By pinkfreud:* " But the shorts are quite short, and the hair is quite long, and there we have it."*
Sounds good to me. You GO, girl!
When Ann Landers wore the same hairstyle for 30 years, she said, “I know what I like, and it’s none of your business.” When Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) played the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, she joked about wearing the same hairstyle for 30 years. It’s only rock ‘n’ roll!
If you can wear it with dignity (no, screw dignity, if you can wear it with pride,) then it’s your thing, doll. Cool trumps all else, all else. 
LOL! I like it. If I’m Grandma Barbie, at least I have a chance of getting a rise out of Geezer Ken or Geriatric GI Joe.
I say if you look good and you’re getting raves and reviews from your hubby…then go for it! Life is short. Be happy!
I’ve seen a lot of older ladies with long hair. Several dear friends and female relatives are older and have long hair. It’s not the long hair, it’s how it’s worn, it’s the whole package.
It never ocurred to me that some people would find long hair inappropriate on an older woman. For heaven’s sake, she can always wear it up, pulled in a bun, away from her face—whatever. So many options. When I was growing up, I remember a neighbor lady (typical old lady type) who always wore her hair in a braided bun. It looked very nice, always age-appropriate (never looked like she was trying to pass herself as someone younger—quite the opposite). One time I saw her come out early in the morning to pick up the newspaper or something, and she had her hair down. It was the prettiest, shiniest, thickest braid. Why in the world should she cut that off, just because she’s passed a certain age?
You know, I sometimes wonder if some women pressure other women to cut their hair out of jealousy. I’m not saying anyone here is doing that (and we all know of women who wear their hair in abysmal ways—long or short), but I believe it happens more than we care to admit.
Oh Hell, No.
I’ve just reached the age when I can be eccentric & get away with it.
I’m among them at 24.
As a guy, my only comment is that we want our women looking sexy. We don’t much care whether your clothes match your age, just whether they accentuate the parts of your body that are good and obscure the bits that have gone to heck.
Just two examples of cases I know of where women where far younger and better looking than their age would dictate and where it would have been a shame had they dressed their age:
Goldie Hawn in “Death Becomes Her”, 47 years old
Anne Bancroft in “G.I. Jane”, 66 years old
[OT] Of course, Liv Tyler will still win in my book, but she looks and is the proper age for myself–so there you go. [/OT]
If short skirts & long hair are the worst of your “offenses”, relax 
I have no problem with older women dressing youthfully to a point. I’m 43 (44 in June), and I wear shorter skirts, high heels, jeans, form fitting clothes and the like. I think the key is in how they’re tailored - nothing screams “freak” more than cheaply made, badly fitted clothes.
On the other hand, I think that after a certain age (beats me exactly when - it’s more of a feeling than an actual chronological number) women need to ditch the micro minis and low cut sweaters. You can be sexy & elegant without giving away the store.
VCNJ~
When I was 30, I said I would cut my hair when I was 40. Now, at 42–I am growing it out–it hasn’t been this long since college.
I love it. I flatiron it and keep it tidy and groomed–and it looks great.
go for it!
As to older women dressing too young–yes, it happens. My MIL tries to wear crop tops and Capris and she’s 70+, and NO, it does not look good on her. She looks like a super-annuated toddler (she is also 4’11").
I think it can be done well and I think it can be done horribly–depends on the person, really. I try to amend current fashion so that I don’t look like I’m trying to be 22 again. I wear boot cut jeans instead of big flares for example–and no T-shrts with flirty little sayings on them etc.
I see no reason why women should look matronly in their 40’s or even 50’s–some look great like that and some don’t.
As long as it still looks good, wear whatever length hair or shorts you want.
I had to cut my hair at 35. It was never really thick to begin with, and it’s started to thin with age. It just doesn’t look good long anymore. I’ve seen a lot of older women who may have had nice, long hair in their youth, but now it just looks stringy and dry. But other older women still have great hair.
Same with clothing. There are styles I would have looked cute wearing in my 20’s that just look pathetic now. But that’s my body and how it has aged. I don’t particularly like to see a low cut shirt on an older woman whose chest/neck has seen too much sun and gotten crinkly, but legs seem to hold up well over time!
I am 50, and very slim, but I ain’t no spring chicken–gravity sucks, ya know?
All my life I have dressed for comfort rather than trends and am not about to change now. I wear jeans and stuff but am not about to dress like my sons’ girlfriends. I do not think anybody desperately needs to see my half a century old bellybutton.
