Your Hairstyle Makes You Look Smarter

Did you know that bald equals smart?We didn’t.According to a study by Yale Professor Marianne LaFrance, a woman’s hairstyle influences how other people perceive her: shorter hair, smarter woman.MORE FROM LEARNVEST: Inside Zooey Deschanel’s WalletThe Jane Dough describes her experiment:“In her study, LaFrance showed her test subjects five separate pictures of the same woman. In each image, the woman had a different haircut—a short crop, long curly hair, no hair, long straight hair and a bob. LaFrance then had the study’s participants rate “each person” (that is, the same person but with different hair) on certain perceived traits, like intelligence, wealth and open-mindedness.”MORE FROM LEARNVEST: Guide to Safe, Non-Toxic Makeup.LaFrance found that the most traditionally feminine hair was considered to indicate the least intelligent woman.She connects femininity and hair length by saying that a longer, more traditionally feminine hairstyle indicates the least amount of intelligence—and let us just point out that the disturbing (but unsurprising) implications of increased femininity alongside decreased intelligence go far beyond hairstyle.And the woman seen as the most intelligent? The one without any hair at all.MORE FROM LEARNVEST: Companies Hire Cosmetic Guinea Pigs