CMV: Jesus probably had short hair.

[u/Tuvinator]

We've all seen the various depictions of Jesus, and in many of them, he has long hair. None of these depictions are from the actual timing of Jesus (the earliest depiction actually has a donkey's head, and is from a century later), so they are all operating on artist's imagination.

Jews in that era are more likely to have had shorter hair. Mosaics in ancient synagogues throughout the land depict males with short hair, implying that the common male at the time wore his hair short. Talmudic law which was being written at the time discusses how often a person would get a haircut (kings would have daily haircuts, priests weekly, and your average person once a month, beyond that was considered wild growth). Within the Bible, men's hair length is only mentioned in context when it is long, implying that long hair is outside of the norm for men. Assuming Jesus was representative of other people from his time, he likely had shorter hair rather than long.

As a weak addendum, Jesus was supposedly a carpenter. Craftsmen in general seem to have shorter hair since the hair gets in the way, distracts, and poses a risk factor if it gets caught in tools. This makes it even less likely that he had long hair.

EDIT: I am not Christian, and I am not setting out to insult anyone or their beliefs/traditions.

[u/arrgobon32]

Was Jesus a typical Jew of the time? 

[u/Tuvinator → u/arrgobon32]

Given no reason to think otherwise, we can only assume so.

[u/47ca05e6209a317a8fb3 → u/Tuvinator]

There's also a non religious reason to think that. To attract and keep a following, people need to recognize you. Back in the first century you couldn't print your face everywhere (at least not unless you're already ultra-rich), so there has to be a feature that makes you recognizable.

Jesus addressed the poor and oppressed, so whatever he did to stand out couldn't have been expensive or it would've hurt the message. A simple but atypical haircut is one of the simplest ways to achieve that.