But that’s me.
Women should do what they want. I dunno, I am sort of figuring all this out as I go along. I am interested in clothing and fashion but to me it is unfortunate to be locked into your teens or 20’s when that was a lo-ong time ago.
There is indeed this undercurrent of women pestering other women to “act their age” and it has probably always existed. Sometimes it’s silly and sometimes it’s wise.
My grandma quite seriously told me that I needed to cut off my long dark blonde wavy hair once I was married with a toddler. I was in my late 20’s early 30’s and smiled and did what I wanted, which was keep it long.
At 40 it felt right to cut it to brushing-the-shoulders length layers. It’s been there ever since. Only have 3 or 4 grey hairs but when there is more I will probably leave it–that’s what my mom did and she looked just fine.
There is a lively 80 year old down the block who has a shock of beautiful long white hair; she wears it up in a French knot and it could not be lovelier. She goes out for her brisk daily walk in casual but nicely tailored pants or skirts. I don’t know what I will look like at 80 or if I will even make it there but this woman looks so confident, so lovely.
My mother in law dressed to make an eye-catching statement all her life. This was probably a brilliant success when she was younger. In midlife she was a hefty if attractive woman. In later years she made a pathetic fool of herself wearing fashionable clothes designed for girls less than half her age. It’s not the end of the world, but to me it was too bad that she could not move on and embrace her own time.
Heck, what about the older men out there with bad combovers and potbellies who dress and behave like they’re still the Big Man on College?
I don’t think this issue is confined to women.
Robin
Heck, what about the older men out there with bad combovers and potbellies who dress and behave like they’re still the Big Man on Campus?
I don’t think this issue is confined to women.
Robin
If your relative is in the same part of the country you’re in, maybe it’s a regional culture thing. Meaning that your part of the country seems to me to be pretty conservative.
Here in Boulder, CO where there are loads of “earth mother” types and lots of aging hippies, it is common to see middle aged and older women with long grey or greying hair. It’s also common to see middle aged and older men with long grey or greying hair.
IMHO, one of the pleasures of getting older is doing pretty much whatever you damn please. If you and your mate are happy, who else matters? Last spring on a Florida beach I saw a woman old enough to be my mother (puts her in her 80’s) in a tiny bikini walking hand-in-hand with her man. I wouldn’t show that much wrinkled and saggy skin, but they seemed content and that’s what counts.
When you look in the mirror and decide you don’t like what you see, you’ll modify your style but until then don’t worry about what Aunt Minnie thinks.
I am NOT cutting my hair when I become old and grey. The idea that I have to subscribe to some silly fashion sense and cut my beautiful, two-foot long, natuarlly curly hair is ridiculous and makes me mad. I have a small baby face, and the hair frames it, but I hat curly hair when it’s short anyway. Right now it’s in long tumbling curls, I refuse to lose that.
Around here (N. Dallas/Plano/Frisco), you get a lot of well-to-do women who seem to be obsessed with looking younger.
Let me tell you, it’s really disturbing to see a mother/daughter pair at the grocery store, and see the 40-ish mother and the 14-15 year old daughter dressed almost the same, and not in 40-ish appropriate clothing.
Yes, they look pretty good for a lady that age, yes they put a lot of effort into their bodies, clothes and makeup.
But… don’t they realize that at that age, they’d be twice as hot in something that didn’t make them look silly?
It’s like how a 40 year old man just isn’t going to look age-appropriate in Abercrombie or Hollister t-shirts, that mop haircut and some flip-flops. He’ll look silly.
Put the same guy in a suit or even jeans and a regular shirt, and he’ll look great.
I am one of those who has to confess to not grooming or dressing her age. My hair is slightly past my shoulders (although not yet gray at 47).
I am also guilty of wearing shorter shorts than I should, tighter jeans than I should and tighter tee shirts than I should.
My daughter would be so upset if I cut my hair. She thinks long gray or white hair looks cool. We’ll see…
This is an interesting thread. I’m 34 and small, so when I go clothes shopping, I find a lot of small trendy clothing aimed at the college crowd. Although it fits fine, I always wonder if people think I’m wearing things like low-rise jeans because I just don’t know I’m too old!
I think as long as you dress young without dressing “trashy”, i.e., too much skin, that you should escape the Grandma Barbie label. As for trendiness, well, fashion victims look ridiculous no matter how old they are.
And you’ll have my long hair when you pry it off my cold dead scalp!
Agreed!