I've wanted to start this poll for awhile... just recently the post by miracle made me think about doing it. The pictures of her young girl hair were very cute. I also read a few times where various people said they could or couldn't have long hair as a child and that affected their decision later to have/not have long hair.

I tried to think of all the ways I heard people describe how they had their hair when young, and what parents thought about or fussed over their hair. I find it fascinating.

I had a crewcut type haircut until I was about 11, then went to the other extreme, having atleast shoulder length (midback at around 16) for the next 10 years or so. It was never an issue. Parents were cool about it, and for most of my youth had longer hair that my mom and sister.

My extreme love of ladies long hair didn't start at home! I used to wonder why they didn't have longer hair or spend time messing with their hair like other mother/daughter's I knew. (and they are the best and greatest gals btw...just totally clueless about hair!)

was kind of obnoxious about it was what I chose. Ummm...but I didn't rebel by growing it out. It stayed short for years and in my 20's I decided to grow it out.

I chose: "My mother wouldn't allow or didn't know how to take care of long hair. I hated short hair, but grew long when I could," but that' snot quite right.

My mother discouraged long hair, but didn't flat out disallow it. I tried to grow long several times while at home, but never got any help getting over the awkward parts, so I ended up deciding to get it cut every time.

I grew long because I was curious what it looked like, and was in an environment where I wouldn't be discouraged, not just because "I could".

I think the poll choices are a bit too specific, actually.

Cheers,
Jonobie

I always had my hair short and layered.

I've been through some real scary hair
styles.....that curly hair always seemed
to overpower me!
:oops:

I chose: "My mother wouldn't allow or didn't know how to take care of long hair. I hated short hair, but grew long when I could," but that' snot quite right.

My mother discouraged long hair, but didn't flat out disallow it. I tried to grow long several times while at home, but never got any help getting over the awkward parts, so I ended up deciding to get it cut every time.

I grew long because I was curious what it looked like, and was in an environment where I wouldn't be discouraged, not just because "I could".

I think the poll choices are a bit too specific, actually.

Cheers,
Jonobie


It was my aunt and grandma and they knew how to care for long hair, but for whatever reason I had short when I was young. Then in 2nd grade came the.....PIXIE CUT that did <i>not&lt;/i. look cute on me in any way, shape or form. :evil:

So I slowly grew my hair out myself and as soon as it could go in a ponytail, that's where it stayed growing out layers until one day I realized that my hair was long! Lol!

Since then, it's been short, long, permed, fried, and now long and healthy for over 2 yrs. :D

My mother had (has) serious issues, and hair is only one. I not only had it short, I often had haircuts that she designed, apparently after watching a scary movie on late night TV. :P I grew it long when I was old enough to take charge of my own hair, but hair dye+teenage girls = disaster. ;) Now I am on the path to hair redemption, LOL

I had mine short....I also had a mullet for a long time since my mother decided to use thinning shears on my hair...and kinda didn't know how to use them.....she also couldn't cut straight and I usually had bangs....so I had crooked bangs and a mullet...I looked so awful....my hair was short because my mother wanted it short.....so I didn't have an option to check...since I didn't want it short and my mom didn't want it long...:)

I chose "sometimes long, sometimes short" because, except for that pixie cut, I was the one who decided if I wanted long or short hair. Oh wait - except bangs - OMG, my dad was in charge of bangs. Wet 'em down, cut 'em short. Of course, after they dried, they were at least 1 inch shorter than before! Thanks goodness I was finally allowed to say "No more bangs!"

Koalaboop

I can't really say they didn't pay attention, though. But Mom certainly didn't fuss over my hair (after I was 7 years old or so). Before that, I got my hair rolled on rollers several times a year. Otherwise Mom always put it into braids or pony tails/dog ears.

After about 8 years old, I did my own hair, except for special occasions. Mom only made me get trims/cuts if my hair looked ratty or I wouldn't take care of it.

I had very short hair when very young. (The "butch" cut every summer.) Had the "over the ear" hair in junior high. The "feathered back" in high school. In college, it went back and forth from very short to trying to grow it.

In my early thirties, I tried growing it many times, but always ended up cutting it before it ever reached my shoulders. My wife said, "If you're going to grow it, do it now. Don't wait until you're 40." After several failed attempts, I think she thought I'd finally given up.

Then in November of 2000, I finally made up my mind to it. It's been growing ever since.

