Short hair on older women

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hair stops growing as long and also gets very thin when you get older.

+1
I'm 56 and a friend and I were just discussing this. We used to wonder why women cut their hair in their 40s/50s. Now that we're in that age range, it's become obvious. When we let our hair grow, the ends are much thinner and less filled out than they were as younger women. So we cut those thin ends. It winds up getting shorter and shorter as the hair thins out more. Nothing worse than a woman our age with long, stringy hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 58. My hair is naturally wavy and I still have a lot of it. I straighten it about half the time. Barring a major health issue, I have no plans to cut my hair short enough that I can’t pull it up. Even my hairdresser says short hair would be way more work for me based on my hair type.

I don’t wear it as long as I did in my 20s and 30s but that’s a personal preference, not pressure to follow an unwritten rule about long hair on older women. I keep it around my shoulders or just below these days.

+1
This describes me too. I almost always wear my hair in a ponytail, so it has to be at least long enough to pull it back. I do think it would be more work if I had shorter hair that couldn't be pulled into a ponytail. It would have to be styled every day and I'm not up for it.

[Anonymous]

I'm 42 so when I was growing up it was definitely a thing that women would usually cut their hair short around 60. I remember reading Hints from Heloise in the newspaper and my mother and I always commenting on how beautiful her long gray hair was and how different that was. Lol, not anymore.

I do understand that it's a way to combat thinning hair. My MIL has very thin hair and has always had short hair as long as I've known her. My SIL (40s) has thinning hair also. Will be interesting to see if she cuts it short. It looks good on MIL but on SIL I think it would make her look ill because she is so small and so thin and bony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting discussion, because I think that many of the aging actresses in Hollywood who continue to wear hair down to their waists (most of them with extensions) would look far, far better with hair cut to above their shoulders. (I'm looking at you SJP, Demi, Nicole).

I agree. I don’t know many people with the short old lady cut in real life, but I do know many people who would benefit by taking up their hair by a few inches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do older women get their haircut short when that exposes their necks and necks show age? And is it because their hair gets thin, they think it makes them look better, or they want less hassle of washing it?

How are you defining “older women”?

Why do I care if my aging neck is exposed? Do you consider it indecent?

I’m in my 50s, and my hair is halfway down my back. It is thick and frizzy, so twisted into a bun every day. Short hair is a nuisance to deal with. A neighbor/family friend wore a bun well into her 80s when her arthritis made it too painful, and I always admired her style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 58. My hair is naturally wavy and I still have a lot of it. I straighten it about half the time. Barring a major health issue, I have no plans to cut my hair short enough that I can’t pull it up. Even my hairdresser says short hair would be way more work for me based on my hair type.

I don’t wear it as long as I did in my 20s and 30s but that’s a personal preference, not pressure to follow an unwritten rule about long hair on older women. I keep it around my shoulders or just below these days.

55 with very thick hair. Below shoulders. I have never had short hair. I would look awful given my head size and face shape.

[Anonymous]

I love a pixie! I look best in one myself, but I boomerang between pixie and short wavy bob. I look so much more frazzled and old with the bob. Also, I do not care what you think!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No idea. My Mother always called women who did that "Q-tips."

With quality wigs readily available and affordable, there is no reason except for ignorance and personal choice that a woman cannot have attractive hair as she ages.

I have a few choice words for your mother and you but will keep them to myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do older women get their haircut short when that exposes their necks and necks show age? And is it because their hair gets thin, they think it makes them look better, or they want less hassle of washing it?

Maybe long hair is just the current trend. Look at Miss America photos of the 1950s where many contestants have short curly haircuts. In the 1980s there were a variety of short styles. These days I see the high school girls heading to school with the same long hair with no styling or shape.

You don't wrap your long hair around the front of your neck so how does long hair help? Why don't most men feel the need to grow their hair long to cover the wrinkles?

I don't have long hair because my hair is curly and grows out and up, not down. In summer it becomes a frizzy nightmare if longer.

[Anonymous]

I keep longer hair as I have a face shape that looks bad with short or chin length hair. Hairdressers put on their old lady glasses and only want to cut a pixie or a bob on me. I just put it up in a Ficcare clip and don't bother with hairdressers. They hate older women's hair. I've seen too many hefty older women with short unflattering pixies to bother with what is acceptable or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thin hair. With very short hair, and it would be white/grey, some scalp showing doesn't look quite as bad.

It sucks. Be glad you don't have the problem.

You can buy a wig. They are very comfortable, affordable and nearly undectable to 99% of the population (only other wig wearers know what to look for.)

Have you actually worn a wig? I have worn wigs, some of them costing thousands of dollars. They are hot and inconvenient. And if you have a widows peak even lace front ones don’t look natural around the hairline. Anyone who wants to wear one should but it’s nuts to think that every older woman with thin hair should plop a wig on her head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No idea. My Mother always called women who did that "Q-tips."

With quality wigs readily available and affordable, there is no reason except for ignorance and personal choice that a woman cannot have attractive hair as she ages.

You mother is not a nice person. I don't like wigs and I am not here to please you but, myself

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 58. My hair is naturally wavy and I still have a lot of it. I straighten it about half the time. Barring a major health issue, I have no plans to cut my hair short enough that I can’t pull it up. Even my hairdresser says short hair would be way more work for me based on my hair type.

I don’t wear it as long as I did in my 20s and 30s but that’s a personal preference, not pressure to follow an unwritten rule about long hair on older women. I keep it around my shoulders or just below these days.

+1
This describes me too. I almost always wear my hair in a ponytail, so it has to be at least long enough to pull it back. I do think it would be more work if I had shorter hair that couldn't be pulled into a ponytail. It would have to be styled every day and I'm not up for it.

Dp. It is not 'more work' to have short hair! Since when did having less of something take more time?

I don't care what you do with your hair..no judgement but I have short hair and do not style it every day! That is very funny!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep longer hair as I have a face shape that looks bad with short or chin length hair. Hairdressers put on their old lady glasses and only want to cut a pixie or a bob on me. I just put it up in a Ficcare clip and don't bother with hairdressers. They hate older women's hair. I've seen too many hefty older women with short unflattering pixies to bother with what is acceptable or not.

So much judgement in your post. It is sad when women become more judgemental than men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No idea. My Mother always called women who did that "Q-tips."

With quality wigs readily available and affordable, there is no reason except for ignorance and personal choice that a woman cannot have attractive hair as she ages.

You mother is not a nice person. I don't like wigs and I am not here to please you but, myself

+1 what a horrible, mean thing to say.

Some older women prefer the hassle free style, some women think they look better, some women’s hair post menopause has drastically changed and is dry and frizzy and can no longer grow like it used to, and, as a pp mentioned, some women view it as a mature woman’s style.

But back to pp, her mother isn’t a nice person