Inspired by the Can men wear shorts thread, can older women wear long hair, mini skirts, shorts, ponytails? What age do you have to pass for it to be considered sad? Can some women carry it off? People should wear what they want, but have you seen someone and said, Shes too old for that?
Yes. 12345
An interesting question. I’m a small 52 year old woman. I can fit myself into whatever style I like, but I have a horror of being perceived as “mutton dressed as lamb”, so keep it pretty modest.
On the other hand, I have a lot of hair and don’t see that changing, even if I do look like Grandmama Addams.
I’m 60, I have thick hair that I can just about sit on, I wear mid-thigh shorts and short sleeve tops. I’d wear more sleeveless if I didn’t have such a wicked farmer’s tan. I also ride horses so I’m often in breeches, which by necessity are very form fitting. I am not thin, I don’t dress my face in makeup, I’m far from a classic beauty.
I wear what makes me happy and comfortable.
I never understood the idea (which thankfully, is finally falling by the wayside) that old women should have short hair. It’s like those women gave up on their femininity. Long hair looks good whether it’s colored, gray, or white.
This made me laugh. I’ve never heard such a phrase.
(And I encourage you not to worry! Or, if you see some side eye, just respond with “baaaa!”)
Some women can definitely carry it off, and quite elegantly so too. They’re nice to see.
My lifelong short hair is feminine and delightful.
My late husband, from NZ/Australia, often employed this term. Always made me laugh, too. 
Gray or white hair tends to be drier, finer, and more fragile, making it harder to care for when it’s longer than younger, darker hair. In addition, long hair (of any color) typically requires more time and effort for washing, drying, etc.
I’ve known a lot of women (including my wife) who wore their hair long in their teens, 20s, and 30s, but at some point in middle age, decided that it just wasn’t worth all of the effort to care for properly, and they’ve cut it it short (and kept it short).
I have recently trimmed mine. Its right to the top of my bra. To me, thats short!
Middle-aged woman with long hair here. I haven’t had short hair since my 20s. The amount of time I spend washing my hair now is about the same as it was then, and I let it air-dry. It’s much healthier that way, and I really don’t care what anyone else thinks. My morning hair routine takes about 5 minutes, total.
I’m in my sixties. I wear my hair as long as it grows, which isn’t nearly as long as it was when i was younger. It’s thinner, too. I think part of shorter hair is that older women’s often just have less hair.
But i wear it in a ponytail, and wear shorts and a t-shirt shirt. It never occurred to me that i wasn’t supposed to do that. And having heard (read, really) I’m just going to ignore it, and continue wearing shorts and a t-shirt much of the time.
People can dress however they want. However,
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Not all clothing is appropriate for all settings.
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Not all clothing is appropriate for all climates.
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Judgy people will also judge what you wear.
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If you find your clothing often elicits snarky comments, rolled eyes, laughter or similar reactions, perhaps reconsider what you wear.
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Don’t wear anything which makes you uncomfortable. If people you care about say your clothing makes them uncomfortable than ask why.
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In general one might want to draw attention to one’s good points, and not emphasize less good points.
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It might depends on the clothing and the person. In my experience older women tend to dress more nicely than younger women. Most people look better smartly dressed than showing abundant skin.
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There are always rules. Some are better than others.
That’s fair, and I should have worded my post as being more “in general” than an absolute.
My “cites” are five years spent working in consumer research in the haircare industry, and a wife who has told me that her time spent on her daily hair routine was cut in half when she went from long hair to short hair. (She has very thick hair, and when it was past her shoulders, it could take her ten-plus minutes just to blow-dry it.)
If I cut it, I’d have to keep getting it cut. If it’s long, I can tie it back; but if it’s short but not quite short enough, then it’ll be in my eyes all the time. Having to get a haircut every little while would be a huge nuisance.
Much simpler to just wear it long. Mine’s been long for something over fifty years now (I grew it out my first year in college.)
It’s faster to comb out than it used to be, because it’s not as thick as it was.
And I’m going to wear what I feel like wearing. Which in my case is usually long cargo pants; though the shirts vary.
Judgy people are assholes. (There’s a judgy comment for you!) I don’t care what they think of what I’m wearing.
Who on earth do you hang around with who, as adults, go around laughing at other people’s clothes? I haven’t heard anybody do that since high school. And it’s been a long time since high school.
Oh – I take that back. I overheard an adult doing it once, and she was teaching children in her care to do it also. But it isn’t common behavior. And it sure made me think less of her.
Hey, something I agree with!
Not everybody’s comfortable “smartly dressed”. Whether they’re comfortable is far more important than whether you don’t like the look of their particular skin. Why should people dress to please your eyes?
I agree with all your points. I am not personally judgemental, and I would never laugh at other people’s clothes. I would hope you choose comfortable clothes you like rather than dress to impress strangers.
However, as a middle aged man, suppose I chose to follow the young mens fashion trend of a decade or so ago, very baggy jeans belted well below the waist to better show off one’s underwear. A stupid trend, it looked ridiculous on young trendsetters and would have looked doubly ridiculous on an older adult. Now that it is out of fashion, it would look even more silly. If I were to wear that around the hospital it might cause some surprise.
Some might comment. Regardless of my comfort level (which would not be high in this example. However, I have been criticized for wearing a respectable dress shirt and tie at work. Some people will comment on anything, and I share your opinion of the judgy.)
This thread questions whether older women could wear certain things. Absolutely they can. They can wear their hair how they prefer. They.can wear shorts and skirts - but it is not always wise to do so in cold Canadian winters.
Ooh, I like that traditional idiom too! 
Now mind you, I think many older women look just fine in “youthful” outfits, and even for the women I don’t think look so fine in them, I keep my mouth shut about it because it’s none of my business.
But yeah, speaking personally, when “dressed up” for office or socializing, I avoid fashions that I consider somewhat too lamb-like for my muttony old late-fifties self. (Top item in that category: any kind of bows. Hair bows, neck bows, sash bows, shoe bows: sorry nope, that’s little-girl and young-babe wear as far as I’m concerned.
I suppose if I had a very severe and grown-up-looking dark tailored suit with a high-collared lace blouse I might put a discreet black satin bow at the neck of the blouse, but that’s as far as I’ll go in that direction. Come to think of it, why don’t I have a very severe and grown-up-looking dark tailored suit with a high-collared lace blouse, dammit? That would look rather kick-ass.)
When I’m not dressed up, my sartorial style is basically “friendly and reasonably clean bag lady”, and IMHO that can include t-shirts, shorts, hair down, hair half-up, or any other casual look. If somebody doesn’t want to see my windblown gray streak or knee wrinkles while I’m waiting for the bus home from the supermarket, then they don’t have to look at me.
But yeah, I have no intention of shortening my medium-length hair to any significant extent. For one thing, that ish gets EXPENSIVE. I didn’t used to enjoy spending money on haircuts even once or twice a year, and since I (re-)learned to trim my own hair during pandemic lockdowns, the idea appeals even less. Going to the hairdresser every couple-few weeks to keep a short-hair style looking tidy is RIGHT out.
Damn straight @susan . I was coming here to say the same.
Ah. My hair took forever to blow dry. So i stopped doing that. I usually wash it in the evening, so it can dry at home, but if i have to go out with wet hair, so be it. If it’s tied in a pony tail, the part that’s in the elastic can still be wet hours later. I also don’t wash it every day. And try to keep it out of the water when i shower on days i don’t wash it.
I have a very low effort hair style. No professional attention and i just brush it daily and wash it when it feels like it needs to be washed. A short feminine hairstyle would be a lot more work. A buzz cut that i did myself would be less work.