The Surprising Hairstyle More Than 37% Of Women Would Choose To Wear Forever

Many women have a pretty intense relationship with their hair. Whether it's the length, color, cut, or style, we often have strong opinions about what it should look like and can be known to take drastic action, such as completely changing our hair, in response to unexpected experiences.

As author Elizabeth Benedict, who put together the book Me, My Hair, And I, wrote, "Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life." The book is a collection of 27 essays written by women about their hair. Benedict explained to the Chicago Tribune in 2015, "What's abundantly clear in all these personal essays is that hair matters. Many other facts of life matter too, oftentimes more than hair (illness, poverty, war, famine, flood, and sometimes shoes and makeup), but hair can be counted on to matter just about every day, at least to a high percentage of women — and to more than a few men."

The List recently surveyed 574 women in the United States about their hair, asking: If you could choose just one style to have for the rest of your life, what would it be?

The answer might surprise you! It turns out that nearly 38% of the women (215 women) who responded to The List's survey would choose beach waves as the hairstyle they would like to have forever. The second most popular choice was a messy bun (19%, or 111 of the women), followed closely by a ponytail (18%, or 106 of the women).

Of course, plenty of women (nearly 7%, or 40 women) chose the "other" option as their response and filled in their actual choice. Several women said they would prefer a bob or a braid as their forever style.

Whatever women would choose, there's little doubt that hair matters. Bustle interviewed four women about their own relationship with their hair, and each woman had a lot to say. One of the women, Cheryl, says that her hair closely matches her own personality. "My hair is rebellious and has a mind of its own, which I would say reflects my personality, because I do what I want. But without long hair, I don't really feel like myself. I felt incomplete when it was short. Just like skin, it's a part of my identity."