How do NB people describe their hair? Iād think itās perfectly fine for my AFAB NB who looks feminine by face and masculine by clothes to call their 6 inch hair ālongā. I think itās just preferences like that suit/dress question you had, but I have no idea what preferences are common in the LGBT community. I mean in RL I know cis guy with shoulder length hair calling it āshortā because he usually has mid back hair and has to explain every time because itās contrary to the community. But I donāt have that knowledge on NB hair inside the LGBT community. Thanks.
Just a tip! In future you might not want to call certain body parts (like a face) of a nonbinary person feminine or masculine and clothes are often extensions of that. Lots of folks will self-refer this way, and if within your story, this is how your character codes these parts of themselves, thatās okay, but itās important to understand that coding certain clothes and faces as being masculine/feminine can be dysphoria inducing. Even though itās a fictional character, if you as the author describe them this way, it implies a widely understood status quo of what aĀ āfeminine faceā orĀ āmasculine clothesā mean.
With regards to hair regarding longness and shortness, I think this is more reliant on what somebodyāsĀ āusualā is if that makes sense.
Iāve had a lot of different hairstyles from buzz cuts (Iāve buzzed it maybe 2-3 times majorly? I did keep them up for a while as well, but thatās just counting when I buzzed off longer hair) to roughly nipple length hair. Right now itās an undercut all around up to a bit above my crown. (I DIY so... I accidentally have been shrinking the longer hair surface area while trying to make sure I have the borders shaved evenly every now and again.) On the top of my head, the hair there goes past my shoulders when it is down.
I call this long, even though itās like, 75% shaved? (Maybe more?) It also grows super fast and thick (*Maybelline commercial voice* Maybe theyāre born with it... maybe itās... thatās the truth actually, itās just genetics. Also the #CGmethod helps accentuate.)Ā and I can wear it down and not have anyone realize I have an undercut if itās parted right. It feels long because to me, itās long.Ā
Although, to me, itās been long since it was long enough to touch my eyebrows. Or put a bobby pin in to hold it back, etc.Ā
I also referred to it by its style in the past, for the most part, rather than length. For example: accidental bowl cut, undercut, shag, pageboy, mullet,Ā āTank Girl hairā etc. There was a long while during when I was homeless that I was cutting off big patches with a Swiss army knife because itās just what I did, and it was summer and if you act proud of it, people donāt bother you. (Generally being otherwise aesthetically punk makes every fashion faux pas part of The Look though honestly.) At that time I think I also just described it as undercut, and neglected the broader terms that defined it just on length. Just that it was getting long enough to be in my way.Ā It isĀ long, right now, for me, for the most part.
If someone goes their whole life with hair thatās a couple inches from their scalp before it gets cut,Ā ālongā will mean something specific to this sense of normalcy, if weāre just talking length phrasing. Unless or until they get used to something else. Iād say this time span is different for everybody, kind of like the span of time it takes to get used to being called by a new name. (Not to imply these both take the same time withIN the same individual necessarily.)Ā
But itās a lot less gender-coded than I think you might think. Plus, thereās lots of nonbinary people who are naturally bald or balding. I also know folks who have rewired their sense of this when switching back and forth with relaxers for a long time to natural curl and vice versa. Hair growth looks different on different textures, and thereās different measurements and ways of measuring that folks use to gauge when itās long or when itās ātoo longā etc.Ā
And the range that somebodyās hair has to grow before that individual sees it as long varies a lot, but can be mostly chalked up to the haircut that they normally or recently have been used to. Preference is a part of that but Iād say the recently-used-to thing is much more of a factor.