Short hair the fashion for NZ women

By FIONA HAWTIN, Fashion Editor


New Zealand women stand out to foreign men. First there was the French ambassador's parting shot about how they looked like soldiers clomping about in heavy shoes.

Now, Sydney solicitor Stephen McKenzie has felt compelled to write to the Herald after a week here to remark that "the overwhelming majority were sporting short hair".

"Is this lack of length for a reason or just a passing fashion? I would imagine that in a land known for its cold weather, a long mane would be of great assistance," he wrote.

Which is why merino wool scarves exist, says hairdresser Lucy Vincent-Marr, of Stephen Marr Hair: Skin & Body.

Her preference for her mid-length hair to graze her shoulders has much to do with the darker, more introverted New Zealand personality, similar to the English and Belgians.

"The Australians are much more American in the way they style themselves with the long hair and gold jewellery. Their personality is worn on the outside," she says.

That is especially so in places such as Sydney's swanky Double Bay [where the solicitor is from].

"That's where Joh Bailey, that hairdresser in all those TV ads, works and he does a lot of long hair," says Marilyn Whelan, of Marilyn's Hairstylists.

Short hair is not so common in her Remuera salon, which cuts 300 shoulder-length haired clients a week.

Paul Serville of the Servilles salons, having returned from India and Russia, believes New Zealand women do have shorter hair than countries where women have more traditional roles.

But in keeping with international trends, we are in the middle of growing hair long enough to get the curling tongs through it for a loose curl.

All the same, Serville cannot persuade Prime Minister Helen Clark to grow hers.

"She says she comes to me because she gets a great haircut and never has to think about it again, but I'd like her to think about it a bit more."

Although not as much, he says, as the over-coloured bobs so common in Double Bay.

"New Zealand women are very independent. They don't really care about whether their husband or boyfriend likes it. It's what they like, so they're not pandering to men.

"They're stronger women and are not going to be controlled. It's a good thing."

As a judge for the past six years in an Australian hairdressing competition, Serville believes the standard of hairdressing there is not as high as here, thanks in part to our good training requirements.

Australians tend to avoid the frequent haircuts New Zealanders crave from well-trained, artistic hairdressers.

Every six weeks, short-hair advocate Kim Tay has an appointment with her hairdresser and has done so since her brief 1980s long-hair perm phase.

"My friends often say I look really funky with short hair and I think it can make you look younger.

"With short hair, you can have so many styles and change the hair colour easily. It's much quicker to dry and is easier to style."

Five minutes is the maximum she spends each day on her black and red ear-length gamine look, compared with the lengthy drama she used to go through when she tried to grow it a few years ago in a bid to have more feminine hair to compensate for her age - mid-30s.

"I tried for about three years to grow it but I just kept putting it up. I resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to have Catherine Zeta-Jones hair.

"Mr McKenzie sounds like he's from the Victorian era - incredibly out of touch with the real world. He's obviously threatened by women with short hair.

"Perhaps he needs to get himself a small red racing car."