 Pliny the Elder in his Natural History and Varro related that the Romans did not begin to cut their hair short until barbers were introduced to Italy from Sicily by P. <unk> Mena in 299 BC . Women in Roman times valued long hair , usually with a center part . Apart from in the earliest times , men 's hair was usually shorter than women 's , although other cultures of the time , such as Greeks in the east , considered long hair to be typical of philosophers , who were thought to be too engrossed in learning to bother with hair . Strictly in the province of Rome , however , the shorter hairstyle was especially popular . When Julius Caesar conquered the Gauls , who favored long hair , he ordered it to be cut short . 
