<Note: Since I have decided to not put in an E-mail list collecting system on this site, this post will be regularly reposted to the top of the site once every beginning of the month, in a set time interval. This is to help remind any long time and new readers to read this post and hope you can give a small donation to fund the project to continue on. You don’t have to give anything but if you feel like I am truly giving a lot of amazing value and content, please help out a little.>

This message is from my heart and I hope it reaches to your heart.

I wanted to make a few more confessions. I currently don’t have a job that is making me any income. I started a small consulting company early in the year that does private coaching for men on their insecurities and I have had only 4 clients, all of them non paying. I look at that venture and understand that it is not a success, but I refuse to call it a failure , at least not yet. There is still a lot more work to do in that business idea so it is incomplete and I will eventually get back into that after this project is developed to a magnitude that it can move forward on its own momentum.

I am currently taking a complete break away from developing my primary company and business to build this website to something that is reasonably informative and good so that people looking for solution can find this website. I have not put any ads on the site, no affiliate links, no marketing, way to monetize it. However, I don’t know how long I can keep doing this. I only have savings for 1 year and it is running out. If I don’t find a way to bring in money, I will have to divert my focus and energy away from this topic and website, which is something I don’t want to do.

I have had this deep desire for at least a few years in the desire to create a type of website or resource for people who wanted to learn about how to grow taller. Now that I finally have given myself permission to take the plunge and go into this project with full intensity and passion. For the last month or so all that I have done is type and write about this subject. I have become so tired sometimes and I always tell myself that I need to take a break from it all, at least for a few days. However, no matter how many times I tell myself that I should slow down and take a break, I can never do it.

This subject creates such a strong passion inside of me. When I think or talk about this subject, I can feel the passion come out of me. I know this subject is something I can talk nonstop about and never feel bored over. I will do this project for free, but I really wish I could be paid a little bit for it. I am looking for either a one time small donation of $10 ($20 if you are feeling generous) or a donation of $1 ($2 if you are feeling generous) on a monthly basis. The donations goes to a personal PayPal account of mine and I will use all of the money to pay for the operating fees for this project. You can cancel anytime you want or when you feel like this site is no longer providing the type of great value you used to have.

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I have only been on this crazy little project of mine for only a little over 5 weeks now but after searching the entire internet, at least the ones that are written in English, your website heightquest.com is quite possibly the one true resources that is still going strong and active. All the other resources have slowed or died down in activity and being able to produce and find true and great content.

When I look at the boards on say Giant Scientific, or The Impartial Height Message Board, or HeightForum, or MakeMeTaller, I can see that all of the discussions and possible normal and common questions and answers have all already been answered, at least a dozen times over. I mean, how many times can I keep seeing and reading the same type of message…”I am a 19 year old boy who is 5’5″ and want to grow taller. What can I do? Can I still increase in height?” – This is the average post and we all already know the answer, and what to say. Most often however, we say something kind and PC, so as not to hurt the person too much or destroy their hopes. I never want to be that kind of person who goes around destroying the dreams and hopes of others.

Your dedication in your “quest” is something I admire and I wanted to thank. Without some of the articles and ideas you have found and written about , I would have never know that certain ideas for height increase even existed. You can definitely opened my eyes to what is truly possible. One of the earliest posts I ever wrote about was all of the current options that were available at this time. I found an article written by Sam Snyder on his blog talking about your site and all of the ideas you have found located HERE.

I am amazed at what the list showed. When I first saw the list, I was quite confused and unknowledgeable about many of the techniques and method listed like “Using ultrasound, shock wave therapy, and electrical/electromagnetic stimulation to enhance bone formation” or “Injecting mesenchymal stem cells to influence differentiation of bone and muscle cells”. It took me a while to do some mor research and definitely some reading of scientific journal articles to understand where Sam or you were coming from. Now I understand.

