I'm with Angie and Shannon, IK. My hair is important to my overall look, though there are times now when I do run to the store or something with it looking less than perfect. I *never* used to do that. Mostly, though, if it's not behaving itself, I either put up into a twist or stuff it under a (hopefully) great hat.

You can't look cool with a dorky hairstyle.

From the way my mom nags me about my hair you'd think it's the only thing that matters.

In a word...VERY!

So important to me!
And it is one of the first thing I notice about others too.

Very important! I just wish I had good hair...sigh

Rae put it well! I can't feel good about how I look overall if my hair doesn't look good.

This is a very motivational thread, and looking at my WIW hair I think I realize where I can maybe make some improvements on the shape of the bird's nest until the next (possibly shorter and sleeker) cut hopefully without necessitating a whole extensive new morning routine. yay! Again it's one of those places where the mirror lies, but the camera doesn't.

I totally agree with Angie (and I love cceile's example). A good haircut is key to defining your style. It needs to fit perfectly in your style spectrum. I've had lots of haircuts that were too conservative (cutters who assume that because I'm a lawyer, I need more conservative hair--nooooo!) and a few that were too funky (a shag in the '90s--very cool, but I had to really work my style to make sure that no one thought I was a disco refugee). When I see someone dressed well but with a bad haircut, I wonder why they are skimping on self-care. I think a hair cut is that important.

Ditto what Rae says.

I think it's important for reasons others have mentioned, but I don't live consistently with that. I'm in a hair rut and go for a french roll every single day

I feel that a good 'do is absolutely important for personal style. Your hairstyle shows your personality, and in a way, sets the mood for your outfits!

I laughed in agreement with Rae.

Unfortunately, I have very inconsistent hair. I simply cannot get it to look the same every day. It's always been difficult and unruly. I can do the exact same wash-condition-dry-style thing on two consecutive days and my hair will turn out totally different. It drives me crazy. So I rarely feel like I'm having an awesome hair day. It usually falls into a range of good to acceptable to thank-cats-for-hats! It seems to work best when it's neither very short or very long.

I get restless with my hair too. I crave frequent subtle changes to keep it up to date. At least that's the goal.

I think hair style/cut is the most important factor in looking stylish. It trumps everything IMHO and should be the prime focus when a woman wants to up her style quotient!

I'm completely in Janet's camp. Yes, hair is incredibly important, but like Janet, I can style mine the exact same way on two consecutive days and have completely different effects. And I'm not willing to invest the time required to style it properly day in and day out, to avoid the inconsistency (I'm sure if I knew exactly what I was doing, I could get it to behave with lots of heated implements and goos and sprays). I'm very sensitive to chemicals, so I have only a few things that I can use on my hair. And I have a lot of fatigue due to health issues, so blow-drying is out. If I really need to look good, I rely on makeup—I have found that it does an even better job of completing my outfit than good hair does! I can get by with acceptable hair if I have good makeup., but without makeup, I need perfect hair. Not gonna happen.

I think hair has a huge impact on the overall impression you make, which does NOT mean that I spend a lot of time on my hair. What is a brush? But I do have a good hairdresser.

Very, very important.

Well-tended hair and makeup trump everything else.

I'm kind of with Diana and Rabbit in not really being interested in my hair besides generally wanting it to look good and suit me. And I'm not sure I always manage even that.

In general, I think bad hair can obviously detract from an otherwise stylish person and really good hair can obviously kick everything up a notch, but I feel like most people's hair is kind of in a middle ground where I don't really notice it much either way.

I also could've written Lyn's exact comment!

I believe that it's an important part of the whole package.

What is your take on it, IK?

I don't have "good" hair... it's thinning like crazy in some spots, and I've decided to just embrace the grey that's in the front, but I like it. Having well-groomed hair is very important to me, and that means getting it cut often. Hair and makeup are the two things that I put time and money into that give me the biggest bang for feeling good about my appearance.

Ahhh, yes, the impact of hair on style... There are days I am jealous of you lovely ladies with your incredibly stylish and contemporary cuts on your hair that will behave as it is supposed to.

