Love-Hate Relationship with Hair

Girl who's happy with her long hair
Photo: Depositphotos
Q: Why do so many girls have a love-hate relationship with their hair? My girlfriend is complaining all the time about how much of a burden long hair is. A few moments later she talks about how much she loves wearing her hair long.
 
A: I’ll do my best to explain this to you, but guys usually just don’t get it, because it’s a female thing and it’s complicated. Sometimes we struggle to understand it ourselves, which is seriously annoying. Anyway, have you ever heard of the saying “Beauty is pain”? Well, this issue falls in that same category.
 
To look beautiful every day is annoying, it takes A LOT of time, money and resources. But when you walk into a room and people sit up and notice you, it makes the hours of primping and hundreds of dollars worth of beauty products worth it. Because the woman is traditionally supposed to be the more attractive, sexy gender.
 
Health, beauty and fashion houses play this up as much as they can, because the more they play this concept up, the more money they make from the masses. Thus, to look like the “picture of perfection” that the beauty and fashion realm has created, you have to be able to tick a few boxes:
 
1. Long, luxurious hair that’s either silkily straight or perfectly curled like a Victoria Secret model’s hair. Long healthy hair is expensive and high-maintenance to uphold, thus the more women with really long hair, the more money the beauty industry makes.
 
2. Be thin while having toned muscle mass that still looks feminine, with a youthful body and posture. This means that the health food, diet pill, cosmetic surgery, beauty salons, gyms and personal trainers get their cut of the deal too.
 
3. Flawless skin and make-up. The beauty and skin salons are happy as long as you keep coming back to them as well.
 
4. Fashionable yet sophisticated clothes, jewelry and shoes, with designer labels of course. This keeps a smile on the faces of overpriced designers, fashion houses and the whole fashion and modelling industry.
 
The list goes on, but I won’t bore you further. Looking like this is expensive, a hassle, takes a lot of time and energy, etc. But we just love it when we feel good about ourselves, especially when we get extra attention and envious glances from those around us.
 
So your girlfriend complains about her hair when she feels exhausted, irritated or frustrated with it when it takes too long to style, or when she has to dig deep to have it colored and maintained. She hates it when the ends knot excessively, or when she has to use a great deal of her money to buy the right shampoo, conditioner or treatment.
 
But then she sees herself in the mirror, or someone enviously gives her a compliment on her hair, or she just gets that awesome feeling when the wind blows and the tips of her hair tickles her back, and then she’s in love with her hair all over again.
 
Women have a natural fascination with long hair. This fascination has been accelerated to an unhealthy or unnatural level by the brainwashing done by Hollywood and the beauty industry. Luckily we outgrow the worst of that kind of fascination when we get older.
 
©Hairfinder.com
 
See also:
 
Hair and first impressions
 
Why is hair such an emotional thing?
Shop