Long Hair Vs. Short Hair: Science Explains Which Is More Attractive To American Men

Are American men more attracted to women who have short or long hair? As it turns out, longer tends to win out. But that doesn't mean you must grab some vitamins to make your hair grow like crazy to turn heads. Though women's hair length and romantic appeal can go hand-in-hand, other factors can disrupt the status quo (and may change your mind about climbing on the long-hair bandwagon.)

Take perceived personality, for instance. As part of an experiment conducted by Western Connecticut State University, researchers asked college students to determine a woman's personality based only on her hair color and length. The findings showed an interesting trend. The subjects thought that the woman they were shown with long, blonde hair was the most attractive. However, they also thought she was "higher maintenance" than the woman they were shown, whose hair was also blonde but was cropped much shorter. And the woman they were shown with long brown hair? They presumed she was less intelligent than her short-haired brunette counterpart.

In other words, long hair might have been seen as physically eye-catching during the experiment. However, the personality traits associated with the long-haired women — being "high maintenance" and less intelligent — weren't exactly positive. Consequently, men might initially be drawn by longer hair. Still, they could be turned off by their negative assumptions about women wearing long hair.

Likewise, face shape traits and hair color can muddy the waters. During a 2019 study in Clinical Anatomy, 120 participants were asked to determine which of 30 male and 30 female faces were most attractive. The results? Women who sported blonde hair (regardless of length) and had slimmer faces won out for attractiveness.

What makes that study intriguing in the "attraction qualities of short hair versus long hair" debate is that the narrowness of a woman's face can be accentuated by her haircut. In fact, a 2020 conference from the 5th International Conference on Informational Technology Research (ICITR) noted that 70% of perceived face shape can be attributed to the subject's hairstyle. 

Therefore, it may be possible for a woman's face to appear leaner if she chooses a haircut that elongates her face, which is what longer haircuts are known to do. On the other hand, a woman who has a long, lean face may be seen as attractive (based on the 2019 study above) whether her hair is short or long.

Speaking of hairstyles, another 2015 experiment from the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology shows that even if a woman has long hair, she might not get much male attention unless she wears her hair down. During the experiment, three long-haired women walked by men. The two women with up-dos received less attention than the woman whose hair was loose.

Of course, the more pressing question might be to ask why hair length should make a difference. In a 2024 Refinery29 article, expert Dr. Helen Damon attempts to give an answer. As part of the psychologist's explanation, she notes: "If someone has long, healthy hair, this is an indicator that they may be generally healthy ... so from a primal, reproductively focused perspective, that would be 'a good thing.'"

Dr. Damon's conclusion seems to have some support based on a 2016 study found in Frontiers in Psychology. The study showed that both male and female subjects thought women with long hair (regardless of its shade) were more attractive. The researchers surmised this was due to an assumption that long hair was harder to maintain. Consequently, women with long hair might have been seen as individuals who spent quality time grooming themselves.

With that being said, another expert and beauty author quoted in the same Refinery29 article disagrees, stating that the penchant for long locks is more nurture than nature. Says Autumn Whitefield-Madrano, "[If] you show the same thing as being sexually appealing enough times, most people will begin to find it sexually appealing." 

Ironically, if Whitefield-Madrano is correct, society seems a long way from elevating super-short hairstyles. In a year-end retrospective article from 2023, Vogue showcased the five trendiest hairstyles on TikTok. Of the five, only one of the haircuts fell between chin and shoulder length.