Hair length and age.

iaprilab

ImageUploadedByCurlTalk1382747754.397665.jpg
I will be 45 soon.
Thought on hair length and age. I think age doesn't matter, but I am curious as to what others think.

CurlyInTheFog

I think women should do what they want to do as they age. Haven't we earned the right to make our own rules? At 51 I decided to grow my hair long, because I'd never had it past about mid-back. I grew it past hip in about three and half years. Then this summer I decided I wanted to go full CG and cut back to about shoulder. Not because I'm supposed to have shorter hair, but because I wanted to. And if I feel like growing it out again, I'll do that, too! :thumright:

Lady_Creole

I have never understood why "they" [whoever "they" are], say that as women get older, they should wear shorter hair unless it is to make them look more "mannish" due to menopause.

I am going to grow my hair as long as I can and have long, curly, sensuous hair to go with this new liberation and sexuality I feel as being an older woman.

Changing my outfits as well, more flowing dresses, and skirts...colors and exotic styles.

Blessings!

Firefox7275

None of anyone's business but yours and possibly your employers (within reason, in terms of colour and neatness, not length) how you wear your hair.

I am 40+ and intend to keep dying my hair unnatural colours and grow to waist. Once I am all white I'd like a pastel rainbow.

Most laws and many rules are based in logic, to maintain society, to stop us hurting one another. 'Growing old gracefully' doesn't fit in with that at all - it is nothing more than a whim of fashion since women have worn their hair long into old age for thousands of years. Sikhs don't cut their hair, the bible calls it a woman's glory IIRC.

KauaiMareCurl

I quit going to a hairdresser because while she styled my hair FABULOUSLY, she always took off too much length and told me that once I hit a certain age, I would have to go shorter. Used her pre-CG and she did wonders for my waves/curls (although with silicone products and I couldn't reproduce the results at home). I quit going to her while still pre-CG, when I had let the time between trims elapse to about 3 months (oh horrors of horrors in her estimation) and she cut off two inches off my length (I didn't and still don't have split ends) while saying this is what my hair "needed" since I had gone so long between trims.

Since going CG in January 2013, I've realized I don't need a trim every six weeks (my hair is very healthy). l had a trim recently, after about six months and the Ouidad trained stylist took off a MINISCULE amount thus preserving my length at just past BSL. I am fairly certain that if I'd stayed with my pre-CG hairdresser, my hair would be shoulder length by now because in December I will be 50 and that would qualify as her definition of a certain age.

KauaiMareCurl

Now that I really look at it, it's quite a bit past BSL. Around my face, I have a fair amount of "natural" highlights, as I don't dye my hair (way too lazy). This is second day hair, too
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[email protected]

I think hair should be worn as a woman pleases at any age.
I don't believe that once you become a mother you have to get the typical mom cut and sport shorter hair. (Unless that is what is desired). I see nothing wrong with women of any age sporting highlights, and longer lengths. I especially love seeing older women (+70) with long gray hair, I think it looks beautiful and majestic.

jeepcurlygurl

I'm a cranky 56 year old woman and will never let someone else decide what I should or shouldn't do with my hair, or what clothes I should wear, or what color lipstick I should wear. I do/wear what makes me happy.

spiderlashes5000

iaprilab wrote: »

ImageUploadedByCurlTalk1382747754.397665.jpg
I will be 45 soon.
Thought on hair length and age. I think age doesn't matter, but I am curious as to what others think.

Which one are you? The longer lighter hair or the shorter darker hair?

I used to think when I turned 40, I would wack my hair off to shoulder length or shorter but now that I am 40, I just don't want to.:p

I see women on tv and IRL who are over 40 w/ long hair or long weaves and they look great. So I don't think it's a rule everyone needs to stick to.

I do personally think that once a woman's face (facial skin) starts sagging, a lot of long, flat, vertical hair will only pull it down further, visually. But some women's faces don't sag or they just don't care.

I think it's a good idea to re-assess your (gy) hairstyle every 5 yrs or so. Not for the sake of age...but bc faces do change and so do dress style, make up, lifestyle, etc.

claudine191

I think so much depends on your hair, your face, and your own personal style.

However, I will add that I know a woman over 50 who still dyes her hair black, adds blonde highlights, and buys little lace dresses such as would suit a pre-teen attending a formal dance. She's on her fourth marriage. Frankly, she looks weird. I'm not sure if it's the dresses or the big hair.........she also has a tiny body, so maybe it's the combination of her figure and the great big country music star-style hair. Too much hair; too little face.

