Think about all of the advertisements thrown at women on a daily basis: get younger looking skin, brighten your smile in seconds, gorgeous curls in minutes. In a culture that focuses so much on appearance, it can be hard to stay positive and true to the natural beauty all women possess – especially since women are given the impression that beauty and looks are important from an early age.
From the bows and ribbons in our hair as kids to pigtails and braids to trying out your first perm and makeup kit, good looks don’t come natural or easy to any woman. Luckily, there is one aspect that women can have control over and it can make the biggest difference in how women are perceived and how they feel about themselves: hair.
Hair is massively important. From color and shine to length and thickness, a bad hair day can mean a bad day all together. Viren Swami, a psychologist at the University of Westminster in London and YouBeauty Attraction Expert, believes that because hair is malleable, it can give women a sense of control over their bodies, and in fact it really is the one thing that we as women can make our own.
The great thing about hair is that changes are a personal choice. Don’t like your blond curls? Use a hair straightener and highlights to make a subtle change. Tired of frizzy red-hair? A Brazilian blowout and darker hair shade can make a dramatic difference in the way you look and feel. Brunettes needing a lift? Volumizers and low lights will add depths. Hair is a great way to express how you feel about yourself.
Even though our society has always dictated that women must look a certain way; Muslim tradition calls for the concealing of women’s hair in public, unmarried Chinese women wear their hair long and braided, smoothed down ringlets in the Victorian age, eventually women (and men) came to see that hair could be a reflection on themselves or against society (think short bobbed waves of women in the “Roaring Twenties”). Our hair has always represented something; an allegiance to tradition, a break from tradition, a way to model yourself after an idol, a way to set a trend.
In the past, our hair may have told our place in society, but as the times and women’s roles changed, it became more acceptable to choose a hairstyle all their own. Psychology tells us we want what we can’t have, but maybe we can have it, through our hair.
