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Abstract
Hair is more than meets the eye. Despite arguments that the study of its psychologic
and sociologic implications is frivolous, hair is important. Another person's hair
is one of the first characteristics we notice upon meeting. Our own hair is one of
the first and last characteristics we attend to before a meeting or a social engagement.
Observations of contemporary culture suggest that hair has significance to society
as a whole and in the lives of individuals. Existing social science research on hair
is not voluminous but recently has noted that “the psychology of hair is a subject
of growing interest.”1 At present, social science research addresses hair both directly and indirectly.
Direct research focuses on psychologic and sociologic dimensions of hair. While scant,
this research investigates color, length/style, and amount (in terms of baldness).
Indirect research reflects a greater quantity and involves hair as a determinant of
an individual's physical attractiveness. As such, selective social science data about
physical attractiveness that is partially determined by hair can be reasonably generalized
as social science data that specifically focuses on hair. Given interdependences between
hair and physical attractiveness, these relationships reflect a straightforward extrapolation
of knowledge. As a result, psychologic and sociologic knowledge of hair exists in
a robust body of social science reseach.
Accordingly, this article discusses research on “the physical attractiveness phenomena”
as well as an overview on the psychologic and sociologic dimensions of an individual's
hair.
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© 1988 Published by Elsevier Inc.
