Does a bad hair day affect your well-being?

Having bad hair may lower self esteem.

By Kim Anne Feb 8, 2013 11:28PM

We all have them—bad hair days—the morning you wake up that no matter what product you throw in your ‘do, it’s not ‘do-ing’ what you want it to. So you leave the house in a funk and secretly have a slightly less elevated mood, no matter how much you try to convince yourself this is not the case. But little did we realize, having a bad hair day can do more than affect your afternoon. Bad hair can have a serious impact on your overall mental well-being, says a new study.

Researchers have found that people have a tendency to perform well below what they are capable of when they believe their hair doesn’t look good. The study, conducted by Proctor & Gamble, found that even the thought of a bad hair day made both men and women feel less intelligent. In addition, it was reported that men feel less self-confident and more nervous when they don’t like their hair, while women feel embarrassed and ashamed.

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“There is a strong correlation between what we see in the mirror and how we feel about ourselves,” Amy L. Flowers, PhD, a psychologist with expertise in self-esteem and body image and with a practice in Macon, Ga, tells San Jose Mercury News.

“Thomas Cash, a famous researcher in body image, states that up to 25 percent of our self-esteem is determined by how we feel about our bodies — you can't hate the way you look and still love yourself,” Flowers said. “Also, we assume that others see us the way we see ourselves, so if we don't like a particular feature (like our hair), we assume that others find it repulsive, too.”

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“I think hair can say a lot about how we see ourselves — if it looks like you just fell out of bed, it implies that you don't care about your appearance, which to me indicates poor self-esteem,” says Flowers. “I don't think you have to have on a full face of makeup before going out to get the mail, but a person who is going out in public should be clean and tidy. It shows self-respect and makes a good impression.” And she urges people to "remember that old expression: You only have one chance to make a first impression.”

Tell us: Does your hair affect your mood?

Photo: Courtney Bell/Getty Images

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23Comments

Best

Feb 10, 2013 12:16PM

What if your family could afford to buy only two outfits for you and you wore one of them while the other one was being washed? What if you had only enough money to buy groceries for a week or get your hair done, but not both? What if you walked out of the house with bad hair but saved someone's life that day?

Proctor and Gamble is a hair care manufacturer. What did you expect that research would "discover"?

Being clean and neat is something we should all value, but we have taken the style thing way too far.

Previous replies

Alecta

Feb 10, 2013 4:18PM

That's pretty pathetic. But I remember a year in junior high where I tried to work against my hair to style it in a "Farrah flip" and it never would work. Still, even in those angsty times I just shrugged and got on with it.

I don't understand people who hang their whole self esteem on their appearance; I believe that this is a largely ad-created phenomenon used to sell products we don't need. Stop letting the media and ad execs dictate your lives, people!

Previous replies

gofer73

Feb 10, 2013 2:14PM

its a shame how peoples ego rests in their hair since hair has no intelligence what so ever it can be neither good or bad so that leaves it up to the talent of the person who trying to make it do what is not natural for it to do

Previous replies

ayli c-li

Feb 10, 2013 1:06PM

i agree with this.with bad hair women feel embarrassed.

Previous replies

Zapster

Feb 10, 2013 7:59PM

Try having a no hair day....

Previous replies

roxanna holaday (Bachman2011)

Feb 10, 2013 10:02PM

People tell me I'm pretty, but I suffer from female pattern baldness. Some days I can camoflauge it, some days, not so much. So, yes, it does affect my self esteem. I'm also a 4 year cancer survivor, so I'll have to say getting breast reconstruction effected my confidence and self esteem more, albeit in a positive way. Not having a breast in this culture was the hardest thing I've had to deal with.A bad hair day doesn't seem so bad when I remember what it felt like having a crater in my chest! :O)

Previous replies

IH3172

Feb 10, 2013 8:48PM

I believe its hair and shoes, you can have on a 1,000 suit but the shoes make it look bad. If they are run over etc, etc, etc, same with hair bad hair day takes away from the outfit. I don't feel this article meant to make anyone feel bad, about what they have are can afford. Sure they are aware people are suffering, and have to do with what they have. No matter what I wear, jeans and top they may look ok and my hair in a pony tail it still ok. Didn't have much of anything growing up, food clothes or anything else. But that same old worn out dress I wore on a very reg. basis was clean. Raised by my grandmother, who washed that sucker on her hands and taught me to wipe my ran over shoes everyday. She told me you may not have much, but make sure what you have is CLEAN. You can have new shoes, every strand of hair in place, but if you smell people will avoid you. And I encountered some of them have you too ? lol its about keeping yourself clean if @ all possible not dressing to impress, and covering up the odor with perfume which makes one sick. Kids made fun of what I wore, but they never said she stinks. :)