Do you know women over 50 with long hair?

[momofkhm]

I'll post this as a poll. Just give me a minute.

 

I've noticed in RL that I can't name more than 5 women over 50 with long hair. Long hair being defined as to or below their shoulders. I do know a few. But only 2 or 3. Most women older than me, now that I'm in my 40's, have short hair. I can think of reasons for it, but is it the common thing? Or is it just my limited experience?

 

Oh and for the poll, only include women you know personally. (Like I know Debbie Pearl has really long hair and is over 50, but I don't know her personally.)

 

And 50 is almost arbitrary. I could have easily said women with grey hair. But in my experience, women over 50 without grey hair dye it and it's still short.

 

So to redefine terms - long hair is to or past their shoulders and you have to know these women personally.

[Gratia271]

I know two personally.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I know 5. I plan to be one of them in a couple of years.

[elegantlion]

I know more than 5, some color, some don't.

 

I'm 44, have longer curly hair, and it's becoming grey. Without a doubt I will NOT cut my hair short ever again. I look like a Q-tip with short hair, plus dh likes long hair. :D

 

My grandmother was 94 when she died with waist length beautiful hair. It wasn't even completely grey.

[Murphy101]

I know three.

 

Dh's grandma actually has hair mid waist, but she wears it up Texas big hair style. She is an itty bitty skinny woman near 90 and I always think her neck is going to snap one day from the weight of that big hair piled on top of her head.

[Hwin]

I might know 2??

 

I, however, will be one of those ladies with chin length white hair (not to be confused with lengthy white chin hair) parted in the middle :)

[lllll]

...

[LibraryLover]

In not a long while, I will be joining them. I look better with longer hair. And I am sort of a hippy. ;) I have a side part, and often wear clippy (not slide) barrettes. Isn't that retro? lol It's also thick and somewhat curly.

[Nestof3]

Oops I messed up the poll. I do know one, but she always wears her hair up, so I forget it's actually long.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Only one comes to mind ... my best friend with luxurious long gray hair. She gave up coloring it several years ago and it looks fabulous. I am nearing 50, but just don't look good with long hair, nor can I tolerate the upkeep - it is uber curly!

[Daisy]

I know at least five. It is very common in my family. The women have long thick hair and it grays nicely. Most of them don't color their hair and wear it in a braid.

 

Guess it is the country in us. :D

[HelenNotOfTroy]

I don't know any, but I plan to be one.

[Patches]

One of the women I know is me!

[Ellie]

I know more than 5, including myself :D I always say you can take the girl out of the 60s, but you can't take the 60s out of the girl. :lol:

 

Also, I do hula, and hula is much more fun with long swishy hair than with short.:001_smile:

[Pam Wilhelm]

Meeeeeeeeeeeee! :D (actually, I'll be 50 in October...but have no plans to cut it).

 

 

....and I know a lot of other women who are over 50 with long hair.

[In2why]

I think many women cut their hair shorter as they get older because long hair drags down a woman's face. As we get older gravity isn't kind to the jowls, under the child, and the neck, and very few women look good framing that part of their face. JMO

[Mejane]

I know at least five, and mine is long also. I think the you-can't-have-long-hair-over-50 rule is stupid and passe, and I refuse to follow it. I look younger with long hair. 'nuff said. ;)

[Sarah CB]

I plan to be one of those ladies. I have nearly waist length hair right now, but I cut and donate it every couple of years. I'll continue doing that until there's too much gray in it, then I'll just keep it long. I like wearing my hair up.

[AuntieM]

I know more than 5, and all of them have a stylish, just-below-the-shoulders layered cut. It is very flattering.

 

I can't think of anyone I know over 50 with very long, straight hair. I think that's not as flattering unless you have the spunky funky personality to go with it (you know, the great long-grey-braid-when-I'm-80-and-selling-my-art-work type).

 

Wait, I thought of someone I do know IRL with very long, straight hair, probably nearing age 60. NOT flattering...

[Audrey]

I know more than 5 personally, but they are all IN their 50's. I could not name even one over 60 that has long hair.

 

I think the "old" trend was that you hack it all off once you hit 40 (or maybe even 30), but the boomer generation seems to be bucking that trend somewhat.

 

Personally, I hope to go to my grave with hair past my shoulders. I finally found a hairdresser who doesn't take one look at me and say "Oo! Let's go short!" like that's some kind of gleeful compliment or something. It is a pet peeve of mine, and I actually find it insulting to suggest that just because I'm a) over 40, b) over 150 lbs. and c) over 5'8" that I've got to have short hair. Who in the world decided that all exquisitely experienced, sensuously curvaceous, and spectacularly statuesque women must have short hair???!!! :glare:

[AuntieM]

Personally, I hope to go to my grave with hair past my shoulders. I finally found a hairdresser who doesn't take one look at me and say "Oo! Let's go short!" like that's some kind of gleeful compliment or something. It is a pet peeve of mine, and I actually find it insulting to suggest that just because I'm a) over 40, b) over 150 lbs. and c) over 5'8" that I've got to have short hair. Who in the world decided that all exquisitely experienced, sensuously curvaceous, and spectacularly statuesque women must have short hair???!!! :glare:

 

Audrey, I think you must rock the Sophia Loren look. I think tall women can pull off long hair much better than shorties like me. JMO of course.