I remember maybe 3 or 4 years ago finding your website when I was randomly googling for random stuff. I still remember your website and I thought the title “Quest For Height” was clever, and that you might have a unhealthy obsession towards such a goal which I didn’t think was achievable, at least at that time. Now I know. Now I can kind of see what you see.

Tyler, I know one day you will have to give up on this endeavor. I don’t expect you to keep on doing this for another 10, 20 years. You may move on but the ideas an methods you proposed will be around for someone else to take up and run with. Thank you for being one of the only resources available that I could actually look to to get a truly realistic and scientific approach to this problem. You started your website on this idea and I will continue the endeavor until someone else can come along with the same type of passion, commitment, and persistence to keep searching and learning.

I don’t expect to keep on doing this for the rest of my life, but I will try to keep on writing insightful, detailed, and useful articles as much as I can. I am afraid already that one day I will run out of useful stuff to say. One day I may not find or have another good subject to talk about, because everything that can be said has already been said.

This niche of height increase is not big, unlike weight loss. With weight loss, there seems to be a new diet or fad idea every few years. There are nearly millions, if not hundreds of millions of people who are already writing about their weight lose program or schedule on their own personal blogs, but those probably only gets read by themselves, and 3 close friends. What we write about is soooooo much harder to do, so much more difficult to find a solution for.

You are at least 3-4 years ahead of me on knowledge on what is going on in the scientific community. I still have at least another 100 ideas, methods, and product to look through and review at least. That will last me at least a few years. It seems like every day I hear about a new product or method being mentioned. But I will get to it. I will one day be able to review every crazy idea on height increase on the internet, and maybe in the world. I know, I sound like Sergey and Larry when back in 1996 in their Stanford dormrooms and believed that they could collect all of the data and information from the world wide web and organize them all in a orderly way. I think this niche is small enough that only 1 person (maybe 2 people) can do all of the work. I can’t imagine the whole subject area being more than say 1000 posts. I just past 180 posts after 5 and a half weeks. If I keep on going at this rate, I should be able to cover all of this topic in less than 2 years, even if the rate at which I produce articles and posts decrease by 50%. Like I stated before on a previous post, I want this site to be the first place people find on their google rankings when they type in something like “how to grow taller”. I want the people to be informed, and wise on what is possible.

<<WARNING: Please, , Please, PLEASE , If there is one post I would want you, the prospective height increase seaker to read, this RIGHT HERE is the one article/post I would want you to read out of all the other posts on this site!!>>

Something I have stated many times over and warned about to many height increase seekers is to realize that there may be two very bad end results that can come about if one stays on this path or this endeavor for too long.

1. After many years and years of frustration, trials, scams, and failures one finally gives up and accepts that they will never be able to grow any taller than what they are at now.

2. They try so hard on one idea or method that they actually manage to hurt themselves, either in their knees, ankles, or back. That leads to a chronic and increasing severe joint problem filled with pain.

I found a post from the Impartial Height Increase Message Board (found HERE) where a poster of the name MarcusCamby23 made a few comments that really, and I mean REALLY sobering and depressing comments which has really stuck to me.

Same old MC23 August 26 2009 at 12:45 AM		Joey
Good to see you FINALLY agreed to what I said about working on your game first of all.   Hopefully you still play because you want to and you love it….and not disgruntled like I am. I mean your best days are still in front of you. Yeah, I have an excellent memory…especially when it comes to random information that can’t help me in the real world. I remember ALL that stuff, like everything that has ever happened over the last decade in HI. I did quit for a while actually, but I found something promising that kind of brought me back and hoping I can help BRING a real HI product to the masses instead of waiting for someone else to. You’re quite the introspective individual now man. I mean you still have the ‘end of every episode of Doogie Howser’ type moments in which you reflect on what you’ve learned…same old guy. The part about getting older though…deep but I mean OUCH…I mean I’m a bit older than you are man. Good to see you learned from your mistakes and can look back on those days sort of fondly. And yeah, kudos on not killing yourself. So you still looking to grow now?