My hair has a mind of its own. It will do as it pleases. So I have learned to let it. Just some de-frizz product and air dry then pull it up in some fashion (if you try to touch my hair it will frizz. The more you touch. The more it frizzes. Hairstylists attempting to cut and style my hair in the past have learned this the hard way, even when warned.

I have worn it very long (cut about 7 inches off it 2 years ago) and a few times in my life very short (I look like orphan annie or bozo the clown with short hair).

Mostly I just wear it up or under a hat. It often doesn't mesh with some of my looks and I've learned not to care too much about that.

It's been more than 2 years since my last haircut (my record is 7 years without one). So I did recently decide that I'd go ahead and give another shot to having it cut and styled.

I've got an appointment in about 2 weeks to have a "deva curl cut" (where they cut your hair dry individually by curl because that more accurately will reflect how curly hair lies when it's dry --as opposed to cutting it wet like you would straight or wavy hair). I think it's ridiculous what they charge to cut and color my hair considering you can hack at it quite a bit and not be able to tell anything has been done to it. So yeah, $140 for a haircut seems ridiculous to me. But hey, I'm always game to try something new. So what the hell. I'll try it out and see if I get any bang for my buck.

My hair curls up more than 6 inches in length when it dries. So those stylists who have done it in the past have given me some ultra-not-fabulous-cringe-inducing "poodle cuts" over the years. They cut it and then the sides curl up into two balls on either side of my head and one on top. Not a stylish look, even for a poodle, if you ask me.

So in two weeks, after a "deva curl cut" and "pintura" highlights (apparently the way to individually paint on highlights on curly hair so you don't end up looking like you have stripey snakes coiled on your head) we'll see if my answer changes

I think how you wear your hair is a big part of your style! If I feel like my hair is bad, it's hard to feel like the rest is right.

For me it is key: since I went short a few years ago, my style radically changed and matured, but I think it's not about this or that hairstyle as much as it is about confidence. If my hair looks ok to me, I feel can wear whatever I want, even just jeans and a tee, and go bare faced without looking shabby, or twelve.
I literally do not want to leave the house on bad hair days

I think hair is hugely important.

I've been surprised to see some "you look great!" feedback on outfits where the person's hair didn't match the rest. So I was curious as to the general feeling on the forum.

Interesting, IK. I can only speak for myself, but I am always commenting on the clothing since that is usually what people are asking for feedback on. Also, people sometimes explicitly say -- "please disregard the hair as I just woke up/am going out for a run/have not showered/etc." I only comment on hair if it really stands out as spectacular, or if someone explicitly asks for feedback on it. Otherwise, I am focusing on clothing and footwear.

Yes, Viva, me too. I'm talking about shots posed outside, obviously taken as the person embarks to go to work or the event. I always want to say, You look great! What about your hair/specs/makeup? Especially when someone looks current everywhere but up top. You know?

To answer your question:-Very!:-)

(I'm very conscious about this, as sadly, my hair is not a great volume or quality anymore and always feel it the biggest frump factor if not done right!)

Eh, I feel like photos are always posed - and often in sub optimal conditions. Even outdoor ones can be something you recreated quickly in the backyard to catch good light because you didn't have a camera person earlier. Also if it's really on the way to an event, pointing out something to tweak that's not outfit related afterwards seems like it might be a little unkind to me.

I generally feel like if people ask about hair and makeup and glasses, it's a good time to give feedback, otherwise it's all about the clothes and accessories. Although if a particular hairstyle is working well or if a modification of it might work better with the outfit, that's good to hear too.

When I had a K/R leather jacket recently Suz (I think), pointed out that the collar might work better with my hair back or up, and that was very useful and spawned a bunch of insights about proportion/hair/collars for me. My hair was really bad in the photos - not done, I'd been pulling clothes over it, frizz from the weather, making my face look wide in the wrong place, etc. but it made me realize I needed a cut that didn't allow my hair to default to that.

Rabbit, exactly. I like that we all try to be kind. I do think constructive feedback can be kind as well, however, especially if it's phrased as an opinion and not a judgement.