When I went through the Naval Academy and for many years after, Esther, women had to keep their hair length above the bottom of their uniform collar. After graduating and getting commissioned, they could follow “Fleet” standards: still above the collar, but braids were allowed. So one could tell the rank of female Academy grads by their hair while in civilian clothes: down to the shoulder = ensign, shoulder to shoulder blades = lieutenant junior grade. But by lieutenant (four years or so after graduating) the hair was back to short. Because nobody had time for that crap anymore. “So it was bad enough having to find a decent pair of whites [white uniform] after [new daughter] power puked all over them,” explained a female colleague about her new haircut, “I did NOT have time to waste on a quick shampoo and getting my hair back up.”

I’m one of the guys who thinks short hair on a woman is attractive (as witnessed by both wives and the small pool of women I’ve dated). To me it says, “I got important sh*t to do, and hair ain’t one of ‘em.”