Double Holy Crap September 22 2009 at 2:25 PM		l0ck n l0ad
I’m extremely suprised to hear again from you Marcus… I recall a while after you disappear a few people at the forum were wondering where you disappeared and were curious if you got that surgery done. I remember ‘google hunting’ for your nickname and dug up some forum where you pretty much wrote the same thing that you went through rough times and flew to China but eventually decided not to get the surgery, I just wonder was it your decision purely or the doctors convinced not to get it, which would seem very rational at the height you are.Like Joey said indeed you have done some tremendous maturing up and I believe most of us have. I remember when you first came on the board you were filled with rage for being only 6’2″ and felt like you got cheated out of your height, which only led to people flamming and getting pissed off at you, but after a few years you had that 2nd spurt that took you to 6’4″, and you should know you are considered TALL in every country out there and in most countries VERY TALL. From now on just work on your skills bro and you’ll be fine, besides I assume it’s more rewarding to achieve things when you have to work hard for them. Anyway I’m very happy to see you are doing well and thank Gosh you didn’t end your life. I wish you the best of luck in your sports career and life in general and you’ll drop by again some time. Peace.

hi January 25 2010 at 10:28 AM		ano
welcome back me

Same here September 26 2009 at 9:10 AM		l0ck n l0ad
Whenever I enter my username to login it also makes me crack a smile.I still have my old yahoo e-mail, only that it gets spammed by my beloved family members with crap jokes they keep forwarding me, I still keep that e-mail but rarely use it. I have a new email which I check more often I’ll let you know later on.

Me: The truth is that life will move on. You will one day move on from this endevaor, and you will forget about this site too. You will. I promise you that one day you will forget 99% of everything you learned from reading this site about all the weird biomedical innovations going on. You will one day stop desiring to increase your height.

Forums Die…Ideas Die… Movements and Fads Die… Even Entire Civilizations and Nations Die…We Will Die…

In 10 years you will have moved on and forgotten about this site…And in 10 years the human civilization would still not have found a solution to the ancient human dilemma of their natural born height or size. 

–Don’t you think that after 2,000,000 of human evolution and human trials and tribulations, experiments and ideas, fads and innovation, someone would have already figure out the trick or technique to grow taller?? —

My point is if there was an easy or simple way to grow taller, someone in our ancestor’s historical past would have figured it out by now. So why has there not been something discovered yet?

What I hope from you as the reader is that when you are so focused on this idea that you MUST increase your height, please always keep the bigger picture in mind. Never forget that increasing your height should be only part of the whole picture, not the entire picture.

How can that be? Isn’t it supposed to be the most important thing in your life? Maybe it is right now, but I can almost guarantee to you the reader that the reason you want to grow taller is NOT because you feel shorter than other people, it is because you want to be loved, and you are not getting the type of love and emotional bond and support that you crave so deeply inside. Often it is because we feel like there is no one there to truly love us for who we are at our most core leve, however almost always, it is because we never learned how to love ourselves. What we really lack is a love for ourselves.

I hope to all of you, men and women, that one day you will find someone who you can love with all of your heart and who loves you back as much as you love them. When that day comes along, you will forget all this talk about trying to grow taller. It will seem irrelevant, because the center of your life will be on something else. I can assure you that the day you find your true love (whether it is someone else or yourself) or the day you become a mother or father for the first time, you will forget this site. That is okay. I want you to move on to a better life, because you deserve it. You don’t need to suffer through the constant daily frustration of desiring to make this change within yourself.

I ask that you however just wait it out, live your life ,and hope that the scientists and researchers will be able to find that “magic bullet” one day. You may never be able to receive the treatment but if you ever have children, it might be available for them. They will never have to go through the same type of mental and emotional hell you had to endure and deal with .

