Models have known for a long time that short hair and small boobs are sexy ;)

I read that quote in a magazine years ago and I often remember it. It may not come as a surprise to you that I have short hair and small boobs ;)

But are these really sexy in our society?

They were in the 1920s!

My first focus in this post shall mostly be on the short hair aspect since I recently got my hair cut.

Before I describe this recent haircut, let me fill you in on my first "short" haircut...

It was a Monday in 9th grade and yearbook pictures were to be taken the next day. Since my usual hair salon was not open on Mondays and my mother informed me I needed a haircut, I tried a new salon. That afternoon I went in with shoulder-length hair and requested a trim and some much needed bangs to cover my high forehead... as suggested by my mom.

When I left, my new bangs were the longest part of my hair!?!

I was almost in tears.

The next day I entered school, wearing our androgynous uniforms of baggy khaki pants and a shapeless maroon polo shirt. Mind you, I am not a particularly voluptuous woman (back to the small boobs thing) and so more than once that day I was mistaken from behind as my twin brother.

Being confused for a boy = NOT good.

Documenting this day and this hair for all of posterity since it was picture day = even worse!

Since others confused me for my brother, I began to associate short haircuts as "boy" haircuts.

I now have another "boy" haircut after entering a new salon with shoulder-length hair. It seems this is a bad pattern that I should guard against in the future. Unfortunately, I am too trusting of hair stylists in that they are the professionals and I assume their preference trumps mine.

Having said that, the hair stylist did do a great job and I know that it is a good haircut, it just gives me flashbacks to that tragic 9th grade "boy" haircut and causes me to feel unfeminine.

This is almost ridiculous since I am about the girliest girl I know... currently wearing bright pink nail polish and a purple polka-dot top as I type this.

But I cannot escape the sense that in our society the length of a woman's hair seems a direct correlation to her femininity.

Yes, we have the rare exceptions such as Rihanna, Sienna Miller, and Halle Berry BUT for the most part, our ideal "sexy" women have the long, luxurious hair.

Feedback that I have gotten on my recent haircut has been that it looks "grown up," "sophisticated," and "stylish" but never once was it said to be "pretty" or "sexy."

Fortunately, I am taking my History of Fashion and Manners class and ever so conveniently, the era we were focusing on right after my haircut was the 1920s when short hair was
VERY sexy.

First there was the classic bob of the flappers.

Then came the shingled look... think Roxie Hart from the movie Chicago.

And lastly, and most extreme, was the "boy" haircut known as the eton crop.

Those were the divas, the sexy ideal, from back then... all with "boy" haircuts.

As I sit here with my new short do, I am getting used to it and appreciating the following:
1) As summer is approaching, it will be quick to style and cool in the heat
2) Hair always grows back

However, I am not sure yet that I shall grow my hair out.

Until then, I realize it is cut and I cannot put it back on or grow it back to the length it was overnight. Thus I plan to be positive, hold my short-haired head high and embrace this look.

My second focus of this post shall be small boobs.

It turns out that this was also a popular look for women in the 1920s. So much so, in fact, that they had something called flatteners rather than bras. They literally smushed the boobs against a woman's body to give her a more boyish and straight-lined look.

Here is a video of some of the women and their fashions from the 1920s. About 2:40 into the video, you can see a woman get her hair cut into the bob and then styled into the shingled look.

So whether you are a model or an everyday woman, take confidence in how you look, even if it does not fit the beauty ideals of the present moment.

That is the key that models and these daring women of the 1920s seemed to have in common: confidence.

If you are confident, you are beautiful... short hair, long hair, big boobs, small boobs and everything in between.

So I plan to be confident as I am bringin sexy back all the way from the 1920s with my bob "boy" haircut and small boobs!