You may ask, "So what is this thing about long hair?"
Since I can remember, I have always loved long hair, so my story is rather typical for a lot of long-haired women. Fairy tales are full of leading ladies with luxurious long locks that decorate their strong characters. Many little girls hope to include this fantasy image when they grow up. Childhood frequently is about imagination run wild, unfettered by the reality of adult life, which so often includes practicality, responsibility and self-sacrifice. In today's modern world, women run households, hold jobs and careers, and take care of children and spouses, in addition to maintaining hobbies. Short hair is considered the no-nonsense norm for women in the western world, a part of the necessary routine of being a responsible adult, or so says popular culture. Long hair is for children and perhaps teenagers only.
I say FIE on that! I have been consciously growing my hair for over 20 years, since about mid-February 1988. With the passing years, and I have become increasingly aware of the expectation that if you are becoming an "older" woman, however that word is defined - is it 25? 30? 35? 40? - you should cut your hair short. It is not just an expectation, either, but it is a demand according to popular culture's dictates. Those who refuse to cut can be marginalized by the majority who do, whose attitudes can be curt and defensive. Exactly how a hair style worn by one woman should affect another woman is quite a mystery, but some women are very acutely affected by how even strangers wear their hair, even to the point of anger or envy that often begets resentment and belittlement of the woman whose only crime is to have long hair.
The situation is amplified for long-haired men, who face gender-based stereotypes in addition to those that women face. It has been only about 150 years since short hair started becoming de rigueur for men, arguably less than that timespan, since urban communities became heavily industrial. Previous to then, long hair was more of the norm, maybe not to the degree women have worn their hair long, but it was not uncommon for men's hair to drift below their collars or into ponytails. How quickly western society grew to chastise and fear what is so natural on men, what in reality has no gender and which grows on both women and men per basic genetics.
My hair is long enough to brush the floor and could grow longer if I did not have it trimmed back up to the floor. In some of the pages at Lady Godiva's Parlor, I hope to bring understanding and education for those seeking to grow their hair long or simply appreciate the long hair around them.Hair Type Classification System
This classification system has become the standard for typing hair, long or short.
Letting your hair be what it's meant to be.
This is my own story, and it has a secret twist.