Totally baffling

Dave is correct - most stylists are short-hair biased because shorter hairstyles provide for them (1) a better guarantee for return customers; and (2) an easier job to perform.  There are many stylists that see working and shaping longer styles simply as too much work.  (Stylist Nick on that TV show 'What Not to Wear' is exactly like this.  He can be quite excellent at shaping and improving longer hair, but he ALWAYS prefers to cut the hair instead.)

And shorter hair styles means less time in the styling chair for you and more turnaround time for customers for the hair stylist, which means more $$$.

The majority of guys I have known in my entire life prefer longer hair on women.  Anna Kournukova for example, would not have ever become an international beauty sensation had she worn her hair really short.  Healthy long hair definitely has an exotic appeal. 

I honestly do not know where this idea that a woman with long hair has self-esteem issues came from.  Besides, I would say the majority of fashion models and actresses these days all have longer hair.

And I do not think that short hair should be considered the "norm".  My impression is that I see women (and girls) with all kinds of variety in hair length.  And this is a good thing.   Freedom of choice is always better than having only one alternative.   If you look at a period

Based on what I've seen, the usual hair length for American women is anywhere between shoulder-length and mid-back, which is far from short.  A lot of women keep their hair long because they think that's what men are attracted to.

It seems Anne6000 brings up the same question frequently asked in these forums.  What do men really like about women and their hair?  I would say that men can be divided into three groups.  Long hair lovers, short hair lovers and "I don't care as long as they are gorgeous" lovers.  As far as beauty and sex appeal are concerned, I could care less.  I don't pay attention to polls or University studies because they are flawed from conception.  Most polls are biased and select their audience and participants based upon the desired result.  Further, men will cover their true feelings if their identity is known as they fear being labeled.  We are conditioned from early youth that long hair, large breast, hourglass figure is the only acceptable form of sexual attractiveness.  I honestly say that I see women with short hair or ultrashort hair as more confident and independent.  This does not mean that this is true for all women, just a general observation.  This attitude appeals to me due to the person I am. 

The University study referred to earlier is flawed in multiple ways as I am sure Dave researched and knows.  Selecting 50 men from a controlled group is not scientific.  Having only 6 choices of hair style is also not scientific.  This study only supports my argument to ignore polls.  Not all women are attractive with short hair.  I think we all can agree on this.  Courtney Thorne-Smith is a perfect example of someone whom should never again sport short hair.  Is it conceivable that the directors of the FSU-Panama City study wanted an outcome that "proved" men prefer long dark hair?  Maybe.  One way of doing this is to have pictures of a very unbecoming lady sporting various hairstyles and then having attractive women with long hairstyles, while asking men for their preference.  I spent 3 years studying Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology before leaving college behind to focus on music.  I know a thing or two about polls.  Enough on that subject.

And yes Dave, I disagree with all polls.  See above for rationale.

Now to use a little anthropology education.  During the course of human evolution, perceptions as to attractive, healthiness and fertility have changed with culture.  That's right...CULTURE.  Some cultures over time held that overweight women and men were more attractive, as this meant they could afford food.  Other cultures including Europe in the Middle Ages held that only the fairest of skin was a sign of health.  In the South Pacific, women with facial tatoos are considered a thing of beauty.  Ancient Egypt felt men and women with no hair at all were the most attractive.  It is a cultural evolution that brings us today to believe women with long hair, an hourglass figure and a healthy tan are the most beautiful.  Please check out beauty pagents.  Virtually all women have long locks and all have that "Barbie Doll" figure. 

As for confidence, it is my opinion, that women with short hair are bold and confident.  This is a general statement and my general belief.  It is shared by the marketing companies of big business.  Witness, TV commercial for Ban Rollon, woman getting hair cut shorter and shorter while verbally saying, "nervous is getting your hair cut...and cut...and cut..".  If this is not a bold move, why be nervous?  Act II, Ford commercial with lady shaving her head.  The tagline Ford uses(or their marketing agent).  BOLD.  Can all these marketing giants be wrong?  Possibly, if they used polls to make these judgements. 

To Anne6000,  I think we have different understandings of short or long hair.  If long is defined as mid-back or longer and short is everything else, I concur with you that society currently prefers short hair.  Personally, I consider hair past the shoulders as long, hair close to shoulder length as medium and hair off the shoulder as short.  Using my definition, and your suggestion, I conducted a study(not scientific albeit) over the last week.  I visited two grocery stores, two malls, one strip club, three Hooters restaurants and one baseball game with my son.  I strived to estimate the ages of those counted to only include women between 20-50, as you stated most teenage girls prefer long hair.  This study covered one small town, Charleston, SC and Jacksonville, FL.  Conclusions with my definitions:

[QUOTE=Merlin101]Is it conceivable that the directors of the FSU-Panama City study wanted an outcome that "proved" men prefer long dark hair?[/quote]

Because she doesn't sound very confident of what she's doing.  Maybe she's nervous because she feels pressured into the decision, like I have felt.  If I wanted my hair cut short, then I'd sit there and be confident and happy about the hair falling, not nervous!   I don't watch tv, so I'm not familiar with the ad, but it sounds like yet another ploy to suggest that women cut their hair short.    It sounds worse than I thought it was.

Me, too.  On that, we agree!

It sounds like your personal preference is a tough little dominatrix biker babe.  Variety is what makes the world go round. 

Edit, an earlier edited post appeared here as a new post,  I have no idea how I did that.

Dear me, this is geting intersting now.