Technology is changing the way we live, and the way we behave. It used to be that people could stay in one career field, one job their entire life. They start at a major company fro the very bottom, work themselves slowly up the ranking, and once they reach the golden years, they could retire and get a pension. That does not happen anymore. There are far much more competation in your generation (I am assuming you are part of GEN Y or later). You are no longer just competing against your fellow Americans. You will have to compete against the millions upon millions of college graduates that come out of school in China, India, South Korea, Iran, Russia, Brazil, and other developing countries. Do you really want to devote and spend years of your life focusing on trying to increase your body? Maybe it might be a better idea to focus on developing your mind, creating businesses and giving value.

When you can get your professional life fully handled, then come back and get involved. This endeavor will most likely take you away from the other important goals in your life. Make this only a side project.

I strongly suggest that you only view height increase and the possibility of growing taller in a passive role. I don’t believe it is worth it to put any of your time, energy, and effort in trying yourselves to find a solution.

I understand what it feels like when you are just 15 or 16 and you are shorter than your friends and maybe even the girls you like. It seems like the entire world is against you and you resent the fact that the world is so unfair.

This is the ultimate definition of true success. True success is that fact that when it is tested against the force and power of time, it holds and stands strong. If something is just a movement or fad, it will eventually crumble and disappear. If it is truly a great idea or movement, it’s influence and power will once increase over time.

Let me teach you one idea called Amara’s Law

Amara’s Law states that we almost always overestimate what we can accomplish in the short term and always underestimate what we can accomplish in the long term. 

I can almost bet money that if you spend 10-15 years of your life working and studying to find a solution to your height increase dream, you may not have anything to show for it at the end, and realize that it can not be accomplished. However, if you can put that type of energy, effort, and time towards your career, what you can accomplish and give to the world will be astronomical. In 10 years, you can become a doctor, maybe even a surgeon if you are a college grad. In 10 years, you could be married, have 3 kids, divorced, and remarried with another kid. 10 years in this modern age is a long time, with many big events that had occurred in your life.

My whole point is this: I suggest that you focus your energy, effort, and time on a goal that has more chance of progress, fruit, and rewards. Don’t sacrifice a chance to live a more full life in the pursuit of this dream which may turn out to be an illusion at the end. 

When I was doing research and reviewing the product called Helpo Growth Formula I found another supplement that seems to be similar in its function. So I did what any guy who spends over 16 hours a day online would do. I typed the words “Human Growth Complex” into google to see what was said about it. It turned out I was wrong about the advertised function of this supplement compound. There was quite a few legitimate online stores selling this supplement and I will list them here as resources.

Resource 1 – A1 Supplements , Resource 2 – Livestrong.com , Resource 3-  fitFLEX , Resource 4 – MASS NUTRITION

Here is what the product is actually intended to do, not the height increase that I thought it was advertised to do. (From Resource 1 & Resource 4)

Ultra Lab Nutrition, specializing in the most powerful legal sports nutrition supplements on the market, presents its newest anabolic… Human Growth ComplexTM… a powerful compound specifically formulated to accelerate muscle growth and recovery through Homeopathic means. This product is manufactured under the stringent guidelines of the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (H.P.U.S.)

The homeopathic medications in Human Growth Complex work in synergy to accelerate muscle growth and recovery without the adverse side effects normally attributed to illegal anabolics. Faster muscle recovery means faster, easier muscle growth. For those individuals who have difficulty in gaining weight, Human Growth Complex stimulates appetite and aids the body in nutrient absorption. Of special interest to strength athletes is the fact that Human Growth Complex dramatically strengthens connective tissue including ligaments and tendons. Stronger connective tissue leads to immediate strength increases. Other benefits derived from Human Growth Complex include supporting healthy muscles and joints, increased energy and stamina, and greater concentration and focus. (Resource 1)

Lift Your Youthfulness And Accelerate Muscle Growth And Recovery!

