Your hair and your body: the surprising connection

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We’ve delved into scientific studies and recruited the world’s most skilled hairdressers to show you how you can change your body shape simply by changing your hair. Oh yes, it can be done

Apart from beer goggles, few things in life can instantly change the way others view your body. Sure, Spanx can help – to an uncomfortable degree. But what if we told you the secret to streamlining your hips, slimming your core and giving you the bum of a nubile Brazilian was all in your hair? You wouldn’t believe us, obviously. But you should.

Hair is an optical illusion. It can make you look older, younger, poorer, richer. But here’s the important bit, it can alter how others see you.

We all know the effects of a new haircut. It’s the wiggle in your walk as you leave the salon wearing your body like a Burberry trench. But your hair has psychological effects as well – notably on how others see you.

Yale University, US, found women form their opinion of other women in three seconds, with the primary factor being their hair. Another US study, by the University of Nebraska, looked at how women were perceived based on physical attributes alone.

“Men are seen as a whole,” says lead author Dr Sarah Gervais. “With women, people start at the face, then divert their attention to other parts that signal attractiveness, like the breasts or waist. As hair is in close proximity to the face, people may deconstruct women by their hair and use this as the lens through which they view their body shape.”

Unfair, maybe. Here’s how to use it to your advantage: