Social Experiment Reportings

Having cut my hair, I was prepared for the physical changes (hair completely drying in 45 minutes instead of 5 hours, no need for using and losing ponytail ties, headbands, and bobby pins, using less shampoo and conditioner, and exposing my neck) but I wasn't prepared for the psychological changes (how men and women respond differently to drastically short hair, how long hair can define "feminine beauty," and the amount (or lack of) of masculine attention.)


So I decided to do a social experiment: using the most shallow online dating medium to find out if men are more attracted to women with short or long hair.


The medium of choice of course was Tinder, because for an app that was an upgraded version of Hot or Not, where users literally swipe left if they like your pictures and swipe right if they don't. If there is mutually photographic attraction then a line of communication is open within the app and the next steps depends on the users. Men tend to view it as a hookup site (can you really blame them?) and women may view it as more.


So I scoured for pictures of my new super short do by begging co-workers and friends to take pictures of me because I refuse to do selfies, started up the Tinder account again, and let the experiment run for 3 weeks.


Based on an N of 1, as a 30 year old Asian American woman I received way way WAY more "matches" on Tinder with my long hair profile which was active in winter of 2014 for about 3 weeks. With the short hair profile for 3 weeks in early summer of 2014, I got 20-30 percent of "matches" compared with long hair profile!!!! It was astounding considering:
- The blurb about me was pretty much the same and stated that I'm based in a certain city and am not interested in smokers, drug users, and random hookups.
- My criteria for saying yes hasn't become more stringent.


Upon being matched, I do not take initiative to start communication (at least not initially) and the number of people who reached out to long hair me was at least 5 times more than those who reached out to short hair me but keep in mind I was "matched" with fewer people in the first place. When engaging in conversation to ask about hair length preference, most males acknowledge that they like longer hair on me and on women in general. Even with 3 short hair photos and 1 long hair photo the men still asked me if I have long or short hair (if I have long hair then why would my profile mainly feature me with short hair!?).


Now one may hypothesize that men who say yes and initiate conversation with women with short hair may be more discerning and truly "like" me for who I am but I received similar ratios of sexual propositions and digital booty calls.


Is this earth-shattering ground-breaking "research'? No, absolutely not but there is a difference between knowing that men prefer women (socially because of all the years of Pantene brainwashing and long hair expectations, biologically because long hair can signify reproductive years since hair thins with age and most older women have short hair) with long hair and understanding it because it can be disconcerting to have people choosing to associate (or not) with you or other presumptions based on hair! To be viewed so differently because of a cut has really taught me that appearances matter very much and sends a signal to other. On one hand I feel almost naked without my hair to bolster me as a woman but on the other hand it is totally freeing to be outside that box.


So what does my haircut say about me? That I can be unconventional and unbound by standards of "feminine beauty", perhaps "brave" for chopping it all off (as commented by several females), or I am just very lazy and want my wet hair to dry lot faster!


Disclaimer: Long hair profile may also be influenced by testing time period where people may be more Tinder happy during colder less active times of winter vs. the nicer more active times of early summer.

A Social Experiment

Pst, I'm going to do a social experiment. One where I revisit the world of online dating but with shorn hair and record the receptivity.

All in the name of science and data gathering!

We Are Not Our Hair…or are we?

“How was your Memorial Day weekend?” a friend asked me over text. 

“Good, went to visit the family in Brooklyn, got a haircut, and BBqed.” 

Later:

“I just saw your facebook picture. You cut your hair that short?”

“Yes, I told you earlier I got a haircut.”

“You didn’t say it was that short!”

I went from having long coarse thick mostly black but about 20% white hair that was several inches past my back bra strap to a boy short haircut that was about an inch around and about 1.5 inches at its longest. It was drastic and when asked why I did it, I joked: “I need a change. I can change my job, move to a different city, or get a boyfriend. This is by far the easiest change.” 

My hair suddenly felt a pound lighter, I had phantom hair syndrome (similar to phantom limb syndrome, but where I felt I need to take down my pony tail before going to bed), I suddenly was way over using shampoo and conditioner, but was discovering how much upkeep short hair really was (Really? A trim every 4-6 weeks? There goes all the savings from the shampoo!) My hair follicles, used to years of being weighed down was suddenly liberated and didn’t know where to go, so they went willy-nilly everywhere: poking out of my head, making me at least 1.5 inches taller but made me worried about being a poofy-head but at the end opted out of using hair products since I didn’t want to wash my hair every day! On the flip side I also did a good thing by donating to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths program, similar to Locks of Love but for women with cancer.

I was prepared for all the change to my lifestyle but I wasn’t prepared for the reception. Friends, family, and co-workers all had different reaction, if not treating me differently. It made me realized how much I was partially (if not more) defined by my long black locks. Long hair has always been a defining hallmark of feminine beauty. From Barbie to all the fairy tale princesses to even most modern day women: they all have long hair that is shiny, inviting, feminine, mysterious, and luscious. It was a relatively phenomenon that promoted the short bob, along with flapper dresses and women’s liberation. Relative because hey Eve had long hair.

Going from mid back to top of neck length was an unexpected experience in de-feminizing. Females would come up to me and gush about how nice it looks, how it suited my face (which was surprising given the Asian lack of cheekbones and relatively smaller eyes), and how “brave” I was. “Brave?” I asked myself, “I didn’t fight in a war, defend justice, or defeated imminent danger. How is this brave?”

Males on the other hand didn’t know how to respond. They were similarly stunned like the females but lacked words. I don’t expect to have men normally comment on women’s hair but when one hacks off a good foot of hair one expects at least a “Oh you cut your hair” comment. Some men quickly recovered and say how it looks good on me; those are usually the ones with good female influence. Others just make a comment and gives off a vibe of “I don’t think it looks good but I don’t know what to say.” Others just sit there and pretend I didn’t lose a pound of hair. 

The funniest story was from work. I had a meeting with 3 older gentlemen. The Latin American and American (this sounds like a beginning of a bad joke but I promise it’s not!) were already there but the Israeli was running late. The LA and A men just took a look at me made no comment and proceeded with the meeting. When the Israeli finally arrived, he shouted “Oh my god! PJ, you cut your hair!” in this loud booming voice. “Don’t take this the wrong way but it looks great!” and proceeds to share that his wife has short hair too. Sometimes people surprise you.

All in all having short hair made me questioned not only how poofy or big head I have but also my femininity. I become more conscientious of wearing clothes that are more feminine and become starkly aware of how androgynous I look when I wear my normal t-shirt and shorts. My mom’s comment is that I look “asexual.”  When I go out, I notice less masculine attention was given. A friend of a friend also noted similar experience with short hair and was thinking about cutting her hair short again to escape such attention, while enjoying the convenience. 

So we are not defined by our hair (although a bad hair day does not help!) but it has been fun confounding people while they try to make heads or tails of the drastic chop.