User Post: Does your hair really matter? I believe it does.

Hair does matter-it is an extension of our God given natural beauty

HAIR IS JUST DEAD CELLS THAT WILL GROW BACK! IT DOES NOT MATTER!

and i personally find that the shorter the hair on women, the more attractive i find them.

There aren't very many people I know who have strawberry blonde hair like I do.

I'm pretty proud of it. I've never dyed it or used chemicals on it other than shampoo and conditioner. I'm thinking about donating some of my hair to charity once it gets long enough. : )

Certainly this is the wrong audience to post such a comment, but I can't resist. Can it be that part of what is wrong with our society is this obsession with looks, image, designer nonsense etc. Does anyone seriously believe that HAIR is more important to an individuals development and success in this life than sensibility, intellect, compassion, open-heartedness, diligence, willingness (or not) to be of service to one's fellow man? How about some perspective here.

my natural hair color is red, thick, and curly. But the past few years, I've colored it black and dark brown, thinned, and straightened it, just because I felt more comfortable.
The past few years though, I've started to really feel good about how thick my hair is, and love the bushy bangs I get (I still smooth it out). It just looks unique.

Well as a manager/hairdresser I have to say to some people hair is important. I can spend 15 minutes just to trim the dead end off their hair and completly make their day!! I think personally hair is a big deal, and a huge part of being female. Even the simple task of having your hair shampooed and blown dry at a salon can totally relax you and make you feel like a million bucks!!

My hair can be curly or other times frizzy if I let it do what it wants. I have had it short, long, red, black, and inbetween. I have permed it, relaxed it, and whatever else I thought of doing at the time. My hair is mine to do with what I wish. It is just hair, it grows out. I enjoy my hair. I don't have to prove I am Latina by letting it frizz and curl when I don't want it that way. When I go on a job interview, I tend to wear it tied back, because it appears neater and more professional. When I go out dancing, I let it curl. But, no one, no one tells me what to do with my hair. It is there for me to enjoy, and enjoy it I will!!!!

Everyone i ask to straighten my hair says "you have naturaly straight hair, silly," but thats because i have to sit and comb it until it dries. if try towel drying it it just frizzes up and if i go to bed with it wet its in crazy curls when i wake up and sometimes its just bent straight up in the middle. but when i manage to get my hair flat its nice and smooth and its an inch or so above my shoulders when i stand straight. i just put olive oil in my hair a couple hours before i wash it and i dont wash it every day. id say my hair is just wavyish though. no curls and not completely straight. ive never dyed my hair and i dont plan on doing so, i love my natural hair even though it may be a little hard to manage and i dont like it sometimes. my mother's coarse brown curls must miss the 80's... she dyes it red-brown now though. and my friend ayona is black she doesnt like her hair but i tell her it looks cute and i love how it makes a puff in the back, shes always got a ponytail. i love black peoples hair though, even if its not as nice to feel, and they're best at pulling off their type of hair... well duh.. dreads or cornrows or just the super curly thick hair on white people.. ehh. some girls ive met look good with all the little braids though. but guys just look dreadful.

Hair is a very prominent thing; it's all part and parcel with appearance, which is 99% of an outsider's perspective of oneself. It is sadly true that straight hair is considered the professional, "hip" thing to have, because it's unfair and quite fatal for the heads of those with less than razor-straight hair. Since I was a little girl, I've always hated my hair because it perpetually scrunches up into these frizzy little ringlets that go wherever they damn well please. For years I dried, dyed, and fried it, always trying to keep one step ahead of my hair before it tried to so much as form a wave. I was deathly afraid of humidity and rain because my hair would frizz and curl (even WITH product in it). Then, one day, my hair just gave up and fried straight out of my skull, just shy of the roots and I realized that it's not worth the hassle! I still dye my hair (every 8 weeks), but I do nothing more than wash it and let it dry in a braid (makes it more manageable). I've actually found that I get more compliments on my wild, curly hair than I did when it was straight and discovered that the key to "socially unacceptable hair" is confidence. I know that I look cute with my brush-eating head of kinky-curly hair and that confidence makes me look good. So, hold your head high and KNOW that you look good, even if society stays otherwise.

Yes, hair does matter to me. Being Latina, everyone has to me oh you have such good hair, however, I wake up very morning like so many others out there and literally have to blow dry and flat iron my hair in order to make it look normal or what people want to think is normal. I have straight, dyed, cut and done everything you could imagine to me hair. At one point I was so feed up with it that i started to wear wigs just so I didn't have to comb my hair. I know that really bad. It also as bad what i am doing to my hair now.. However, I love my hair and really don't care what people think of it. I don't care if take me forever to comb it i going to keep healthy and clean.

