How Your Hair Influences Your "Perceived" Personality

How Your Hair Influences Your Perceived Personality 

What is on the inside may define a person in the long run, but first impression is created by your appearance, in particular your hair, which immediately says a lot to others about your personality.

What women’s hair says about women

A woman’s hairstyle puts her in a self-selected class and offers you some real information about her. (The same is true for men: a guy’s quarter-inch-long buzzed cut might tell you that he is obscuring a receding hairline.) A woman’s hair says a lot about the woman herself.

Curly

This style points to a low-maintenance, easygoing woman who wants to roll with her natural locks. The curly haired woman who spends hours poking her head with a hot iron is one who’s obviously not pleased with her hair and who might easily find fault elsewhere. Curls happen to suit many women very well.

Side-Swept Bangs

A classy, professional look worn by motivated, career-oriented women, this style is more mature than full-fledged bangs that a teenager would wear but still makes a woman look youthful and playful. Celebrity wearers include Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Biel and Jennifer Garner. That’s good company.

Classic Blowout

The name sounds kind of menacing, but I’ve learned that the style is simply a “bouncy,” high-volume look. The ’do shows the woman’s whole face, which tells me she has a positive attitude and a nice complexion. Of course, I could just be saying that because this is my lovely girlfriend’s style, but I’m not.

French Twist

This is a formal look and a popular choice for brides. If a woman is wearing it on a regular basis, she just might be itching for a ring. Pay attention, gentlemen.

Super Long

Assuming she’s not wearing extensions, a woman with very long hair is simply afraid of change. She’s a sentimental type who wants to keep what’s been growing for however long. At the same time, long hair is also the look of choice for those glamorous centerfolds ... but there’s a difference between chest-length locks and a Ripley’s exhibit.

Pixie Cut

This style is a far cry from G.I. Jane, but it still takes a truly beautiful and confident woman to pull this style off. A gal with short hair immediately calls attention to her face, and chances are she has high cheeks and killer eyes. Mind you, a lot of men are not attracted to this style, but of course, the woman who wears it probably doesn’t care what they think.

Low-Key Updo

This looks boring, old-fashioned, plain and homebody.

Bob

This is a playful, youthful style. Dangerously close to a Lego-man look, but in the flesh it’s definitely cute and fun. This style might be the territory of women who want a short style but decided that the pixie cut is too extreme.

Pigtails

This style might be a bit too sexual for the taste of most of people and pigtail-wearers hail from the adult film industry. So that’s the kind of company pigtailed gals will keep — in the male mind at least. Take it or leave it.

Afro

Just like the curly haired woman, a gal with an Afro is proud of her natural locks and doesn’t seek to change it. It’s a strong, bold hair do, probably worn by a woman with the same qualities.

Beehive

There’s a fine line with the beehive. Worn well and moderately, like Beyonce or Eva Longoria, it can look elegant. But once the hive gets too big, it looks cartoonish and messy - the kind of structure that would have actual bees swarming aimlessly inside.

Crazily Dyed

This could go one of two ways — a free spirit, nonconformist rebel with eclectic taste or someone potentially crazy who wants attention. The free spirit doesn’t care what you think and just happens to like a certain wacky color; the attention-craver wants to be the free spirit but really is not.

Feathered

This one might remind you of Meg Ryan. It’s intentionally choppy and haphazard-looking, kind of like a woman who got up late one morning with bed-head and decided to go with it. Not to say it can’t look good, but the style got its name for a reason.


THE MESSAGE YOUR STYLE IS SENDING

Hair is so much more than just a look: It can be a reflection and reinforcement of who you are.

And sometimes your hair speaks for you, even when you don't say a thing. Have a long, curly, blonde mane? It's intensely personal, but it's also totally public of the relationship between hair and perception. And hair is malleable; we can change it so easily in ways that we can't change any other part of our body. It becomes a reflection of what that person is, and a sign of our identity.

So what message are you sending with your hairstyle?

Straight hair can mean business

Generally speaking, people with curly hair aren't taken as seriously as their straight-haired counterparts. Straight hair is often thought of as more conservative and curly hair more casual.

Beauty's in the gender of the beholder

A cropped cut can be a way to show the world how strong you are. A woman with short hair is perceived as confident — not having to hide anything.

But perceptions of people with short hair versus those with longer manes vary according to gender.

Men prefer long hair on women as they believe it's sexy. Short hair is perceived as only being attractive on a woman who is slender and/or physically fit.

Long hair can look less professional

While a short style can come across as powerful, sporting long hair in a workplace environment may have subconscious consequences.

Short hair in contemporary American culture is typically seen as less sexy, but more professional. Women are expected to be feminine, but are also are expected to fit in with men's norms in the workplace, in which, more often than not, they're working with male bosses and working with male higher-ups, so, that's always a trade-off."

In general, shorter hair is usually perceived as more professional and confident, while long hair, especially if it is a hair weave, can be perceived as more youthful and sexy to some people.

The tone of your hair can color perceptions

Several studies have revealed that blondes are viewed as actresses/sexy/full of energy but not necessarily rocket scientists. Brunettes are also considered sexy, but more serious. They are also viewed as mysterious. It is also true that redheads are often stereotyped as spontaneous, unpredictable and fiery, and blondes as sexy but less intelligent. Blondes always seem to get more attention than they deserve. When someone dyes their hair bright colors, like purple, it probably says something about their confidence and need for attention.

What your shades of grey say

Many women who choose to go or stay grey project a level of security with their appearance, but American society isn't always receptive to that look. By and large, it's still an unusual choice to let hair simply, naturally go grey. This is not a culture that supports the elderly or older women. So, you have to have a certain level of confidence to choose to go grey. Research shows that women with grey hair, even if it is grey prematurely, are perceived to be slow, not full of life, and old.

Wild streak

Those who sport non-traditional hair colors can come across as rebellious. Women with purple or green or blue hair are considered as those wanting to call attention to themselves, such as artists, actresses and YouTube sensations.

Purple and green hair styles are creative and youthful, but won't go over well in a corporate environment.

Changing attitudes could be as simple as a trip to the salon

If you want to change your identity, or you want people to see you in a particular way — whether you decide to dye your hair red, or dye it purple, or shave off half, or grow a Mohawk — it really does work. It is the quickest and cheapest way to have a big impact on your perceived personality by others.

It is signaling that you have changed; that you're different from who you were before; that you're different from those around you; or that you're the same as a particular, small group of people. It is an accepted way of proclaiming an identity.

There are no absolute rules

Identity and cultural perception aren't always one and the same: Attitudes depend on time, place, and which ethnic group has power.

There is no hair color, texture or style that has any inherent meaning. It is not true that across time, across history and across nations, that everyone thinks blonde hair is sexy and romantic. Our notions of appropriate color, type and style are always a reflection of a particular place and time and in association to learned behavior.