It’s true that one should be free to have whatever style suits them, Abby_Emma_Sasha, but many people over 40 just don’t look good with long hair trailing down, either because the hair is thin and stringy, or because of it drawing the eye to the wrinkles, etc. It’s much better to either wear it up, or cut it short than to let it make you look even older than you are.
And yes, that’s IMHO, but I’m as entitled to my opinion as anyone. I’d love to be one of the ones who do look good with long hair, but I’m not. My boss is, and she’s a year older than me.
(Of course, it’s irrelevant with me, because my hair tragically declines to grow any longer than the top of my shoulders without looking stringy, and that’s nothing to do with age. ::sigh:: )
I was just wondering what is considered to be long. Compared to Cat’s picture of her gorgeous hair, mine has been short all of my life. When it’s wet it comes down to the middle of my back but once it dries it’s barely past my shoulders. Loopy corkscrew curls use twice as much hair to get down there.
My mother is 50 and looks fantastic with her salt-and-pepper-Jamie Lee Curtis hair. She’s got a great figure, too.
I’m letting mine grow out now, though, because I’m too cheap to cut it and too clumsy to cut it myself. Eventually I’ll get bored and cut it off. But my hair is always slicked back into a ponytail. There’s nothing sexy or alluring about my muddy, flat, ugly hair. But I’m so beyond caring what I look like that it doesn’t matter.
My thing about men wanting long hair on women is… they never play with it, they never stroke it, smell it, or tell me how nice it looks. They’re just offended if it suddenly isn’t there. What’s the point of having it if no one’s enjoying it?
I’m about to turn 65. My hair is a lovely silver, but I wear my hair very short because it’s thin and fine and I am one of those whose chemo did NOT produce curls, only less hair. While some older women look great with long hair, most don’t. And, there is nothing that looks worse than grey roots.
Truus, I loved your post. It said almost everything I wanted to say!
Since you brought up JLC, I applaud the fact that she isn’t trying to look 20 but I don’t think it’s a sin if she used a little coloring. There are women her age with less gray in their hair so to me she looks older than 50.
I can understand why some women (or men, but you almost never see men with long hair anymore) might feel that shorter hair is more “safely” professional-looking, in terms of attempting to meet people’s expectations. But then if you’re a female with long hair, why not just put it up, or back?
I was short haired as a child (my Mom, god love her practical nature, was NOT going to spend a lot of time grooming a toddler / young child’s hair), long haired up until my senior year of HS (got tired of pulling it back for ball games) and haven’t had it longer than shoulder length since then.
For me, short is the best. I have a lot of hair but it’s baby fine and stick straight. Great when it was long and the fashion but seriously no bueno now.
As for shorter hair signaling that my eggs are drying up and I’m entering crone-dom? Hardly. I consistently have people guess my age as at least 10 years younger and that number is getting larger as I lose weight.
So, in conclusion, it’s short because I want it to be, it’s flattering and, dammit, I rock it.
I was just pondering this topic today… I’ve worn my hair long (past shoulder length) for most of my life. I did the short hair thing for awhile - wasn’t all that flattering, but I was also 60 lbs heavier. I’m back to mid-back length, more or less - I wear it down at work & up in a ponytail most of the time.
You aren’t too old. And it depends on the style of ponytail, anyway. I’d think if it makes you look like a aging cheerleader trying to hang on to her glory days, then it should go. If not, keep it.
And it depends on the style of ponytail, anyway. I’d think if it makes you look like a aging cheerleader trying to hang on to her glory days, then it should go. If not, keep it.