To be successful in life it is necessary to act with confidence and to have a positive sense of who and what you are. Looking good can make you feel more confident and grooming is key to looking your best. In this article, we’ll discuss the effect that a haircut can have on your confidence and how to choose a hairstyle that will boost your self-esteem.
Haircuts can create a boost in confidence because they improve your appearance and can make you look and feel more attractive. A good haircut can style your hair to create a new look. Others will notice your hair and may compliment you which helps to boost your confidence.
Improving your appearance can help to make you feel more confident and grooming is a big part of this. Haircuts are not only a way to look better, they can create a new image. This can offer you a chance to make a new start and change how you behave and feel about yourself. In this article, we will look at how haircuts can affect your confidence and self-esteem and the effect they can have on your body image, so be sure to keep reading.
7 Ways Haircuts Increase Confidence
Haircuts can offer a boost in confidence to both men and women, but there are major differences between them.
There are a number of ways that haircuts can boost your confidence including the following:
- Improved self-care, including looking after your hair, can result in a boost in your self-esteem.
- A new hairstyle can help you feel good about yourself and it may project a more confident image.
- Great hair is often noticed by others and can attract compliments which can be helpful for your overall level of confidence.
- A change of hairstyle that a new haircut can bring can cause others to respond to you in a more positive way and this can further help you feel more confident.
- Many believe that hairstyles are part of your personality and so trying out new haircuts can help you to experiment and find a new you.
- A new haircut can attract the attention of friends or those of the opposite sex, this can help to boost your confidence.
- A new haircut can express your desire for change and a new hairstyle can show your adventurous or determined nature.
Is Changing Your Hairstyle a Good Way to Improve Your Self-Esteem?
There is definitely a connection between hairstyle and self-esteem. Anyone who has tried out a new haircut knows it makes you look and feel very different.
For women especially, a new hairstyle is an opportunity to experiment.
Hairstyles suggest personality traits in the person and so if you are trying to project a confident image your hairstyle is very important. For example, longer looser hair may indicate adventure or sportiness. A low cut may be alluring. Those with very messy haircuts may appear disorganized.
A shorter, neater haircut in women may be best for confidence in business environments as it indicates more control and self-assurance.
These are just a few of the ways in which haircuts can be perceived and may affect self confidence.
Are haircuts part of body image?
Body image can affect your confidence and self-esteem because it changes the way you feel about your appearance. Hair is a significant aspect of our appearance and therefore could be considered as playing an important role in body image.
For women, in particular, appearance is essential and attractiveness is the desired goal for many. Feeling attractive can certainly boost self-esteem. As the following graph shows, hair is very much connected with perceived facial attractiveness:
From Hairstyle as an adaptive means of displaying phenotypic quality by Mesko and Bereczkei (2004). Link to article
Basically, the graph shows different kinds of women’s haircuts or hairstyles and how attractive they appear to others. Longer hair seems to be most attractive, whereas unkempt hair is the least attractive.
It would seem logical to think that those whose hair is messy and not well looked after might feel less confident. The fact that someone would neglect the condition of their hair suggests they are not focused on self-care, which could indicate low self-esteem.
It is interesting that the graph indicates those women with long hair are thought to be most attractive. It is highly likely, therefore, that they also feel most confident.
These results do support the idea that haircuts are part of body image.
Hair is definitely important for men too. We only have to look at the amount of hair care products in stores available for men now to understand that hair care is important. Body image in men does indeed include hairstyle.
Other Reasons Why Haircuts May be Good for Mental Health
One interesting study by Roper and Barry (2016) found that having a haircut did improve mental well-being including confidence. The results suggested that it was not so much the haircut but the social interaction in the hairdresser or barbershop that had the most benefit. Here is a link to the article.
The study compared black and white people both women and men and how they benefited from getting a haircut. Black men were the group that socialized most and shared their thoughts and feelings at the barber’s and therefore benefitted the most from getting a haircut.
Going to the hairdresser can be an enjoyable experience for women and for black men it seems and the effect of social interaction may be a kind of self-therapy that has mental health benefits.
This is another factor to consider related to the haircut and its effect on confidence.
Final thoughts
Haircuts are a vital aspect of body image and a reflection of who we are. This is why some hairstyles may suit you and others don’t. When you feel a certain haircut or style doesn’t feel right for you, it may be that it conflicts with how you see yourself. Therefore, your haircut can influence your confidence and self-esteem.
As we have seen a haircut is a way of expressing yourself and may also be a way to make a fresh start with a new look.
A new haircut may reveal a more confident you to the world and this may change the way others respond to you. This may help you to feel more confident and better about yourself in general.
So, why not try a new haircut and see what a change it can make!
