 In Southeast Asia and Indonesia , male long hair was valued in until the seventeenth century , when the area adopted outside influences including Islam and Christianity . Invading cultures enforced shorter hairstyles on men as a sign of servitude , as well . They were also confused at the short hairstyles among women in certain areas , such as Thailand , and struggled to explain why women in the area had such short hair . They came up with several mythical stories , one of which involved a king who found a long hair in his rice and , in a rage , demanded that all women keep their hair short . 
