Long hair on a forty plus woman

[Mitfordhons]

When I was younger I thought older women looked a bit mutton with long hair, but things have changed. I'm not sure if it's part of the cultural shift that says 60 is the new 40 and so on or if it's just that I'm now older, but I just don't see it now. I'm in my late forties and have long hair, I'm fortunate that it's thick and in great condition, but am I deluding myself? Every few years I cut my hair short and I always regret it so I don't want to and I do feel it's a bit frumpy on me, but is it just as bad to have young looking hair on a not so young face? When is the - excuse the pun - cut off?

My hair is thick and wavy/curly and always a bit unkempt.
In my 20s it looked casual and surfy. In my 40s sand hair looks mad cat lady!!

I've got a graduated Bob now and feel a bit more in control. Same with clothes really. My hippy 20s clothes make me look really far too "alternative" at my age so I rein it in a bit.

I'm 51 and my hair is the longer it has ever been ( bra strap across my back length)
I haven't got any grey and not expecting any soon ( my dad is 73 and his is still a tawny colour and my mom is 76 only went grey in the past 5 years.

I love my hair long. However I make sure it is styled, kept in good condition and suiting me. I do pay a lot for my hair treatments and I am happy to do so.

Long hair looks ageing to me, on older women or men. I've never seen any older person with really well looked after long, flowing hair.

Older women often hide their long hair in those twisted bun things, and men tend to have scrappy ponytails. If you're only going to tie it back, it might as well be shorter and easier to look after.

I don't think anyone should stop pleasing themselves though. It doesn't matter to me what they do. This is just my opinion.

My hair is very curly and tends to be dry. I have to have it long enough to tie back. I love the way it looks blow dried though find it difficult to do myself. I get the roots done every 3-4 weeks and quite like getting a blow dry in between times as well.

what does it matter anyway Why should there be rules about what you can and cant do when you get older. I see lots of younger women who wear things that don't suit them (esp the leggings/short tops combo) but its up to them. I don't think we should be prescriptive about anything. I am in my fities and my hair is long because I suit it better that way, although I love short hair. I wear clothes that I like. I don't flash the (wobbly ) flesh much anymore but other than that I wear what I think looks good

I've just turned 50. I have never liked short hair. My hair has always been very long until a I decided to cut it just past my shoulders. I didn't like it. It was neither here nor there.

Then I recently hacked a load off and it's now approx an inch and a half below my chin in a big and it suits me much better.

What I have discovered as I've got older is that looking groomed is more flattering to me. Long hair was lovely when I was young but now I need to look more put together and styled.

I am enjoying blow-drying it, whereas I often just used to leave my long hair to dry naturally.

I'm 49 with long hair, although it is desperate for a cut at the moment but I just can't seem to find time. It's thick and good condition though. I'd like to get the colour stripped out to see what it actually looks like, I've been dying my hair since I was 18 which I regret, I wish I'd left it alone while I could, before the grey came in.

I have tail bone length hair, am in my 40's and have my hair up in a different style every day. I find it so much easier to cope with than when I had shorter hair and I have had every hairstyle from completely shaved to very long. It is in the best condition ever in 20+ years since I stopped bleaching it and dying it crazy colours and learned how to look after it properly. I frequently get complimented on my hair and updos (which look way more complicated than they are) and asked for advice about growing their hair long by woman my age, older and younger.

I love all hairstyles on all women of all ages and despise people who judge someone as being too old for a certain look. My best friend rocks a multi coloured pixie and she looks amazing. There is a 89 year old woman I see frequently in my town who has waist length silver hair that she wears styled in a crown braid and she looks so beautiful and elegant. I know it is waist length as we have chatted about our hair when she has been in my work.

I intend to keep growing it as long as I can until I can either no longer cope with it due to age or it reaches terminal length.

Recently tried on several shorter wigs, a bobbed one, a shoulder length one and a short one and they all just didn't suit me. I rocked a pillarbox red bob for years and looked fabulous but I don't suit that hairstyle any more and that is OK. Im no longer that wild 20 year old either.

I hate the idea that a woman reaches "a certain age" and should cut off her hair and accept that she should just become invisible. Life is too damn short for us to try to keep others happy or care a fig about what others think we ought to do or look like. As long as we don't dress too young, don't hurt anyone else and are decent people then why the hell shouldn't we be who we are, not what society tells us we should be.

The next time you see a woman who's hair you may consider too long/ too brightly coloured/ too bleached/ too whatever, instead of judging her, why not accept that perhaps it is what makes her happy. And surely that can only be a good thing. We should be more supportive of each other's uniqueness and understand that what makes someone else feel good about herself may not be to your taste but ultimately doesn't affect your life in any way.

I shall continue to grow old DISgracefully and be an elegant, long haired old lady. I might even dye my silver hair blue one day and laugh at the judgemental younger ones safe in the knowledge that they too one day will be old.

My hair is glorious. Without a light tan the rest of me looks like it's made out of uncooked pastry. The hair stays.

I love this thread. It's giving me the will power to grow my shortish hair (cut from bra strap length last year) to as long as i want it to be. I gave in to pressure from others and the following day, totally regretted it.

