The Surprising Effects of a Good Hair Day

A good hair day can make or break your mood, and now there's science to back it up. A new study by the Stanford School of Business found that the way you view your own attractiveness when you look in the mirror can not only boost your self-esteem, but also make you believe you're part of a higher social class.

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For the study, professor Margaret Neale and doctoral student Peter Belmi set out to better understand what drives us to care about our appearance, and to discover how looks are linked to power and status.  To do this, they had a diverse sampling of men and women write about when they felt the most or least attractive. Then they asked each participant whether they agreed with a series of statements related to social inequalities. What they discovered was that a person who felt more attractive was more likely to embrace the idea of social mobility. In short, there may be a link between how you feel about your looks on a given day and how high you feel you can climb to meet your goals.

“What’s surprising is that we find that most people seem to endorse hierarchy when they think they’re attractive and oppose it when they think they’re not,” Belmi notes.

One place where looking your best counts, they found, was in the workplace. The study's findings suggest that inequalities on the job may even disappear thanks to a small tweak to your appearance. If you're a manager of a team and one day you wake up and view yourself as more attractive, you may see yourself as more powerful in the hierarchy, and perceive your underlings as lazy, unambitious, and lower in the corporate structure. Surely we live in an image-driven world, but can a great hairstyle help you move up the ladder?

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According to Dr. Robyn Silverman, a body image expert and the author of "Good Girls Don't Get Fat: How Weight Obsession Is Messing Up Our Girls," it's all about confidence.  When it comes to self-esteem, Silverman says, there's evidence that when anyone—regardless of appearance or demographic—takes the time to look better they will feel better and project a better image.

"This is a society that judges people in part on appearances, and a first impression is based on appearance and also the energy of a person," Silverman tells Yahoo Shine. "When we're wearing our favorite color, our favorite dress, or when we think our hair is looking good, we put out an energy that creates what I call a 'feedback loop.' If you like the way you look, and the way you're presenting yourself, and you have a beaming smile, people take those subliminal messages as truth and think, 'That's a person I want to know. That's an attractive person.'" Silverman says this positive reaction is then reflected back and you gain even more confidence in your appearance and abilities. It's self-perpetuating.

But with great power comes great responsibility and not everyone lives up to the challenge. According to the study, those who were most smitten with their own reflection were less likely to donate to social inequality causes.

If you can find a balance and keep your ego in check, self-esteem can still be a key to success. Silverman has some confidence-boosting tips for projecting your inner beauty to the outside world.

1. Know that there will be bad hair days and you will survive. You can't control everything, but you can take little steps to feel better. "Push yourself out of that feeling. Put your hair up. Wear a fun pair of earrings. Wear the shoes you love. Pull out the new outfit you haven't worn yet. So often when you feel bad you cave into yourself, and it's the very moment you should call a friend who always pulls you up."

2. Wear something that makes you feel terrific. "Wear something that makes you feel attractive—not what you think others would like—because it starts with you."

3. Understand that your appearance makes a difference. "You may say, 'It doesn't matter, nobody looks at me anyway.' That reflection, that perception, is what you're putting out into the world."

4. Use colors to boost your mood and stand out. Whether it's bold red lipstick or a colorful top, Silverman says it's time to stop being the wallflower.

5. Surround yourself with positive, supportive people. "Think about the three top qualities you'd want in your friends and supporters, then think about if your closest friends have those qualities. If there's incongruence, you are not choosing the right people who elevate you."

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