What Rapunzel's Hair Tells Us About Her

On hair...

For my dissertation I had to work on the importance of self-grooming (touching your hair or playing with it) and the gender difference regarding it. what I did for my dissertation was to ask people to tell me one of their sad stories and one of their happy stories then I measured their self-manipulation activities (touching your face, other hand, clothes, body etc.) and their posture change during these periods. One of the interesting outcomes was that women did more self-grooming, i.e they touched their hair more and played with it more often.

Hairstyles serve as important cultural artifact, because they are simultaneously public (visible to everyone), personal (biologically linked to the body), and highly malleable to suit cultural and personal preferences (Firth 1973; Synott 1987).

If I don’t include the results of the study by Moore (2004) stating that the gender difference in self-grooming in rats is due to hormonal differences,one can say women identify themselves more closely with the hair on their heads than men do, which is, to an extent, related to the cultural definition of femininity. Also, using this important belonging, women kinda can express their resistance toward the social norms...well I guess that’s not just for women. Probably a good example is different groups of people that can even be identified to an extend with their hair style!

Ok, now u guess

1.?

Emo!

2.?

Punk

3.?

What a hipster

So, see? though that was in an exaggerated level. In a less obvious situation you can take a quick guess by seeing people’s hair styles and color...though remember a normal straight ponytail is not necessarily all you see...I used to have very short neon-pink hair, now it’s long black boring...DON’T YOU DARE SAYING I’M BORING! but what I’m saying is that you should also see how people’s hair style changes by time, many cut their hair really short after they have a bad thing or stressing thing happening to them, like a break up, or sometimes a death of a beloved one. Sometime this huge change arises from a need for attention to gain back some kind of energy or something they have lost!

I found these in this link www.divinecaroline.com/entertainment/surprising-traits-reveal-your-personality, from the book Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior – Anyplace, Anytime, (Jo-Ellan Dimitrius).

"Short Hair

If a woman has a well-maintained and carefully-cut short hairstyle, it can reveal that she is artistic and wants to express herself through her hair. Any high-maintenance hairstyle can be a sign of wealth or that a woman cares about her looks, but short hair requires frequent trips to the stylist, a sign that the woman is okay with spending money to look good. According to Dimitrius, “Spending a significant percentage of one’s income on hair—or any other aspect of personal appearance—suggests vanity, a need for acceptance, concern about others’ perceptions, and possibly insecurity.”

[me: for guys might also be agood idea to check the back of their head, like the line on the neck]

Long Hair

Long hair can have multiple meanings. Many women believe that long hair makes them more sexually appealing, but it can also show a bohemian spirit or a need for freedom. Women over forty with long hair can be trying to hold onto their youth (and sex appeal) and may be unrealistic in their perceptions of themselves.

Gray Hair

Women who go “naturally” gray are comfortable with who they are. They have their own opinions about what looks good and what they like.

Mohawks, Multi-Colored Hair, Unique Styles

Obviously this shows that the wearer bucks tradition and doesn’t care what people think of her. The wearers are usually young and adventurous, but wearing these styles into adulthood reveals a woman who has little regard for what conventional society (employers, authority figures) thinks of her."

Ok, I tried to find academic articles on a relation between hair style and personality etc. but couldn’t find anything in particular, so if you know any references let me know, also let’s remember that fashion plays a great role on determining what kind of person you are dealing with, for example if you see this in Iran according to the current fashion:

you definitely know that she values is the society’s trend, she tries to keep up with the routine of the social norms of the same age and her cultural class and probably is less open to experiencing new things (just my personal opinion).

Whereas this awesome NASA’s Mohawk guy...phewwww, isn’t it hot in here?!...a rebel, eh??

And about Rapunzel? I don't know man...she'll have a hard time trying to wear a wig...I mean, I found it so much fun to try one...she'll probably be traumatized if she goes to a wig-party.

And:

“Interviewer: 'So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?'

Frank Zappa: 'You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?”

- Frank Zappa