Human Growth Complex and Human Growth Hormone – HGH – supplements for muscle building and strength enhancement are an integral part of any athlete’s training program. Human Growth Complex can aid in achieving maximum muscle growth and muscle strength without harmful anabolic steroids or illegal black market steroid products. Get the most out of your training program!!! Train using a regular regimen of homeopathic nutritional products from Ultra Lab for maximum weight gain and muscle growth. Many athletes spend valuable time at a gym or other training facility and want to get the most out of their bodybuilding and fat loss training regimen. That’s where bodybuilding supplements come in. In order to burn fat, gain weight and build muscle with maximum efficiency, fitness training, strength training and bodybuilding regimens must look toward Human Growth Complex and human growth hormone – HGH – for help.

Benefits of Human Growth Hormone Supplements

The homeopathic ingredients in Human Growth Complex work in synergy to accelerate muscle growth and recovery without the adverse side effects normally attributed to harmful anabolic steroids. Faster muscle recovery means faster, easier muscle growth. For those individuals who have difficulty in gaining weight, Human Growth Complex stimulates appetite and aids the body in nutrient absorption. Of special interest to strength athletes is the fact that Human Growth Complex dramatically strengthens connective tissue including ligaments and tendons. Stronger connective tissue leads to immediate strength increases. Other benefits derived from Human Growth Complex include a reduction in pain and inflammation in muscles and joints, increased energy and stamina, and greater concentration and focus. (Resource 4)

Me: Here are the facts on the facts, ingredients, and the directions on how to use the supplement

Supplement Facts:

Serving Size: 1 Tablet Servings Per Container: 126

Amount Per Serving:

Active Ingredients: Somatrophine (gh) 12x, gonadostimuline 12x, orchitinum (testicle) 12x, adrenal gland 12x, thyroidinum 12x, bone marrow 14x, bone marrow, cortisone aceticum 14x, saw palmetto 6x, tribulus terrestris 6x, caladium seguinum 8x, agnus castus 8x, alfalfa 6x, RNA 12x DNA 12x, avena sativa 6x, damiana 6x.

Inactive Ingredients: Dextrose, magnesium stearate, silica.

None of the ingredients in this product are derived from bovine (cow) sources.

Directions: Chew 1 tablet three times daily. Desirable times to use the product would be in the morning, afternoon and evening on an empty stomach. Avoid food and hot beverages within 15 minutes before and after use.

Me: The reviews on this product are in general very good.  The 5 main benefits the supplement claims to give the user are

1. Muscle Gaining

2. Strength Gaining

3. Increase In Energy

4. Increased ability to burn fat

5. More youthful feel 

So for 1 bottle which consist of 126 tablets you pay $29. You take 1 tablet 3 times a day.

Conclusion: I made a mistake from looking at the name of the product and believing it was a supplement used to increase height. It is not used for that. However, if one did a more extensive research on this product, one would see that many people do go on the internet boards and ask whether this product can be used to increase their height (HERE and HERE). In general the answer was a negative. It is supposed to increase muscle mass, give more energy, and make one feel younger. There is some synthetic growth hormone derivative in it and studies have shown that HGH does help one feel younger and give one more energy.

So, this product is good for everything listed above, but not height increase. I might recommend it for anyone who wants to take some type of supplement to make them get more fit in collaboration with an exercise program. For height increase, it probably won’t work.

So I was again scouring the internet and discovered what appears to be another product which claims to be able to help the height seeker grow taller. The product is called “Helpo Growth Formula” and it appears to be a type of herbal extract formula one takes orally. You can find the main website for the product HERE.

On the main page, this is the claim being made…

Helpo Growth Formula is a safe herbal treatment that will make your dream height come true !

The special formulation of HELPO Growth Formula helps in total development of the body. So your personality naturally boost up. If your physical development is below average standarts, it makes you frustrated and  of course less confident.It becomes extremely important for you to overcome this problem to be more competent.

Helpo Growth Formula will help you cope with and conquer serious stature issues. These painful problems include being shorter than your peers or siblings, poor self-image, emotional problems, growth delay, height discrimination, being teased for being short, and many other social and psychological issues.

Helpo Growth Formula is made up of natural extracts combined together to perform multi function for a faster and better growth result.

This formula is composed of natural ingredients that is why this won’t have any side effects just a satisfactory result that would give you better healthier and happy lifestyle.

