 Beat poets during the 1950s wore longer hairstyles . By 1960 , a small " beatnik " community in Newquay , Cornwall , England ( including a young Wizz Jones ) had attracted the attention of their neighbors for growing their hair to a length past the shoulders , resulting in a television interview with Alan Whicker on BBC television 's Tonight series . The 1960s also introduced The Beatles , who started a more widespread longer hair trend . The social revolution of the 1960s led to a renaissance of unchecked hair growth , and long hair , especially on men , was worn as a political or countercultural symbol or protest and as a symbol of masculinity . This cultural symbol extended to several Western countries in the Americas , Western Europe , South Africa , and Australia . Specific long hairstyles such as dreadlocks have been part of counterculture movements seeking to define other alternative cultures and lifestyles since this time . Longer hair in general remained popular due to the youth rebellion throughout the liberal decade of the 1960s . The long hair trend grew with the spread of the hippie movement in the 1960s and , in the 1970s , longer hair styles would become the norm among men and women . 
