Abstract

This article provides the first experimental tests of whether the side of the head on which a person parts his or her hair affects the person’s appearance and perceived character. The popular culture view is that the left hair part makes a person appear more competent and masculine and the right part warmer and more feminine. Participants judged the appearance of a portrait with a hair part on one side, or a digitally altered version in which the hair part was reversed (while the face remained the same). Three studies (total N = 3,819) found that hair part does not alter appearance. The null results generalized to male and female models, smiling and neutral expressions, and hair parts flowing with or against the hair whorl. The popular belief that hair part alters one’s appearance may either be a myth of underspecified.