair and now” -Dr Nimmi Hutnik.