Now people ask, "Are you ever going to cut it?" I just tell them that I'm not done growing it ;)

I chose every haircut (or lack thereof) I've ever had since I was about 4 years old (and I had long hair until and after then). My parents didn't care, really, as long as I was taking care of my hair (i.e., washing it and combing it regularly! :) ).

my mum wouldnt let me cut it. this resulted in my hair going from bottom to neck over night when i finally managed to get my own way.. im sorry mum i shouldve listened. :(

I voted for "not allowed to have long hair," but it was my grandma who kept it short. My dad always wanted me to have long hair, but I lived with my grandma several times for a while and she always had me cut my hair. My dad says he almost cried the first time she had my hair cut.

I voted sometimes long, sometimes short. Both my mother and I liked it long, but I lived with my grandmother off and on, and she would have it cut w/o permission from my mother or myself.

--Cheryl

I chose 'other'. When I was little, I frankly did not care one bit about my hair. My mom had short hair, I had short hair. Of course I had friends with longer hair, but I never even noticed it. I was too busy playing and having fun like the little tom-boy that I was. I think my mom kept my hair short so that it would be easy to manage. She was the one who had to brush my hair, since I ignored it, and even with chin-length hair I probably whined and cried when she brushed (I know I did at the hairdressers)! Imagine how she would have had to struggle if my hair was longer than shoulder-length!

Also, I agree with Jonobie - I think the poll choices should have been less specific. Of course, I don't mean any offense. Just maybe something to keep in mind for the next poll you make. :D

http://link.freepichosting.com/image.cgi/22238/3.jpg

My hair was long right up until a week before kindergarden, then my mom cut it to just above shoulder length...and, wouldn't let it get longer than that until I refused to let her cut in any more in the 5th grade. I let it grow for a while, but then started cutting it myself in the 8th grade (the second picture is my graduation portrait). I started letting it grow while in college.

I voted, "It's always been long, and my Mom's hair was long"... that's the jist of it, anyways. It's funny - all the women on my maternal side have long hair, while on my paternal side, there's nothing longer than chin length.

I've never had an official hair cut in my life - only home trims (usually an inch or so) by mom. I kind of liked it as a little girl, since most girls my age liked "playing with hair" and I didn't mind being the guinea pig for practicing braids, etc.

I know that because of my hair, a few girls in my grade four class grew out their short cuts! :D

Rachel

Both long and short.

I only remember one drastically short cut as a child and that was because I had butchered it myself at 5 years old while mom was making dinner. :shock:

Mom was pretty flexible about hair. We used to go to the beauty parlor together and I always remember it being a pleasant time. We both have the same hair texture, so we dabbled in all kinds of hair experiments together. Perms, bangs, no bangs, hot rollers, lots and lots of bob haircuts when nothing else worked.

I had very long hair during 7,8,9, and from then on til college I had varying shoulder to midback lengths.

I had long hair, my sister had long hair, my mom had long hair. Didn't understand for years WHY other little girls' moms cut their hair off. Still don't for that matter, but that's another story. :?

Both parents were flexy, my mom really didn't care, my dad liked my hair long, but didn't make a fuss when I had it short, except the punk do I had in high school, he hated that and all the black clothes even more.

I was going to vote sometimes long, sometimes short, but I wouldn't say that my parents were overly flexible about my hair length. It was long for years until my mom got tired of me not taking care of it and had it cut "boy" short. It then stayed around shoulder length for a few years until about 11 or 12 years old. I actually suggested to my mom that maybe I should get my hair cut shorter again (it was about three inches past my shoulders) and she said no, because it was finally starting to look nice!
Take care,
Angela

http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL26/934613/1719136/20278058.jpg

I chose "Mom didn't allow long hair" but that's not strictly true. I sometimes wanted long hair as a kid, and if I'd asked my Mom probably would have let me, but for some reason the thought that I could pick my hair length just never crossed my mind. :D I suppose I thought of long hair as something that other, more girly-girls did when I was a kid. :)

Boy, I hated being mistaken for a boy, though.

Boy, I hated being mistaken for a boy, though.

You too, eh? I was confused quite frequently up through middle school, and even once when I was a sophomore in college! :rolleyes:

Cheers,
Jonobie

My hair was probably about shoulder lenght when I went in at 3 or 4, and my mother got it cut into a weird thing (Dutch boy or something like that) Is it bad that she wants me to get it cut into that again? In third or fourth grade my mom said I could get my ears pierced if I cut my hair into an ugly, short than my ears layered thing, which I promptly started growing out. It hit it's last long point in 8th grade, at which point I cut it to my shoulders, and then my chin. I probably should have voted long and short, but since my mother dislikes my long hair so much . . .