[redsquirrel]

I know plenty. But, I live in a college town with lots of professors and yoga instructors and massage therapists and potters and reflexologists and what have you.

[MamaT]

I can think of 3 off the top of my head. I am 47 with long hair and I have no plans to cut it. My hair is very curly and just looks better long. I look like an insect with short hair.

 

I think all of those crazy rules - no long hair over 50, no white shoes after labor day, etc. - are meant to be broken. I never pay any attention to them.

[AvasMom]

I know TONS. That might have something to do with the fact that we don't cut our hair for religious reasons though. lol!

[Mynyel]

I don't know many women with short hair.

 

However I don't know how many of them are over 50 because I don't ask! :lol:

[DesertDweller]

I'm almost fifty, and I have long hair. Not super long but below the shoulders. I grew it out several years ago and have it highlighted. I think it makes me look younger.

 

I do know people with long hair. Several of them well into their fifties. I think it depends on what suites your face and how you style it. I think sometimes when we think of long hair we think of someone wearing it all one length which it doesn't always have to be. A good cut with some layers and maybe even bangs can make a world of difference.

[Mynyel]

I know more than 5 personally, but they are all IN their 50's. I could not name even one over 60 that has long hair.

 

I think the "old" trend was that you hack it all off once you hit 40 (or maybe even 30), but the boomer generation seems to be bucking that trend somewhat.

 

Personally, I hope to go to my grave with hair past my shoulders. I finally found a hairdresser who doesn't take one look at me and say "Oo! Let's go short!" like that's some kind of gleeful compliment or something. It is a pet peeve of mine, and I actually find it insulting to suggest that just because I'm a) over 40, b) over 150 lbs. and c) over 5'8" that I've got to have short hair. Who in the world decided that all exquisitely experienced, sensuously curvaceous, and spectacularly statuesque women must have short hair???!!! :glare:

 

 

:lol:

 

Love it!

[Mejane]

I know more than 5, and all of them have a stylish, just-below-the-shoulders layered cut. It is very flattering.

 

I can't think of anyone I know over 50 with very long, straight hair. I think that's not as flattering unless you have the spunky funky personality to go with it (you know, the great long-grey-braid-when-I'm-80-and-selling-my-art-work type).

 

Wait, I thought of someone I do know IRL with very long, straight hair, probably nearing age 60. NOT flattering...

 

:iagree:with this. I think you have to actually look like Cher to rock the stick-straight-parted-in-the-middle hairdo. Mine is more like Kim Kardashian's. Think Kim w/o the plunging neckline. ;)

[Susan C.]

Me..... no coloring, blonde, not much gray yet :)

 

Pretty sure I can come up with four more!

 

Is it bad to have hair this long? (Just below shoulders) People don't think I'm in my 50s.... I don't want to look older than I have to, but I'm not doing the teen thing either!

[Rhonda in TX]

My grandmother was 94 when she died with waist length beautiful hair. It wasn't even completely grey.

 

My grandmother was 78 when she died. I don't have many memories of her, but I do treasure this one. I would sleep with her when we visited. I can remember her sitting at her vanity table, taking her hair down, brushing it, then braiding it. Sigh...

 

She was 1/4 Native American and her hair was dark until she had her first stroke shortly before she passed away. I wish I had inherited that. I started going gray in my 20's.

[lea1]

I am 48 and have had long, natural curly hair for many long years until this very week! I just got it cut short and I love it! My long hair was definitely aging me. I have been told several times in the past three days that this short cut makes me look much younger. And I love how easy and quick it is to fix it.

 

I have a good friend who is around 60ish and she has beautiful long hair. I have never thought it made her look older - actually, I have always thought it made her look youthful.

 

I think it just depends on the person and how their hair makes them feel. I definitely feel that short hair makes me look better, at this time in my life.

[Belacqua]

I know loads, but I do live in a very crunchy-granola town. We really embrace the long gray braid. :001_smile:

[Jenny in Florida]

We're UU's, a denomination that leans toward the whole hippy thing. So, there are a lot of older women with long hair.

 

I had every intention of being one of them, but I started going grey in my 20s, have very curly/frizzy hair and lost enough weight to make my face look too thin if my hair is too long. So, I chopped it off to above my shoulders and started dyeing it to something approximating my natural color.

 

I hadn't even planned to dye it, but it got so grey that it looked silver in photos or bright light. And it's just not a flattering shade of grey with my skin tone.

 

I am considering, in a few years, trying to dye it a darker, warmer shade of grey than the silver-white it is underneath. I figure that would be more "appropriate" for my advanced age but more flattering that what I have naturally.

[foxbridgeacademy]

My family is Pentecostal, so all the women in my family have long hair. My mother who is more agnostic also has long hair.

[RobinF]

I can think of maybe 5. I plan to be one in a few years though.

[Britomart]

I can think of three just in my family:

-my mom, who has lovely strawberry blonde hair that's amazingly thick - she wears it to her shoulders. It's going grey, but given the color, you can barely tell.