Okay, so my answer seems to refer back to my opening statement: whatever suits you matters more than trying to stay young, or impose artificial standards of what's appropriate for one's age.

jeepcurlygurl

^ And that's it exactly. That woman may look weird or not age appropriate to others, but if she likes the way she looks and it makes her feel good/confident/happy, then more power to her. Age should have nothing to do with it.

sixelamy

I didn't know that there was an age that you "had to go shorter"?? Do people think this?? Will your hair magically fall off to the specified length if you don't cut it there? I don't get it..

I've seen old ladies with long hair, and I think it's beautiful.

Although I think some ladies go short, because they don't want to have the effort of longer hair anymore. That's what my mom did once she had a few kids.

curlypearl

No rhyme or reason to that "rule." Who makes up these rules anyway? Maybe the idea is that older women aren't supposed to be sexual - ha ha - and that longer hair is associated with sensuality.

Your hair, your color, your length, your style, your choice! Enjoy.

bringingcurliesback?

I never really understood the society aspect to hair in general. Why? !
Yeah I need to know who decides these things.

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frankie88

I remember a grade school teacher I had when I was little. She was probably in her later 50's, and had long tail bone length grey hair. It was so thick and healthy it looked like some kind of magic unicorn hair. I thought it was so pretty. I hope mine will be long and magical looking when I am that age.

claudine191

Isn't it interesting the things that make lifelong impressions on us? I love long pretty grey or white hair.

But I also love a pixie.

jeepcurlygurl

Well now I want magical unicorn hair!

abstractcurls

[email protected] wrote: »

I think hair should be worn as a woman pleases at any age.
I don't believe that once you become a mother you have to get the typical mom cut and sport shorter hair. (Unless that is what is desired). I see nothing wrong with women of any age sporting highlights, and longer lengths. I especially love seeing older women (+70) with long gray hair, I think it looks beautiful and majestic.

This... I think long gray hair is beautiful, but I hardly ever see it.


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Korkscrew

Firefox7275 wrote: »

None of anyone's business but yours and possibly your employers (within reason, in terms of colour and neatness, not length) how you wear your hair.

I am 40+ and intend to keep dying my hair unnatural colours and grow to waist. Once I am all white I'd like a pastel rainbow.

Most laws and many rules are based in logic, to maintain society, to stop us hurting one another. 'Growing old gracefully' doesn't fit in with that at all - it is nothing more than a whim of fashion since women have worn their hair long into old age for thousands of years. Sikhs don't cut their hair, the bible calls it a woman's glory IIRC.

Well said Firefox. There's no perfectly good reason for women of any age to crawl up into some sexist fashion cage. ... Now that I think of it, men are also pressured to cut their hair too at an older age IMO, but still, it seems there's a lot less pressure on them to do so. Anyway, no one of either gender should feel pressured this way :sad3:

bobby

Korkscrew wrote: »

Firefox7275 wrote: »

None of anyone's business but yours and possibly your employers (within reason, in terms of colour and neatness, not length) how you wear your hair.

I am 40+ and intend to keep dying my hair unnatural colours and grow to waist. Once I am all white I'd like a pastel rainbow.

Most laws and many rules are based in logic, to maintain society, to stop us hurting one another. 'Growing old gracefully' doesn't fit in with that at all - it is nothing more than a whim of fashion since women have worn their hair long into old age for thousands of years. Sikhs don't cut their hair, the bible calls it a woman's glory IIRC.

Well said Firefox. There's no perfectly good reason for women of any age to crawl up into some sexist fashion cage. ... Now that I think of it, men are also pressured to cut their hair too at an older age IMO, but still, it seems there's a lot less pressure on them to do so. Anyway, no one of either gender should feel pressured this way :sad3:

The whole idea of social norms is areal head scratcher for me. Like "you're supposed to do this, that, X, Y or Z when you are this age." Says who?

Blueblood

bobby wrote: »

Korkscrew wrote: »

Firefox7275 wrote: »

None of anyone's business but yours and possibly your employers (within reason, in terms of colour and neatness, not length) how you wear your hair.

I am 40+ and intend to keep dying my hair unnatural colours and grow to waist. Once I am all white I'd like a pastel rainbow.