Me: Let me just say it very clearly right now. This product is A SCAM. It is clearly a scam, and one of the worst scams I have seen yet. I honestly don’t even understand how some people can be tricked into buying this product but the clues are all there. If you just some parts of the FAQ page, you would see that they have product that can not possibly work and are only selling hope to people who really want to become taller.

I didn’t want to talk about costs on the main part which is only to be informative but this part is where I make the judgement. If you go to the costs/order page you find out that the Help Growth Formula is very expensive. Here are the prices currently listed on the website.

2 month supply – $129

4 month supply – $239

6 month supply – $369

Okay, at least they offer free shipping if you buy the 6 month supply. If you just look at the prices, you realize that the people selling this product doesn’t even understand basic economics. The rate at which they sell the 4 month supply is less than the rate which they sell the 6 month product!

Sure, they have the standard testimonials where supposed customers write in to them and tell them a few success stories. However, I REALLY doubt those testimonials were written up by true customers.

If you look at the questions and answeres I italized for the FAQ page you would realize that these people can not even do what the other height increase scams do. They state very clearly that they will not give you a refund if the stuff doesn’t work. The major difference that makes these products different than other height increasing supplements and herbal extracts is their quality customer service. That’s the real thing that makes them great, the fact that they are nice to you. I don’t give a fuck if the people are horrible to me as long as they can really show the stuff works!!.

The crazier claims made by the sellers are 1. The product is not FDA approved (no shit!) 2. It has no side effects (no drug or supplement can ever make that type of claim) and 3. You don’t need a prescription (wow, isn’t that convenient that you don’t need to talk to your doctor and get their medical and professional advice on this product)

The last part which I had a problem with was this answer to a question posed: One bottle of Helpo Growth Formula is 1 ounce or 30ml. It’s approximately a 60-day supply. Am I to believe that I am supposed to pay $130 for 1 once of some secret herbal formula concoction made of who know what?? There is not even a section which tells me what ingredients are inside. There could be urine in there for all I know. 

Conclusion: I understand that in this world there are some very desperate people who really, REALLY want a way to increase their height. They want that secret special magic potion that can change their body so they can start feeling better about themselves. I understand. However, I really am begging the people out there who have ever considered this product to never, ever even consider getting this product. This is an absolute scam of a product. It can never do what it claims. If you really want to change your height, think about anything else, just don’t fall for this scam

I wrote in a previous post about how brutal and tough the battlefield of love really is (HERE). I admit it, this article post has nothing to do with how to increase our height or grow taller. However, I stated in a previous post that the theme and direction of this website/blog is changing. I plan to also look into the psychological effects of having this most unique of desires. As an heterosexual adult male who has suffering through some height insecurity in my past, I can tell anyone who is reading that my height insecurity was directly linked to my own self image of how attractive I thought I was.

At one point, I have felt short, ugly, lonely, and even depressed. Who would be willing like me, much less love me? Will any reasonably attractive girl ever give me a chance or will I have to “settle” for someone who I am not completely interested in because the girls I am interested in refuse to “settle” for me? Am I not good enough or attractive in the eyes of the “hot”girls?

I once hated this game we call life since it seemed so unfair. I really hated the process we might call the “mating rituals” like dating, sex, relationships since I was so lose and confused. Then I just let everything go, accepted everything, and surrendered instead of fought. I learned how to play the game, the best strategies, and the correct mindsets. For the rest of the guys who might have been in my shoes or are in the them right now, I promise things will get better

I do wanted to point out that if one is a male and below average in stature, that does not mean that one’ life is over or that one will never be able to find a mate. It is just that one has to try harder, maybe A LOT HARDER. Women are brutal in terms of choosing mates and for any guy who is reading this who ever tried to gain the attraction and interest in the opposite sex, they understand what I mean. Biology and evolution are absolutely ruthless against us because we are programmed to act in certain ways. If we try to resist against out most basic instincts and evolutionary traits,  we risk a life of pain and suffering. For men, that means many lonely nights. For women, that means many lonely nights too. The world will never just give us what we want if we just stand around hoping for it. If you want something, go after it.

I found this rather disheartening article written by the people at BodyLanguageProject.Com. It was an interesting read and makes me feel a little paranoid afterwards but it is important to remember that a person’s height does have a rather big impact on one’s well being, especially one’s love life. The fact that the article is written and has over 15 scientific articles as citations shows how clear the facts of life are. The author is Christopher Philip. You can get to the link to the article HERE.

It’s a fact of life. Height is just one of those things we can do very little, if anything, about, and yet it is so very important in dating and attraction. I will go through a variety of points to show you exactly how important it is and what researchers have found about the preferences women have when it comes to this quality. The end result might bring tears, but there is no sense ignoring good hard science. By acknowledging the reality of the situation, you can use your approaches on women more selectively and sparingly, you can employ lifts in your shoes or you can use one of those stretching machines! Really, there isn’t a whole lot that can be done to fix inherent height issues, but by knowing about their existence, you can modify your “game” and end up more successful in dating. Acting according to what the science says is the best way to work most efficiently. Without wasting any more time, let’s get straight into the research.

According to Hartfeil and Sprechler (1986) height is one of the most important characteristics determining overall physical attractiveness as determined by women. I doubt that any reasonable person would refute this statement. However, at the same time, one may not understand the extent of its importance. The male taller norm is the cardinal rule of dating. Gillis and Avis (1980) took information collected from bank account applications and found that only 2 couples out of 720 consisted of a pair in which the woman was taller than the man. This is an outstandingly large number. This means that you have less than a one percent chance of courting and marrying a woman who is taller than you. Having a small chance does not mean no chance at all though. Being shorter simply means that you are going to have to work harder to get a woman who is taller. Tall women are looking for the same qualities as short women after all. However, if she is taller than you, she will expect more in terms of resources and power to make up for the height difference.

In a study by Hensley (1994) women preferred a man who was 72 inches (183 cm) tall as a benchmark. The preference for the six foot tall man is overwhelming, says Hensley. In his study, consisting of 145 females, 32 percent reported this as their preferred height. Thirty-two percent is not everyone, and most certainly not the majority, so this statistic might give you hope! The 68 percent of women who don’t prefer the 6 foot tall man are also potential suitors, and must be considered. However, fundamentally there are even fewer that are suitable for you because some of these women might prefer men who are taller or even shorter than you regardless of what height you happen to be, further shrinking your pool of eligible women. Here comes the better news. In a study by Cameron (1978) it was found that 100 percent of the women advertised the desire to date a man who was 4 inches taller than themselves. Hensley’s (1994) study, mentioned above, showed that on average, women and men both prefer the man to be 2 to 3 inches taller than the woman in a relationship. Why is this news better? It’s better for the simple fact that it destroys the 6 foot tall benchmark rule. That is, men aren’t at a huge disadvantage just because they aren’t all 6 feet tall. Men simply must be taller then the women they seek. It is much easier to change your target date than it is to change your height! Furthermore, a study by Shepperd and Strathman (1989) revealed that 95 percent of the female participants preferred a taller man, 3 percent the same height and 2 percent preferred males shorter than themselves. Therefore it suggests that it is not the absolute height but rather the relative height that matters the most. Finally, we have something to work from! If we accept this information, and we should, than we also accept that you and I, and everyone else, will have a far better chance of getting what we want from a woman who is shorter than ourselves.

As you might expect, height has been shown to be more important to men than to women’s attractiveness. So why is it that women find height to be so important? Beigel’s (1954) study showed that people attribute everything from dominance, superiority, fearlessness, protectiveness, ambitiousness, leadership qualities, athleticism and sheer physical strength to tall people over shorter people. Tall men also tended to command attention from others, which women found appealing.

