Ironically, I have always had to fight for long hair, except maybe in my 20's?
When I was in high school, my mom insisted I keep my hair very short. I hated it. I had to part it on the side, which I also hated. On the bus on the school, and on the way home, my friends would help me change the part, because I didn't have a mirror. Then one summer, when my mom wanted it cut before I went on the bus south to visit my best friend, I stood up to her and said I wouldn't go, and wouldn't cut my hair. She gave in, and that was the end of her telling me what to do with my hair. I was 15 or 16. Her reasoning- only hippies wore long hair.
I had natural waves and dark brown hair with red highlights, and all I had to do was wash it, brush it once, and it dried into beautiful curls. It could not have been easier to "maintain."
Then I went to this church, and the women's group had a lady come in to do makeovers. I got picked, and she did my face and insisted I needed a short hair cut to go with the makeup transformation. Since I only wear makeup on special occasions, and very little at that, I passed on that suggestion. I think I was around 28. I was actually a little insulted, and became determined not to be some kind of magazine norm for "aging" women.
When I got older, people kept insisting I needed to just "trim" my hair to get rid of the split ends. Except they were talking taking off 8 to 10 inches. Sometimes I would get my hair cut to shoulder length, and hate it, and just grow it out. In fact, when I look around at the older women in every church I have ever been in, they ALL have short hair. I'm taking 40+. (Oh yes, I have been told that having long hair makes the face droop down and the wrinkles look worse. Except I really don't have a lot of wrinkles, so far!)
So now I am an extreme, gray haired rebel. I let my hair grow out past my shoulders. I like my hair long. It doesn't curl like it used to, it frizzes instead, because apparently the gray hair is not as thick. So I do blow dry it, especially in winter.
I don't know what churches you people are going to, but I literally never see women who are past 40 or 50 with long hair in the evangelical churches I have attended. Personally, I think it is up to the woman what she does with her hair. But I have to ask, how much is influenced by what other women are wearing, and how much that is influenced by glamour magazines?
I don't think we will ever go back to the days when all women had long hair, seeing as I have been the exception for so many years.