A short haircut today is considered one of the main attributes of the male. True, if women wear this, it is not surprising to anyone, but with respect to men with shoulder-length hair, one can still hear accusations of "femininity."
Not always men wore 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, which are traditionally referred to as "barbaric" - Germanic and Celtic tribes, later - among the Normans, Slavs.
Thus, the ancient men did not seek to cut their hair short. This was due to the idea of hair as a reservoir of vitality - after all, hair grows all life and even some time after death. From this point of view, often cutting hair was undesirable and even dangerous: cut hair can fall into the hands of a sorcerer, who in this way will gain power over a person
.hence the custom of short-cutting slaves: after all, these are people who are under alien authority.
Rejection of long hair
The first civilization where men abandoned long hair is Ancient Rome. This civilization is distinguished by militancy, a cult of war - after all, Rome conquered half the world. In battle, long hair is uncomfortable and even creates some danger, moreover, it is difficult to remove it under a helmet. Orientation to war led to the adoption in the ancient Roman society of 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 for the early Middle Ages long male hair was characteristic, but closer to the Renaissance, tradition gives way to practicality: a “circle” haircut comes into fashion.
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 courtiers, and the royal court has always been a trendsetter. At the same time, men had to cut their hair short, because putting a wig on long hair is very difficult.
Wigs went out of fashion in the 19th century, but the fashion for long hair never returned - they did not harmonize with the emphasized strict style of the empire that prevailed at that time.