Most laws and many rules are based in logic, to maintain society, to stop us hurting one another. 'Growing old gracefully' doesn't fit in with that at all - it is nothing more than a whim of fashion since women have worn their hair long into old age for thousands of years. Sikhs don't cut their hair, the bible calls it a woman's glory IIRC.

Well said Firefox. There's no perfectly good reason for women of any age to crawl up into some sexist fashion cage. ... Now that I think of it, men are also pressured to cut their hair too at an older age IMO, but still, it seems there's a lot less pressure on them to do so. Anyway, no one of either gender should feel pressured this way :sad3:

The whole idea of social norms is areal head scratcher for me. Like "you're supposed to do this, that, X, Y or Z when you are this age." Says who?

The meedja.

Fashion mags etc tell us how we are suppose to look.

What's amusing about them is except for very few models most of the people modelling clothes are aiming at a market for people much older than they are.

bringingcurliesback?

I'm planning on a pixie cut soon. But I think people try to weigh you down after hait cuts too. Like when I hacked off my hair last month and people see me their like why it was so pretty? Ny mom is even like don't worry its growing back honey. Lmao

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KauaiMareCurl

Kissing 50 :-)

ImageUploadedByCurlTalk1384125912.451308.jpg

Color is washed out, but I don't dye either. I want to grow it out to hip length and then cut ten inches off to donate, again

banjocurl

well i will be 64 in a week. i have my yearly haircut scheduled with ana of devachan in 3 days and we keep the length, just cut off the dead stuff and shape it a bit.. its below BSL and gray mostly. i think many women cut their hair bc it gets thin and scraggly looking. we are blessed with curls so we can wear long hair and it looks good. my hair is thin but people think it is thick. its the cotton candy effect...

caramix3a

I do wear my hair in an inverted bob, because it does work with my type of waves and curls, NOT because I'm older LOL! Phooey on stupid rules by the haircut police, and other so-called fashion and beauty authorities who seem to think we should all tone it down and disappear after a certain age. And yes, there are far too many menopausal women who whack off perfectly beautiful hair where they looked fine before whacking it off, usually way too short. Unless said women have the right shape of head, features and general look, that "no-nonsense" short haircut only serves to neuter them. But on the right older woman, a very short haircut can look beautiful, as on the right older woman, butt-length, beautifully-kept hair of whatever color looks magical and beautiful. Moral of the story, do what makes one feel and look great and makes one happy, like jeepcurlygurl often says.:)

CynCurlyQ

For years I kept it cut shoulder length, but the truth is that it is much easier for me to deal with it longer (it is about halfway down my back now but I have no plans of stopping anytime soon). I don't care what others think, if it is long and I have a bad hair day I can stick it in a ponytail or a barrette and be done with it, that is what matters for me, and it looks nicer longer curly too.

Morgan_Adcock

My mother's was the generation which started wearing their hair short, and they like to say that long hair looks old. IMO it looks old to them because of their associating it with their mothers' and grandmothers' generations. I also think that hairdressers embraced that slogan because it encourages women to come in for frequent cuts and other services.

Now, young women say that short hair makes you look older, and I think the reason is the same. Their mothers and grandmothers cut their hair short, but long hair was the in thing for their generation, so it looks "younger" to them.

When I tried to grow my hair, I always got sabotaged by hairdressers who wouldn't or couldn't cut my hair so it looked even unless they cut it terminally short. Prior to that, my mother always forced me to have extremely short hair. Now that I've started getting Deva cuts, I've been able to grow it. With all the jump it has, it seems to take forever to grow, but I'm enjoying having it the way I always wanted it, although I'm finding the learning curve harder at this point in my life.

claudine191

When I mentioned how cute my young co-workers would look with pixie cuts, one immediately looked panicked, and said, "Guys don't like short hair! Cutting your hair into a pixie is the first nail in the coffin of middle age!"

Sigh.

curlypearl

^^^Miley Cyrus, Michelle Williams, Mary J. Blige, Keira Knightly, etc. Gee, they look ready for the grave! Sorry if I spelled their names wrong.

claudine191

I know. ^

Korkscrew

claudine191 wrote: »

When I mentioned how cute my young co-workers would look with pixie cuts, one immediately looked panicked, and said, "Guys don't like short hair! Cutting your hair into a pixie is the first nail in the coffin of middle age!"

Sigh.

Funny, can't recall any guy turning down an attractive woman, saying, "She'd be sexy if it weren't for that pixie cut" :rolleyes: