Is it wrong to have long hair when you're old?

[Alcemeg]

So this is my hair. I feel lucky that it's not gone grey yet (I'm in my mid 60s), but I remember over the years having it drummed into me that once your'e over a certain age you look like a witch with long hair.

The trouble is, I don't know what else to do with it! I have this vision of "choppy layers" or something, but am not sure if it would work as my hair is very fine. I just don't know what to ask for at the hairdresser's.

Advice welcome!

Chopsticks for me. I have some very nice wooden Japanese ones 😀

I met up with a relative recently, in her seventies, with long blonde hair. She looked amazing, way younger than her years. Keep it how you like it!

Wow, some impressive barnets on here (looking at you @sarahh and @TheNinjaWife , as well as earlier PPs)!

Sarahh, I think that's the sort of layering I want to try. What do you call it, though? I'm never sure what to ask for.

And thanks for the top tip, @IncognitoMam – I'd forgotten about mousse. I'm so lazy I rarely try things out but I might give it a whirl!

Beautiful OP, and very youthful. Keep it like that for as long as you want to! You are so lucky to have no grey too.

Your home looks beautiful

If it's in good condition then why should you? I will say though, Eileen on Corrie just had her cut really short (think it's called a pixie cut?) and it's taken 10/15 years off her

I love Eileen's hair too, you are right, it's knocked years off her. She's also lost a lot of weight. She looks great.

Who?

@Alcemeg thank you. I've always just asked for long layers. She usually takes half inch off the bottom to tidy the ends. I suppose, years ago, it was called a shag cut. More recently it's been called a Wolf cut but they're all the same essentially. My shortest layer comes to just below my ear lobe. So easy to just bung up in a bun when I can't be bothered, which is most of the time 😂

I look at photos of my mum, grandma and beyond when they were 40.. all went short and looked old before their time. God what an awful rule it was! How fucking dare they dictate if a woman can have long hair or not.
Women at 40 now look 20 years younger than my mums generation.

Women at 40 now look 20 years younger than my mums generation.

They do but it’s not just about hair. Women of all ages dressed pretty much the same, looking at my family’s old photos it’s quite difficult to judge ages from clothes and hairstyles.

Late 50s here, and in the process of growing my hair long (aiming at past shoulder length) and letting the natural curl take over. It's actually much easier to manage now as I just put loads of curl cream in and leave it to dry naturally.

Got completely fed up of blow drying my shortish hair to avoid the curls forming into a balloon around my head! The extra length pulls the curls down so they don't go Afro.

I love the new look and lots of people have said it makes me look younger. Was beginning to resemble Margaret Thatcher!

and letting the natural curl take over

oh stop it 🤣 I'm so jealous!!! 🤩

I've just been to the hairdressers for a colour and basic cut. They automatically did layers. I always think, what's the point of something that makes the bottom of the hair thinner than it needs to be? Am growing it out anyway and then back to a blunt cut ASAP.

I don’t think it matters, all depends on the condition and if you have time to maintain it/style it so it’s not just hanging there.

@porridgeisbae I don’t know why they do that either. I have thick hair, but it was once razor cut very badly at the one side of my face that I actually said “what am I meant to do with that” and was met with a shrug. They get carried away.

@Alcemeg I would just leave it as it is OP. It looks lovely and youthful.

There are some YouTube videos showing how to use pens and chopsticks to hold a bun.

I was a hairdresser for years. I'm so lazy with my own hair though. I'm going to an eighties night soon so the rags will come out 😂

It doesn’t matter how old you are, what matters is does your hair style suit you? I know someone who has grown her dark hair very long (past her elbows) no fringe, no layers but she has a very long face, it’s not flattering at all. Because it’s so long and impractical she generally pulls it back into a not terribly flattering ponytail anyway as there’s no hair framing her face at all she looks a bit nun-like. But, that’s nothing to do with her age, I don’t think it would suit a teenager with the same face shape.

This cutting your hair off as you age is a fairly recent “rule” anyway. Up till the 1920s no woman would dream of cutting her hair off. It was a sign of becoming a woman not a child to begin to wear your long hair up.

NancyPickford your hair is stunning.
I agree there is no reason for age to dictate hairstyle, but I remember during my weekend retail job when I was at school, a colleague with long, glossy, brown hair in, I would imagine, her mid sixties. There were a number of occasions I actually heard a sharp intake of breath from customers when she turned around and her face didn't match the rear view.

What's wrong with looking witch-like? Im actively cultivating it.

Same!

@ifIwerenotanandroid I can’t remember which YouTube tutorial I watched (as it was so long ago lol) but this has some great instructions & videos!

https://beautifullifebypaula.com/how-to-use-hair-sticks/

I would love to have long hair, but mine has gone very thin and now looks terrible long. I think a lot of women get their hair cut shorter as they age because it just doesn't look good long any more. Yours does, so no problem. I have a colleague who's 60, and she has thicker, glossier hair than I've ever had - it would make no sense at all for her to cut it if she doesn't want to. I would love to have long hair still, in the same way I would love to still have toned stomach muscles, but my body is no longer cooperative 🤣