I had to vote other.

I have never had hair shorter than my shoulders/collar length. I had very curly hair as a child that wouldn't stay where anyone put it, let alone a hairdresser!! I had it roughly to my shoulders until I was about 7, when I think I let it grow. I had to have it up for school and the experience of having someone else have to do my hair was enough to do two things: give me a hatred of people doing things to my hair (sorry Mum, but you really did pull, no-one has a true picture of another persons discomfort. How were you to know I tend to the tenderheaded?!) and made me determined to learn to care for it myself. I had a hard time learning to put it up myself, and learning to get all the shampoo out....but I learned real well, and when 2in1's came out when I was about........9, I was laughing. My brother got head lice when I was 9, and I had to have my hair cut back to shoulder/collar length because of massive damage to my hair and scalp. I kept it at that length until I was 12 and decided to grow it out. I did this until 1999, when I had my last drastic cut from waist to b/s. I regrew that length by this time last year and I'm currently at tailbone, heading for just past classic.

The haircuts weren't always my choice, and largely I have been lucky in having decent cuts. My Dad tends to liking long hair, and if my Mum has any preference she doesn't speak it. She's a wise woman. Now long hair is my life choice, but I think both of them would freak if they really knew I was involved in an internet long hair community!!

OH - Weirdly, although I don't like having other people fiddle with my hair, I love to go get my hair washed at the salon......It is SO clean when they are finished, and I find it a really sensuous feeling...something about being massaged a bit in there I think.

The woman of Bees

I had it really long until 2nd or 3rd grade.

From 4th to 12th my hair was usally layered and some where between above shoulders to shoulder blade.
My mom was very flexible and let me wear my hair the way I wanted to.
Of course there where always the 'suggestions' from Mom.
However Grandma was the worst. I got my hair cut really short and she wouldn't talk to me :rolleyes:

Oh well, it was my hair.

I had a dorky chin length bob most of my growing up years. I was allowed to have a ponytail twice and both times was forced to have it cut back to the bob. My parents both hated long hair with a passion. Im 9th grade I was finally allowed to start caring for and styling my hair. It's never been shorter than shoulder length since then and hopefully never will be. Last summer my mom gave me a first time long hair compliment. I was out in Michigan visiting her and it was hotter than hell and I was wearing my hair in a damp bun all the time. After about 2 days of that she said I wish you would leave your hair down it's so pretty. You could have knocked me over with a feather!

My mom has had short hair most of her life. She has a dramatic widow's peak and very high forehead, which I only see in her baby and toddler pictures. She covers it at all times with a short, poufy haircut and has since at least 13 going by the pictures I've seen. Consequently, she has no idea how to take care of curly hair (she has it, but doesn't work with it), much less long curly hair.

I would usually get to shoulder length before she either flat-out made me cut or talked me into cutting. My hair was usually between a short bob and shoulder length. I didn't grow it really long until I was 18.

I've had long hair for most of my life. I think when I was a toddler/pre-schooler, I had all one length hair mid-back length, with bangs. In the second grade, I did get a Dorothy Hamil, short do, but it grew back out quickly and the rest of elementary school, I had all one length hair, no bangs.

I guess it was around 6-7th grade when I got my first layered cut, feathered hair was cool at the time. I think I did get a bi-level cut (aka mullet) around 8th grade and grew it back out to a long feathered, layered do. I'd blow dry my hair with a a round brush and use half a can of hair spray to make my feathers old and have the meeting in the back that I always thought looked really nice! :rolleyes: Me and 3/4 of the other girls in school all had matching do's throughout highschool.

Then I grew out most of the layers and went with the poof on top and long curls hanging down, sometimes with gel making them nice and crunchy and wet looking curls. :twisted:

Most of my childhood though was spent with long hair. I used to put it half up or with two barrettes or a ponytail. My mom also used to do pig tails with those braided looking ribbons. Anyone remember those? :lol:

I voted 'sometimes long, sometimes short' because although my parents let me grow my hair (my father preferred my hair long, and my mom used to have long hair till she married my father) I wanted it short when I was about 8 years old. I had it cut up to my earlobe and again when I was 11 and again when I was 13... From then on I grew (?) it to mid-back and then at 16 I had heavy layers put in.... I kept it like that for about a year, and then I had it slightly layered for 2 more years.... I'm growing it out since then, but the real growing has only started when I found this boards about 1,5 years ago...

