Hair: How Long is too Long?

Today, I was eating dinner with my husband in our dining room when I caught a glimpse of myself in a side mirror. I noticed, as if I'd seen it for the first time, that my hair was long. Really long. Too long. I first made this observation a couple of weeks ago, when I had my headshot done. (It's the picture I use on this blog). When the photos came back, I took one look at my hair and knew it was too long. Now, I was reminded of it again.
I've always worn my hair long. It's very thick and curly, and it's just more manageable, not to mention prettier, to wear it longer. I've always considered myself a long-hair person, and, perhaps more importantly, my husband loves it. But there's a difference between gorgeous, movie-star long, and freaky-hasn't-seen-a-salon-since-1975 long. I think my current length is dangerously in the middle. A couple of more inches, and I my look goes from high-maintenance to hideously-neglected.
According to Linda Wells' book, Confessions of a Beauty Editor, anything past the breasts is "spooky". While I wouldn't say this is a hard and fast commandment, it's certainly a safe rule-of-thumb. I have my own ways of knowing if hair (including my own) is too long:
1. It looks flat, stringy, and ungroomed.
2. It looks like it's long because of neglect, not because it was intended to be that way.
3. You have to move your hair to avoid sitting on it.
4. You wear it straight and parted down the middle, and the ends are shaggy and uneven.
5. The only comment that people make about your hair is that it's long.
6. It draws your face down and makes you look tired.
7. It looks awful.

Pretty definitive, I think. The bottom line is that your hair should be getting attention for how gorgeous it is, not how long it is.