...or is 'No woman over 40 should have hair past her shoulders' utter bollocks?

[bringincrazyback]

It's something a friend of mine says a lot. She's in her fifties and lucky enough to suit short hair, is always badgering me (50) and another friend who's in her 40s to wear ours shorter, which I just ignore because I like my hair long and don't believe age should dictate how people wear their hair.

Just curious, though, as to whether anyone still buys into this idea that women should wear their hair shorter simply because they're approaching, or have reached, middle age? And if so... why???

Haven’t read all the thread but would like to say, my great granny had long long hair, steel grey but thick, and wore it up in a bun or down in a plait, right up until her death. At 103!! She looked brilliant too.

And I’m 50 I’m feb, and this is my hair. I’ve spent five years growing it, this is the longest it’s ever been in my life, and I’m bloody keeping it long!

I know plenty of women with long grey or white hair. Mine is below my waist and I wish it would hurry up and go completely grey so I can play around with crazy colours without bleach.

I used to work with an older woman who always had her long hair in a French pleat and she looked so much more elegant than the shorter haired women; she made me want my hair long again. Apart from the fact that my hair is a nightmare to style when shorter than bra strap length. A single plait can be simple and elegant at any age.

What a load of early 20th century bollocks.

Oh, I'm 57, hardly noticed the menopause, and neither my mother nor maternal grandmother got the memo about thinning all-grey hair - not even in their 80s. And I am a witch.

It’s so dependant on whether you hair thins as you age I think. Though saying that I see plenty of older people with incredibly thick short hair abd I do wonder to myself why they just got it hacked off. I’m guessing because they don’t want to style it?

Oh great, so any woman with short hair has just had it 'hacked off' because they are lazy! Way to judge women who don't conform to your old fashioned 'feminine' stereotypes. Slow hand clap.

crispbutty!youre Hair is utterly beautiful 😍

^your

Not RTFT but my mum has to have her hair short (she’s 72) as years of medication mean it’s too thin for any other style. I’m nearly 39 and mine is shoulder length, trying to grow it longer as it’s VERY thick and although drying time will be longer, the weight of my hair will pull it straight and stop all the weird kinks and waves I have. I’ve had short hair but it’s a PITA as you have to do it everyday and there are no alternative styles. I’ll keep mine long for as long as I can.

My best friend is nearly 45, her hair is half was down her back. It’s gorgeous! If she were to have it cut short, I’d actually cry!!!!!!!

I have a friend who is brilliant in many ways but persists in telling me that 'long hair on women over 30 just looks wrong'. I have long hair and I'm well over 30 so I'm just like wtf lol

My mother said to me last night that I'm getting a bit old for long hair. But why would I want to hack it all off???

I don't see the logic in giving up lengths of healthy, thick hair just because of however old you are!

An article I saw recently:

"SENSIBLE HAIRSTYLES FOR WOMEN OVER 50
LAURA WINTHER GALAVIZ

Procure a fine purple yarn and crochet yourself a wig as thin and fragile as your waning relevance in American society.

The brand-new edition of the 2014 version of Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You—originally published with McSweeney's 48—is fresh off the presses. Now a major motion picture, Sorry to Bother You...
Wrap your head in spider webs and sit on your front porch throughout October.

Complete the following equation: Multiply the number of times a man validates your existence by making a pass at you, by the number of women over 50 on television who aren’t cast as a benevolent grandmother or evil mother-in-law. Keep this many inches of hair. Spike it, if possible.

Chop off your shoulder length hair, wrap it around your decommissioned womb, and return it to the heavens inside a paper lantern.

Look into prescription drugs that will automatically release your hair from its follicle prison at the stroke of midnight on your 50th birthday, so you don’t have to make a decision and can focus on cookie recipes and cribbage.

Since the 2016 election, reading the news each day can send even the most placid among us into a paralyzing apoplexia. We are enraged, we are bewildered, and then we get nothing done all day. We go...
Enlist your grandchildren to squeeze out custom multi-colored tresses with their Play-doh Spaghetti Maker Deluxe. Put it on and laugh because infantilizing seniors is funny.

Keep the same hairstyle you have and use the time you’ve saved to reflect on how condescending and patriarchal it is to tell a woman to change her hair at a certain age."

Welcome our hair is also glorious. I have no idea what your mum is talking about

• god my phone will not accept ‘your’ today!!!

The menopause has done me a favour in that my hair is far less greasy and in better condition, possibly because the lack of grease means I wash it less. Partly as a result of that my hair is longer than it has been for years and I think it looks great. And honestly I don’t care if other people disapprove that I’m breaking some old fashioned ‘rule’. It’s misogyny if you ask me, another way to tell us to stay in our place what ever that might be.

I'm 37 and was told last year by MIL that I'm "getting to that point where long hair starts being a bit too young for you".

So I've grown it even longer now, and it's the longest it's been since I was a child. It's thick and shiny, so looks good, and suits me far more than some kind of pixie chop ever would because it hides the fact that my face isn't that girly.

44, long, thick and shiny hair, best condition it's ever been in as I look after it properly now and take hair specific vitamins, which have made a huge difference. I often get complimented on my hair, it's not going anywhere!

Is this possibly often a bitter feeling from generations that may have been a bit more oppressed by societal expectations? In which case all the more reason to fight it. It seems a really strange concept that as long your hair looks healthy you should hack it off because you've reached a certain age.

Then again, I'm forty next month and mine is brushing my shoulders. And I'm male. That's probably 'worse'

Most older models have long hair

My own hair is fast gradually going grey from brown, and at 37 I have no plans to cut it so this is how I plan on looking when I’m older, in my 40s/50s etc.....

Sure. Have the haircut you want. That’s not the same as saying the haircut suits you or flatters you.

But that is on the assumption that the only priority for women when choosing a haircut should be what flatters them. Not all women think like this.

I find that long hair, though I've been told it's a good look on me, gets in my way and makes me more irritable when I'm working so less likely to produce good results. I care more about the quality of my work than I care about being flattered by my looks.

The impact of my visual appearance on the viewer is quite simply not a priority for me. As I suspect it isn't for millions of men. And nobody is going around telling Mr Executive to grow his hair long or cut it shorter or colour it a different shade or doing a side parting just because it would be a flattering look. All that is expected of him it to look tolerably professional.

But as a woman I'm supposed to care- just because I am a woman.

I did it the other way round and had short hair when I was younger and now past 50 it comes down to my waist. Every woman in my family no matter what age has thick hair which i put down to genetics.
My hair is pretty grey now and I am hoping it goes white like my mums. It was dark brown but now is halfway grey and where is is not yet grey the colour seems to be lighter as though the colour is fading. I don’t dye it as I don’t see the point as we are meant to go grey as part of the aging process.
My husband had a full head of white hair by his mid 30’s when he originally was brown haired.

I had short cuts at various times in my 20s and 30s and was always told they looked good on me. Now 57 I love my bob. In the 80s wedge cuts and Diana cuts were really popular. But it would seem unthinkable for any Royal these days to cut her hair as short as Diana did, despite the fact that many Hollywood actresses are really rocking short cuts.

I'm 72 with hair past my shoulders. It's very thick and falls in waves and is streaked with white. I get a lot of compliments about it.
I'm now growing it longer just to annoy people who think it should be short! I look awful with short hair.

I would love long hair, but due to thyroid issues mine is falling out, breaking off, and refusing to grow at all, so it is short. I would be delighted with hair like all the long haired beauties pictured here.
Very old women look beautiful with buns, or plaits. I have a friend in her 80s with a just-below-the-shoulders mass of curls, and smokey eye makeup. She looks absolutely stunning.