If all this wasn’t enough, tall men also get other societal fringe benefits. Not only is height important in dating, it has also been shown that taller men (about 6 feet 2 inches and over) have higher starting salaries. They are also more likely to be hired in the first place, particularly by sales recruiters. They are more often selected as leaders and chosen for corporate training programs.

So if you are short what can you do about it? Not a hell of a lot, that’s for sure! You must at least accept that these rules apply. All the bitching in the world will never change this. Just accept it, and then deal with it. If you are short, get rich and powerful, then nothing else matters! If you are tall, enjoy the perks – at least until you get to the next paragraph where I will discuss the ceiling effect. There is one other bit of information that may be of assistance. It is taken from Wilson (1968) in Lerner and Moore (1974) who showed that height estimates were related to academic status. That is, as the man’s academic status increased, he was also judged to be taller. This means that if you make yourself out to be smarter or as having a more prestigious occupation, then you are more likely to be thought of as taller. Therefore, it is possible to boost your status to boost your perceived height, be it only temporarily. At the end of the night when you are standing face to face (or face to breast!) she will surely note your exact height regardless of your occupation.

Interestingly, there seems to be a “ceiling effect” where tall males (over 6 feet) suffer a decrease in fitness. That is, women tend to find extremely tall men less attractive. This has been noted by several researchers. Women tend to prefer men of a medium stature over really tall men or really short men. In a study by Graziano et. al. (1978) similar results showed that men of medium height (5’9″- 5’11”) were rated as more attractive over shorter (5’5″- 5’7″) or taller men (6’2″- 6’4″), regardless of the height of the women (4’10”- 6’1″). This means that if you aren’t average, or slightly above average, then you are going to have to work hard to attract mates.

No question, as the research shows, height is important in the dating marketplace. Men are dated more frequently when they are taller, have a social advantage over shorter men, and even have been shown to have prettier girlfriends. Therefore, searching for a mate is more difficult if you are short. However, if you are shorter, look on the bright side – women report dating men more frequently who are taller than themselves but do not necessarily rate them as better looking. I’m sure that really matters, right?

References

Beigel H.G. 1954. Body height in mate selection. Journal of Social Psychology 39: 257-268.

Bercheid E. and E. Walster. 1974. Physical attractiveness. L. Berkowitz, ed. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Academic Press, New York.

Cameron C., S. Oskamp and W. Sparks. 1978. Courtship American style: newspaper advertisements. Family Coordinator 26: 27-30.

Feingold A. 1982. Do taller men have prettier girlfriends? Psychological Reports 50: 810.

Gillis J.S. and W.E. Avis. 1980. The male-taller norm in mate selection. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 6: 396-401.

Graziano W., T. Brothen and E. Berscheid. 1978. Height and attraction: Do men and women see eye-to-eye? Journal of Personality 46: 128-145.

Hartfeil E. and S. Sprechler. 1986. Mirror, Mirror…The Importance of Looks in Everyday Life. State University of New York Press, Albany.

Hensley W.E. 1994. Height as a basis for interpersonal attraction. Adolescence 29: 469-474.

Kurtz, D.L. 1969. Physical appearance and stature: important variables in sales recruiting Personnel Journal December: 981-983.

Pawlowski B., R.I.M. Dunbar, and A. Lipowicz. 2000. Tall men have more reproductive success. Nature 403: 184.

Pierce C.A. 1996. Body height and romantic attraction: a meta-analytic test of the male-taller norm. Social Behavior and Personality 24: 143-150.

Shepperd J.A. and A.J. Strathman. 1989. Attractiveness and height: the role of stature in dating preference, frequency of dating, and perceptions of attractiveness.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 15: 617-627.

Stogdill R. 1948. Personal factors associated with leadership. Journal of Psychology 25:35-71.

Wilson P.R. 1968. Perceptual distortion of height as a function of ascribed academic status. Journal of Social Psychology 74: 97-107.

Woll S. 1986. So many to choose from: decision strategies in videodating. Journal of Social and Personality Relationships 3: 43-52.