Niph

I've pretty much always had long hair. My childhood hair dresser cussed my hair more than my mother did because it was so curly. The only time I had short hair is when a salon hair dresser messed it up and I ended up with hair a little longer than shoulder length when I was about 14 or 15 years old.

I didn't have a haircut at all until I was about 4 when I (my mother, really) had it evened up. Between 4 and 6, my mother became less and less gentle (or maybe I noticed it more? I'm not sure) and each and every time she brushed, braided, etc my hair, I'd be in tears because it hurrrrt. It wasn't easy on my mom either because she had skin problems, and little hairs would get stuck to her hands and fingers. I did want to learn how to take care of it myself, but I was just too little. So, at 6, by my own choice, I had my thick and wavy waist length hair all cut off. I remember very clearly being able to get a comb through it myself for the first time in my life when I was in first grade.

Elementary school it was short, but not entirely by choice. I saw how much attention all the other girls got with their long hair and how everyone played with their hair. So, I wanted to have long hair again, but I was not allowed to because my mother did not want to take care of it. I really hated going to the hair dresser to get it cut, and put up so much of a fight that I only went 3 or 4 times a year. Usually, it would be butchered to my collarbones; and any haircut I got always looked weird because my hair was not straight, and it never laid the way it did when I left the salon. And, after being my sister's dolly too many times, I refused to learn how to do my own hair! So, it was kept short in layers until I was old enough to really want to take care of my hair.

Interestingly enough, I loved short hair because it was so easy, and I sometimes wonder if I would have become as good an athlete as I did if I had long hair as a kid. When I was 10, after getting it cut REALLY short and being mistaken for a boy one too many times, I decided I wanted to grow it long. And, finally, my mother allowed me to grow it back, so long as I was the one taking care of it and not her.

I had a lot of conflict with my parents about hair, mostly with my mother. With 20/20 hindsight, I think it is very significant that my mother never had long hair herself. I used to think it was because she saw long hair as rebellious or something, but I now think that she just never liked long hair. Never look for a complex explanation when a simple one fits all the facts!

until the age of 12, i had a dutch boy cut. i hated it, it looked like a boy, so i have loved long hair ever since.

roseofsnow

My hair was always long growing up. I remember it being waistlength at one point, probably 2nd grade. I wanted to cut it in the 5th grade and my Mom allowed me to get it cut to BSL. Then of course I had it cut shorter until 8th grade and in high school I let it grow long again. Same thing in college, short for a while and then I grew it long. Now it stays long!

I always had long hair (waist length) when I was in school. My mother's hair was always about knee length, and she insisted that I try to grow my hair down to my feet. She never wanted me to cut it, and I think she will always want me to have long hair.

It was long a lot of the time, but sometimes when I would go and stay with my dad and his wife they would force me to have my hair cut without consulting either me or my mother first (she wasn't very happy about that):(

I would always make some weird attempt at hiding my hair whenever I was around them, or try and change the subject if it got onto hair, because I didn't want them to get the idea into their heads for me to have it cut again.

My mother never forced me to do anything I didn't want to with my hair :rockerdud

I voted other.

When I was young I always had short hair but for no specific reason. My mom had short hair, eveyone else in my family had short hair so I can say I didn't know better. I always went to the salon together with my mom, every 5-6 weeks. It was my boyfriend who sugested to grow my hair long. I did and I like it. And my mom likes it too. I would not want to go short again.

I picked "other"--I had long hair as a child (about BS-length or a tad longer, I think), but finally my mom convinced me to cut it in the 4th grade; I think her excuse was that she was tired of taking care of it. It stayed around chin or shoulder length for a long time--sometimes I'd try to grow it out but it'd get to around shoulderblade length and I'd get annoyed and cut it off again. I finally started growing it out again for good in my junior year of high school; my mom convinced me to cut it again (back to chin length) for my senior pictures; I agreed because I'd only lose a couple inches and it was at an "in-between" stage that I realized wouldn't be the most attractive thing to be preserved for posterity in my senior pics. Then I was off and growing again and haven't stopped. :)

As a child I had short hair because my mother never liked long hair and she always had short hair herself.

I always wanted to have long hair when I was younger but wasn't allowed to.

As a teenager I changed my mind and liked my hair very short. I tried all kind of wild hair styles and used tons of styling products back then. :silly:

Can you imagine that I was 24 when I seriously started to let my hair grow for the first time in my life?

