What does Mermaid Hair look like?
Why are Mermaids Always depicted With Long Hair?
Generally...throughout history, long hair is considered most attractive, from the male point of view, rather than Short brown hair on women.
Sailors, being overwhelmingly male during most of recorded history...would naturally feel the same way. Therefore, when sailors claimed to see mermaids...most often they would describe them as beautiful...with the Long Hair they felt most attractive.
This is despite the fact that long hair is not too practical for a sea-dwelling creature. A clear case of beauty over functionally...although to a mermaid maybe long hair HAS a function...to attract sailors to them...for breeding purposes, if the sailors are fortunate, as a food source if the sailors are not, although I personally prefer the much nicer Mermaids Hair over their more predatory sisters.
My personal favorite of mermaids from the movies is Madison, from the 1984 film “Splash,” and she has long, beautiful, blonde hair...which is my favorite hair color for a mermaid, even to this day! (Thanks to Daryl Hannah for that!) So long hair might NOT be the most practical thing for a mermaid...but I far prefer them that way...shorter hair just does not look right...even if it would make far more sense!