Study finds that hairstyle influences first impressions

A Yale University study found that different hairstyles on the same face produce different first impressions of a person’s character. Associated Press photos

NEW YORK - Be honest, you do judge a book by its cover. And, according to Yale University researcher Marianne LaFrance, you probably judge new acquaintances by their hairstyles.

LaFrance, a professor of psychology and of women’s and gender studies, recently directed a study on how hair affects first impressions.

"We found that different hairstyles quickly lead others to ‘see’ different kinds of people," she said.

First Impressions and Hair Impressions was commissioned by Physique, a Procter & Gamble styling-based haircare line.

The study’s participants, 183 men and women, sat in front of a computer screen as faces with different hairstyles flashed before their eyes. The "judges" had fewer than four seconds to look at each photo and then record an impression of that person in 10 categories, including confidence, socio-economic status and sexiness.

The photographs showed the faces with four different hairstyles and one baseline look, basically a close-up that cropped any hair from view. The pictures were black and white, so color was not a factor other than someone having light or dark hair, LaFrance explained.

"One of the really stunning things we found was an incredible degree of consensus by men and women in their opinions of men and women," LaFrance said. The impressions also were consistent across racial lines, she reported.

The key findings included:

Women wearing short, highlighted hairstyles are seen as the most confident and outgoing but the least sexy. Long, straight, blond hair is perceived as sexy and belonging to affluent and narrow-minded women, while medium-length, casual-looking styles on women with dark hair are seen as signs of intelligence, good naturedness and carelessness.

Men with short, highlighted hairstyles are perceived as the most confident and sexy - and the most self-centered. Medium length and a side part are seen as signs of an intelligent and affluent man, but they also signal narrow-mindedness. Long hair on a man gives the impression of good naturedness, but men wearing this style also are seen as careless and unpleasant.

Women with long, dark, curly hair, and men with medium-length, center-parted hair didn’t dominate any characteristic.

"Something clearly is driving these impressions because the ethnicity, age and gender of the judges didn’t really make a difference," LaFrance said. But whether impressions were formed based on personal experience, celebrities or history is still unclear, she added.

Earlier this year LaFrance studied the effect of bad hair days on self-esteem. That study found people feel less smart, less capable, more embarrassed and less sociable when their hair is out of place.

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