I have the wonderful undecided hair. There's days when it curls like Shirley Temple, and then it will have a nice wave to it. I rarely flat iron my hair now that I've seen the damage it can do with long term heat use. I do dye it, which probably does change the texture, but it still feels nice and soft most of the time. Unfortunately when I was younger, I hated my unmanagable hair, it was always to frizzy, still is on the hot days. I brushed it straight every day, and in my high school years dyed it way to much. After high school I learned the damage you could say that was done to my hair. Now at the age of 24, I dye my hair every 2-3 months, rarely use heat on it, I usually let it air dry, but do use a towel to get most of the excess moisture off. I do love how I can wear it in various styles, curly, wavy or sometimes straight. I've been trying to grow out my hair now since I've had it short since my senior year, and wondering how it will turn out as it gets longer. I just had my 1st baby this year in may, and I can't get over what the extra hormones can do to help your hair! I'm just hoping my lil girl gets my red coloring in her hair and the curls to go with it! Btw, I'm in a different category for red heads, not "red" colored but any color it gets dyed, from blonde, brown or black, it ALWAYS turned a red hue. So now I am very happy with my light strawberry "brunette" color lol

To me my hair is just that hair. I have gone through many different styles and colors. When I was 20 I cut it all off and decided never to relax it again and have promised myself that I will not do that to my daughter as well. I had dreads for awhile but that was even to much work. I just don't see the point in all the fuss over hair. So for the past few years I have kept it very very short, I go to a barber who cuts it down to a buzz cut and I got o him every few months and that's it. I get constant compliments on it and many women stop and ask me how I have the guts to just cut it all off, but to me it's just hair it grows back.

I'm american indian and I do believe hair matters. Be proud of your hair ladies. I don't do to much with my own hair. It's very black and long and I just braid it all the time. But I do love braids. I love them especially on a man. I want to feel the texture of the braids. Hmm "Very Sexy" I also love a nice weave on a women. Nice.

All of the 'dumb blonde jokes' were near exact recycling of the old 'Dumb Polock Jokes' making fun of the 'Polish' (those from Poland, of whom many are light-haired people), since it was no longer politically correct to target those from Poland outright.

The 'Dumb Blonded Jokes' were without a doubt in part to ease the tension because of jealousy over the naturally silky soft blonde hair some people have as well. There didn't use to exist chemical dyes strong enough to make very coarse dark hair blonde, without the hair falling all out as a result. Now there are bleaches & gentler dyes for all hair types, so almost anyone can try a turn at trying out the lighter colors, though wigs or weaves must often be used to try steal the smooth textures.

All different hair colors & types can be beautiful though, & staying within a few shades of your natural color, usually looks better with your skin & features.

Sad but true, hair is very important especially in the African American community. It may go back to the days of slavery and years after when the people with "good hair" were seen as closer to being white, ie beautiful than those with "nappy" hair.

My mother kept my hair natural until I was 13 years old. I was teased a lot for wearing afro puffs and would do anything to have straight, smooth hair. At 25, I would do anything to go back to having my natural hair back. I understand now that my hair doesn't define me but it may be what others use to define me. I keep my hair very short now because it's easier to manage and am still asked when I'm going to let my hair grow.

I'd like to applaud you (the writer) for not going the route of a previously written article concerning hair. It think it is important to open a conversation with the women that read the articles on Shine instead of posting an un-informed opinion. As a Black woman that was offended by the previously written article, I'd like to thank you.

I'm mixed with Egyptian, Cherokee Indian, Black, White, Irish. The Cherokee has always given me trouble because I always wanted curly hair and because of the Cherokee I've never been able to keep a perm in my hair. My hair is black and is down to my waist and me at 5'9 it's a good length. I've tried for 10 years to get my hair this long. I've tried the braids I do enjoy them. Low maintenance. I've never blow dried my hair or towel dried it for that matter. I let it dry natural. I use Loreal Vive Pro Shampoo and Conditioner although I'm getting ready to change to something else. My hair is shiny and has natural blue in it.

I am black , but also part Indian, have long dark brown hair, which I still have in my fifties. People used to ask me when I was going to "cut" it or if I had a relaxer in it, which I don't have (it's navy naturally wavy). Is there are an unwritten rule that if you are black you should not have long hair. I would think as long as it is neat, and styled up-to date, what's the problem?

I recently went in for a trim and my hair was butchered waaay shorter than I wanted it. It still might not be ugly or look bad but I don't feel like myself anymore. The question of 'does your hair define you?'...I would have to say yes, definitely. I'm still coping with the loss and am pretty upset. I feel like I can't do anything with this style and it sucks because I loved my previous hairstyle so much. Sorry for the pity party, this just happened on Wednesday and this post seemed like the perfect place to vent :)

I have been on several sides of the spectrum. I was natural for a bit then my mom decided to put a relaxer in my curly, soft, jet black hair. I kept it relaxed up until my 2nd year of college. While in college I didn't have my mother around to do my relaxer and I didn't trust anyone with my hair, therefore I went without. I began to flatiron my hair and realized that noone could tell the diffence when my hair was flat-ironed from when it was relaxed and straitened. I figured I could have the best of both worlds by going natural-- I can wet it n' forget it... I can twist it, braid it, pic it into an afro than any person from any era would be jealous of... I leave it curly or make it more wavy... or I can flat-iron it and have it looked relaxed :) I love my hair now!!!

My mother had cancer and lost all of her hair twice (RIP MOMMY). Although she didn't let it show... I know it hurt her... she always said "a woman's hair is her glory" I think it's in the Bible somewhere...... but anyway ... I remember how big of a fuss she always made about hair.... it should always look neat and clean because your hair can portray a lot about you.

Yes! My hair does matter....to me at least. Being black and having NATURAL LONG HAIR is uncommon to say the least. When people compliment me on my hair it makes me feel special.