Unfortunately my parents didn’t let me grow my hair when I was little and I remember that I looked exactly like a boy, all the girls ware getting attention from boys only me not …
O well, the first chance I got, I was probably about 13 I let my hair grow and I was a lot happier.

My kindergarten picture shows me with long pigtails. I can remember
screaming and crying as my mother tried to comb it. All my school
pictures after that (until highschool) show me in a pixie. :lol:

Wah, I thought I was still young :wail:

I had long hair w/ thick bangs until I was about 12, then I gradually cut it shorter and shorter to a little longer than shoulder length, and I kept it about this length for most of my life after that. I grew out my bangs in middle school. I always really liked long hair, but my best friend had very thick hair, and kind of made me feel like mine was too thin, so I kept it shorter than I would have liked. Now that we're not friends anymore, I've decided not to listen to her opinions and grow my hair out. So far, I think it looks better than when it was shoulder length.

I chose
"My mother wouldn't allow or didn't know how to take care of long hair. I hated short hair, but grew long when I could"

The longest my hair ever got when I was young was almost shoulder length. Other wise it went from short to medium length my whole child hood life.

"I kept it short for sports or some specific reason"

My mom kept it short until I was nine because she liked it that way. Since I didn't give a fig about my hair then, I didn't care what she did. When I was nine, I decided to let it grow to my waist. She was supportive and always has been. Since then, I've decided how to wear my hair.

Sometimes short, sometimes long. But never longer than shoulder length. At one time I had a pixie because I wanted to look like a boy. I've never really had hair longer than shoulder length until now.

My Mom was pretty flexible overall as I remember. I do know, though, that she got it cut when I was about five because it was so hard to get the tangles out. She has straight hair and didn't know the best way to care for curly hair. But when I was old enough to care for it myself, it was my decision. Thanks, Mom!

Julie

I voted;
I had long hair, but my mother was kind of obnoxious about it, it wasn't fun, she combed rough, made me wear styles I didn't like, I rebelled for awhile by getting short hair when I could

I had it chopped a couple of times, but somehow always ended up with it down to my bum again!
By the time I was 14, it was soo ratty that I wanted my head shaved!

My mother didn't like long hair. Her mother never cut her hair, she was born in 1879 and did not believe in cutting hair. She made all six of her girls have long hair to a certain age and then she let them decide. They all chose short hair and kept it that way the rest of their lives. I was made to keep mine shor until I was 13 years old. I let it grow to my waist, but my mother nagged me about it and at 24 I cut it in a Jaclyn Smith style and keep it there until I was 35. I started letting it grow again, but I never let it get past midback because of peer preasure. At about 45 I said to heck with that. I am going to let it grow. I got a lot of flack at first when it reached waist length. Now things are said behind my back instead of to my face, but I don't care. It is almost tailbone length now.

I think a lot about my gradmother and the things she believed and I wonder what happened to her daughters. They didn't just throw the hair away, they threw everything away. She taught them delicate handwork, quilting, herbal remmedies, gardening, and animal care. I learned these things with the help of my grandfather's sisters (great aunts). My mom and aunts thought I was insane for wanting to know, well not so much my mom. My mom wasn't as bad as her sisters. She did garden and care for animals, but that was about all. I can tat, crochet, knit, smock, sew, embroidery (heirloom quality) and make my own patterns from a sketch. I treasure this knowledge and hope to pass it on to my daughter and who ever wants to know.

Meg

My hair varied, from mid back to pixie to mid back to shoulder....and all that before I was a teenager. :lol: My mother was good at french braids, and I enjoyed wearing those. When I was 16 I got my hair cut short, then I started growing it around age 20, though I kept it around waist length. LHC has rubbed off on me--I'm now going for classic! :wink:

My parents were pretty flexible. The longest though that I had it was probably 2 or 3 inches past my shoulders.

My hair was quite long (almost waist length) up until 2nd grade. It's at this point that I got tired of my mother tugging on it and asked her if I could have it cut off. She agreed. It was then CHOPPED into some sort of boyish, overly layerd, short shag! :scared:. I remember being petrified to go to school the next day. I wore it that way until the 7th grade (what a terrible haircut for any adolescent to have to grow out) when I finally managed to get it back down to my shoulders.

It hovered around my shoulder up until the summer going into 11th grade... when I decided that enough was enough (and too much Sun-In helped) and hacked it off into a chin length bob. By the time I graduated HS, it was BSL, one-length and some of the BEST hair that I have ever had! I am almost back to that length again (geesh, 10 years later) and this time, it's a keeper!!!