A short haircut is today considered one of the main attributes of the male sex. It is true that it is not surprising if women wear this, but accusations of "effeminacy" can still be heard in relation to men with shoulder-length hair.
Men did not always wear short hair. Homer in the Iliad writes about the "long-haired Achaeans." The ancient Greeks did not consider long hair a sign of femininity - for them it was a sign of wealth, power, and only slaves cut their hair short. The same practice existed among those ancient peoples who are traditionally called "barbarian" - Germanic and Celtic tribes, later - among the Normans, Slavs.
Thus, ancient men did not seek to cut their hair short. This was due to the idea of hair as a receptacle of vitality - after all, hair grows all life and even for some time after death. From this point of view, it was often undesirable and even dangerous to cut hair: cut hair can fall into the hands of a sorcerer, who in this way will gain power over a person … hence the custom to cut slaves short: after all, these are people under alien power.
Avoiding long hair
The first civilization where men abandoned long hair was Ancient Rome. This civilization is distinguished by militancy, the cult of war - after all, Rome has conquered half the world. In battle, long hair is uncomfortable and even creates some danger, moreover, it is difficult to remove it under the helmet. The orientation towards war led to the establishment in the ancient Roman society of the fashion for short hair in men.
In the future, fashion has changed more than once from era to era. Medieval Europe directly inherited not so much Rome as barbarian kingdoms, and the early Middle Ages were characterized by long men's hair, but closer to the Renaissance, tradition gives way to practicality: a haircut "in a circle" is in vogue.
Men's long hair in Europe finally "gave up" when wigs came into fashion. This happened with the light hand of the French king Louis XIII, who was forced to wear a wig for lack of his own hair. The king was imitated by the courtiers, and the royal court has always been a trendsetter. At the same time, men had to cut their hair short, because it is very difficult to put on a wig on long hair.
Wigs went out of fashion in the 19th century, but the fashion for long hair never returned - they did not harmonize with the emphatically strict Empire style that prevailed at that time.
Womens hair
The fashion for long hair lasted much longer for women than for men, and not only because the war that gave birth to short hair was never a typically female occupation.
Ancient people treated female hair even more reverently than male hair - after all, a woman was the continuer of the family, therefore her safety (including magic) meant a lot. If a man could still cut his hair slightly for convenience, then they were afraid to expose a woman to such "danger".
With the development of civilization, the true reason was forgotten, "dangerous" turned into "indecent", and the tradition was preserved until the 20th century. In modern times, a short haircut for women has become one of the attributes of emancipation - an equalization in rights with men in everything, including in hairstyles.
