I respect women who have grown their hair out.
Why? Because I too once grew it out. And I have experienced the long hair.
I kept my hair long on top of my head, but short at the sides and back. Kinda like the viking style. I did so for a year, during witch it grew quite long. My bangs reached my shoulders, when pulled over my head, it reached the back of my neck.
I must say that having long hair is very tedious, but it looks very good if you can pull it off.
For mee it didn't look the best, but it was better than just keeping a bird's nest (as in not getting any haircuts, and just letting it grow).
I just wanted to try it out and I did.
BTW, I'm a blond and my hair tends to grow into something similar to a bowl cut. Not quite but still similar.
If you are a guy, I recommend you to try growing your hair out just once.