I've often wondered this and I'm only 31! I remember reading an article (actually, there have been several....oddly) about Kate Middleton's hair and how surely she should be cutting it all off now she's royalty and OVER 30!!! From what I remember, it was quite a long pointless article. Bizarre.

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that if it's in good condition and it suits you, keep it long. My hair is bra strap length and I've decided it's staying.

When exMIL turned 40 she threw away all her jeans and makeup (apart from one pair and a mascara which she put in a 'memory box'), bought a bumper pack of American Tan tights and got her shoulder-length hair cut into a Mrs Brown short back and sides with permed curls on top. She used to tell me I looked 'ridiculous', 'juvenile' and 'like mutton dressed as lamb' for wearing jewelled clips in my hair (I was 25). She once said she couldn't wait until I was 40 so we could go to the same hairdresser and be 'twins'. Thank fuck I bailed on her son long before then

I had short hair all through my 20s and most of my 30s - I had a 1920s style shingled bob mostly. Now I'm in my early 40s I've decided to grow it out, and it's almost bra strap length. DH is eleven years younger not a stealth boast and thinks that women in their 40s and older with long hair is hot. That's not why I'm growing it, I hasten to add - I just decided that as I got older, I wanted to look like a softer, more natural version of me. That he loves it is a bonus!

When it comes to age these days, the only rule is there are no rules.

No rules. This lady is 58.

Just for balance, I'm way over 40 and look much better with short hair. My face is getting saggy around the jawline and longer hair just drags it down even further. Lopping off a couple of inches works like a facelift.

That's the thing - we all look different. Who knew.

shoulder-length hair cut into a Mrs Brown short back and sides with permed curls on top

Ah, are you sure you aren't tempted Penny? Sounds ever so alluring!

Mitzy hmmm, only if I can have the 'frosted tips' she used to get as well. Seriously smoking 😁

gBean she is BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely stunning 😍

I'm 42 and I have quite long hair. I don't look any different to how I did at 37, so why should I cut it? My hair still looks good, isn't grey, thin, straggly, etc. The most important thing at any age, IMO, is to take good care of your hair. Unkempt hair looks bad at any age. Well-kept hair looks good at any age.

I'm 43 and my hair is currently the longest it has ever been (just touching my collarbone). From 17 to 40 I had really short hair (often grade 2 at the back) with a longer fringe and loved it. Now I feel more me (and a little more appropriate) with longer hair. I am very grey but still dying it for now but at some point I will 'embrace the grey', chop it all off and go short and natural. And then probably grow the grey into longer lengths again. There are no rules. Make your own

I decided at the age of 42 to grow my hair long, after having a bob most of my life!

I'm of two minds which I prefer. I think I look more sophisticated with a bob, but feel more sexy with long hair.

I had long hair till my thirties then went very short and pixie style which suited me at the time
In my forties I gained weight and as my face became rounder I grew it again
Now I'm past 50 and find a few inches below my shoulders works best and is easy to keep well groomed
I do have wavy verging on curly hair though and like lots of layers
Not too much grey and I dye to one shade lighter than my natural colour so little regrowth, but it does blend the greys in

I'm 37 and have long curly hair. I keep it in good condition. Most people who have crap looking hair don't take proper care of it. I have mine highlighted a couple of times a year with no bleach just honey tones. I very very rarely use heat on my hair. My friends who straighten every day and colour their hair a lot mainly have straggly, thin broken hair and it would be so much better if they LEFT IT ALONE!

I will keep mine long as it is a massive pain to look after short!

The worst thing you can do is get it cut into that ubiquitous older woman/menopause/mum haircut. Like Jane Fonda or Gloria Hunniford type of thing. My mum has it and so do all her friends, but they are in their 70's. I suspect they all cut it 20 years ago because thats what you do, so now, for me, it just represents the older woman. A bob is a sort of half way house!

I am 48 and have hair just below the shoulder. I am planning to keep it that way for as long as I have good hair.

No, the worse thing you can do is not to have your hair exactly the way you like it.

Stuff and nonsense!

www.google.co.uk/search?q=older+women+with+long+grey+hair&client=tablet-android-pega&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiE27WRq6vMAhXHKcAKHVqyAscQ_AUIBygB&biw=960&bih=600#tbm=isch&q=women+40%27s+with+long+grey+hair

Women can and do look fabulous after 40 with long even grey hair. I'm 43, mines to bottom of shoulder blades. I've stopped colouring it too, although I'm tempted to go blue, purple, pillar box red...

My greys are in one streak at the moment and kind of looks deliberate, also as an auburn it looks a bit different anyway.

2 of my friends mum's have waist length totally grey hair and they look amazing. They're in their 70's!

Although those criticising the 'older woman' cut, short slightly wavy, remember that will be based on what was fashionable in their youth and what they like and think suits them, my gran had a beehive and wore scarves (a la 50's films topless car scenes!). I remember in my youth thinking that looked awful but of course she was in her youth in the 50's and that was the fashion. Maybe our daughter's if we all go with long hair will think it's old fashioned and have pixie cuts all round when they hit 40.