Short hair on older women

[Anonymous]

Long hair has been fashionable for quite some time, but older people think of short hair differently i think. E.g. the youngest boomers/oldest GenXers came of age during a time when short hair was very fashionable. In my high school graduating class in 1984, most of the girls had short hair. Here are some Seventeen covers from the early 80s:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what kind of short haircut you all are imagining when you say it’s high maintenance?

My hair is a pixie like Mia Farrow wore in the 70s. It takes 1 minute to wash and 1 minute to dry and 1 minute to apply some bed head type product to give it some volume/lift and I usually leave it spiky.

My very short hair takes less time to wash dry and style than it has at any other length over my lifetime. And I’m finally at that place in my life where I know I’m freaking gorgeous and amazing so I feel totally confident in it.

A curlier short cut, perm look, volume. Very rarely see short straight hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what kind of short haircut you all are imagining when you say it’s high maintenance?

My hair is a pixie like Mia Farrow wore in the 70s. It takes 1 minute to wash and 1 minute to dry and 1 minute to apply some bed head type product to give it some volume/lift and I usually leave it spiky.

My very short hair takes less time to wash dry and style than it has at any other length over my lifetime. And I’m finally at that place in my life where I know I’m freaking gorgeous and amazing so I feel totally confident in it.

A curlier short cut, perm look, volume. Very rarely see short straight hair.

I have curly short hair. It's about chin length now, but not a bob-- it's layered. Good volume. Natural curls-- not a perm. I wash it, apply some product, and air dry. Couldn't be easier.

[Anonymous]

Mary Lou Retton was another one with short hair on the cover of Seventeen magazine. It seemed all the cool, confident girls had short hair at that time, so I got my hair cut short but it made me look like a boy. After that was the age of big hair and perms. Have not had short hair since.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much to the PP who posted pics! Yes, that's exactly it! I'm 55, and short hair was chic and young. It still seems that way, to me at least.

[Anonymous]

Linda Evangelista in the ‘90’s also inspired a lot of short haircuts. Man, it looked so good on her.

[Anonymous]

Halle Berry
Selma Blair
Winona
Gwyneth
Drew

Were you asleep in the 90s? These were some of the coolest dos around!

I love short hair. It brings out the eyes and cheekbones. It is fresh and confident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My theory is that American hairdressers are lousy and cutting short hair. It takes more skill than cutting longer hair because each cut needs to be custom to the head shape and hair of the person. They've also only ever seen the awful cuts that are ubiquitous on older American women, so I that's what they do. I agree that it's often a terrible look, but I don't think the solution is going long.

I had an amazing pixie cut when I was living in France, but never could get it replicated in the US, even with photos of the original. Now I have a wavy French bob, which is harder for hairdressers to butcher to cut than a pixie. I do think short hair can look super chic. I just think it's really hard to find an American hairdresser with that skill set. By contrast, I saw beautiful and flattering short haircuts all over France.

It's not the hair stylists... it's the person. Most people don't have the bone structure to pull off short hair. You need a more compact face, a smaller nose, strong cheekbones, etc.

You'd be surprised how skilled stylists can match a modern looking short haircut to a face. The cuts can be striking.

What kind of short haircut flatters a woman with more masculine facial features? I'm assuming we mean actually short here (not bobs).

I could post photos, but then people will either say those women look bad (not cool) or that they're not that masculine (also not cool). Perhaps you can Google?

I do think many women say they wouldn't look good with short hair when I strongly disagree--I think they're just used to seeing terrible short haircuts (as are ubiquitous in the US), are afraid of drawing attention to themselves, and don't want the risk of a bad haircut, as longer hair is safer. Those are fair reasons to keep hair longer, but they don't mean the person couldn't also look great with the right short haircut.

I tried and couldn't find much. Princess Diana is an example of someone who looks WAY better with longer hair. That's the kind of face that needs it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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!!

My hair has its own personality with a lot of cowlicks. When long, the weight of the hair keeps it presentable right from when I wake up. Short, some of my hair goes one way, the rest is straight. I use a round brush to get my cowlicks to heel with a hair dryer. So...longer time styling.

See how that works when you don't assume everyone is the same as you.
NP

In general less of anything is less work. Would you say having a fewer children more work? Or a smaller house? Of course not ( not talking about kids with disabilities)

So excluding you and a few others would you agree that shorter hair is less work than long hair?

I have no idea why you keeping insisting when your comments are wrong for many of us. It takes longer to maintain a smaller ornate garden than a bigger plain yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Halle Berry
Selma Blair
Winona
Gwyneth
Drew

Were you asleep in the 90s? These were some of the coolest dos around!

I love short hair. It brings out the eyes and cheekbones. It is fresh and confident.

I don't think Drew Barrymore and Goopy look good with short hair. The other ones absolutely, but they are gorgeous and have small perfect features.

[Anonymous]

Range of motion in the shoulders and general arm strength makes taking care of longer hair much more difficult for older women. My mom won't cut hers very short, but she can't blow it dry or curl it anymore. She lets it air dry and puts curlers in the front part she can reach. My MIL chose a style that is short and looks fine air dried.

[Anonymous]

Seeing ads displaying right now on DCUM, "hairstyles for older women." Ironically, these youthful styles -- it's obvious to me, the models are wearing wigs.

[Anonymous]

I’m just amazed that so many people care about hairstyles so much. 7 pages of comments?
I see nearly every HS girl with the same long hairstyle. My generation (Gen x) seemed to embrace more individuality. Now, the trend seems to be to blend in and not stand out. Gen X was all about being unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much to the PP who posted pics! Yes, that's exactly it! I'm 55, and short hair was chic and young. It still seems that way, to me at least.

I’m in the same age range and hated all of those short hair cuts even back then. The only person I loved with super short hair was Halle Berry but she’s so beautiful it doesn’t matter which hairstyle she chooses. My friends who cut their hair short back in high school immediately regretted it and grew it back out as quickly as they could.

[Anonymous]

Because with god only knows how much longer I get to live, I DGAF about this sort of nonsense anymore.