Short hair

This article is about the hairstyle. For the AOA EP, see Short Hair (EP).

Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas, both with short haircuts

Short hair refers to any haircut with little length. It may vary from above the ears to below the chin. If a man's hair reaches the chin, it may not be considered short. For a woman, however, short varies from close-cropped to just above the shoulders. Different styles of short hair include the bob cut, the crop, and the pixie cut.

Maintenance

Short hair is easier to care for than long hair. For this reason, many women cut their hair short to avoid consuming time.

Women

Short hair for women became fashionable in the 1920s. Styles for short hair included the bob cut (a blunt cut to the chin or neck and cut evenly all around), the shingle bob (a haircut that was tapered short in the back), and cropped hair (cut short in the back and longer bangs in the front). Women wore longer styles in the 1930s and 1940s, but short hair made a comeback when Audrey Hepburn sported a pixie cut (a very short wispy haircut) in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. Short hair was fairly popular throughout the 60s, but the 70s and 80s favored different hairstyles. It became popular again in the 1990s and remains so to this day.

Short hair is traditionally considered "less feminine" than long hair, although it is often preferred by older women for a more "serious" and "business-like" appearance.

Men

For men in Europe or European-settled areas, having short hair is now generally the norm, despite long hair or wigs having been fashionable at various times in the past (including ancient Sparta, the 18th century, and the 1970s).

In East Asia, such a style is a relatively recent development. Cultures within the Sinosphere generally preserved an ancient tradition of growing out one's hair without trimming, although it was typically worn tied up. The Qing dynasty required this to be cut into a queue upon penalty of death, but it was not until the advent of the Republic and People's Republic of China that what is normally thought of as "short hair" became popular for men.