Plebe Summer Ladies' Hair

[riveranduin]

I've heard from everyone I've met that it's a good plan for the females to get their hair cut within plebe summer regulations prior to I-day. Is there a specific style that would be recommended for the cut to be in, ( or to avoid) other than short enough to not touch your collar all summer and easy to maintain?

 

[Hurricane12]

The short answer is no. It's just going to get sweaty, gross, uncomfortable and in the way and there's not much you can do to mitigate it.

Some girls get their hair cut to boy-length. If you plan on ever growing your hair back out I don't recommend this. And, no matter what you do there will be a nightmare period where your hair looks terrible because its too long to be down and too short to put up in a proper bun.

 

[Maplerock]

Of course this is not ever going to happen, but for discussion only... What do you think is the reason for allowing longer hair for girls, and shaving boys to the scalp?

I have been to several I-Days and can tell you that some girls escape the barber with pretty long hair... much longer than you might expect. NO boys escape.

 

[Hurricane12]

I think the rationale in the past was to prevent the spread of lice or other hair borne parasites, with the added bonus of removing someone's individuality.

Now I think it's just the latter (plus tradition) and the reason they don't do it to girls is purely social. I mean, realistically most people would balk or find it too extreme if the girls got their heads shaved, and that's never been a really acceptable hairstyle in the civilian world.

 

[usna1985]

^^^

Agree. Also, it takes only a few weeks for guy's hair to grow out to the max length permitted in the military. IOW, they look "normal" by the end of plebe summer. Women wouldn't look "normal" for a long time.

As for cutting hair . . in our day, it wasn't an option; we had to have it above the bottom edge of our collars not only for PS but for the entire 4 yrs.