-my grandma, who has longish hair she wears up in a bun

-my husband's aunt, who promised her husband when they married that she'd never cut her hair above her wrists (when her arms are at her sides). She usually wears hers braided.

 

I know at least one older woman at church with long hair too; she wears it down usually, and it's straight and lovely.

 

I'm hoping to be one of those women when I'm fifty too! Though mine, unlike my mom's, will certainly be grey - I'm thirty, and already starting to go salt-and-pepper. My mom may be a fair-headed Scot, but I got all the black Irish from my dad's side! :D Grey shows in my hair!

[Britomart]

I like wearing my hair up.

 

:iagree: Half the reason I have long hair is so that I can wear it up. I love being able to do things like crown braids and chignons and such.

 

I loved having short hair too, but it's not nearly as versatile.

[Farrar]

The New York Times actually ran a piece about this awhile ago and it was sort of interesting to me. I'm vaguely surprised no one mentioned it in the thread yet. But it was awhile back, so I'm surprised I remember it so well now that I see the date on it!

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/fashion/24Mirror.html

[elise1mds]

My mom is 57 and still has long hair, slightly longer than shoulder length. It was even longer, but I finally convinced her to get it highlighted and/or dyed and chopped and to learn how to use a straightener. Everyone loves it, including her. She now makes the 90-minute drive to use my hairdresser.

 

I know several other women with very long hair, but I have to add the caveat that many of them are Native American and wear it long gray braids. I think it's gorgeous and hope to do the same someday, though with my lighter skin tone it probably won't look nearly as good!

[Jean in Newcastle]

My hair is thin, unruly with cowlicks in unfortunate places and lots of white which makes my hair look even thinner. I will not dye my hair because I already have so many chronic health problems that I am not going to add any kind of chemical to the mix. My mom and MIL both are adamant that I look better with short hair - and they may indeed be right. But I LIKE my slightly longer than shoulder length hair. So there!:001_tt2:

[Hannah C.]

I think I know one. Or two. :001_huh:

 

I wondered about this briefly at one point. All of the "little old ladies" I knew at that point invariably had short, probably curly, hair. I would say they were all over 60, probably more like over 70. I think I put it down to keeping "old-fashioned" hairstyles...

 

My grandmother had long hair at one point, but now it's above her shoulders.

[Peela]

I can think of 3 straight off but there may be a couple more.

I think it is a cultural thing- my mother's generation wore short hair and my mother kept my hair short too. I think it was a female liberation thing, personally- they could so they did. And it probably was liberating to have short hair rather than HAVE to have long hair.

But now that we CAN have either many of us choose long. Thats even more free:)

I think as my generation gets older there will be far more older women with long hair.

 

A friend in her 40s, a bit older than me, has told me in no uncertain terms that once a woman hits her 40s she should cut her hair short "otherwise she is just trying to hang onto her youth " - that "mutton dressed up as lamb" type attitude.

I just smile and shrug. Fashion is obviously so not my thing :)

[Melissa in Australia]

I thought only 3 until I read that you are saying past shoulders is long. I know heaps ( probably over 20 maybe even 30) people with hair past their shoulders.

 

Long to me is past waist.

[Lisa in Jax]

It is a pet peeve of mine, and I actually find it insulting to suggest that just because I'm a) over 40, b) over 150 lbs. and c) over 5'8" that I've got to have short hair. Who in the world decided that all exquisitely experienced, sensuously curvaceous, and spectacularly statuesque women must have short hair???!!! :glare:

 

LOL. I resemble all of those remarks, and I, too, refuse to cut my hair short. Short hair makes me look moon-faced.

 

My mom, 70, hasn't had short hair since the 60s, when she rocked the bouffant. ;-) To my knowledge, she never died her hair as it grayed. In her 40s and 50s, the gray made it look artfully highlighted. Now it's just glossy and gray. :)

 

My hair is 50% gray and I have no plans to color it -- ever, b/c ash blonde/mousy brown hair looks better as it grays, IMO. ;-) I've worn my hair longish since the 4th grade, when I was given the ubiquitous 70s "shag" that made me look like a BOY. ::grumble:: My hair has been somewhere between my shoulders and my bra strap for 30 years, and I can't imagine cutting it anytime soon. (I'm 45). Fifth Schmifty. ;-)

 

Lisa

[Veritaserum]

Hmm.... My mom's is a few inches past her shoulders. She doesn't color (was blonde, graying gracefully). My dad has three sisters and and one SIL with shoulder-length or longer. I think all four of them color (dark hair).

 

I've tried short hair and it was bad. I do not plan on cutting my hair short just because of age. I also don't plan on dyeing. My hair is the same color as my mom's, so the grays will blend in somewhat until it's all gray. I tried dyeing my hair a couple of times and I am just not the sort of girl who enjoys a lot of salon-style maintenance. Give me long, natural hair. :)

[IsabelC]

I sincerely hope that I won't suddenly start caring about fashion or how others judge my hair when I hit 50 or 60. :D

 

Btw my mother is in her 60s, has never dyed her hair and it's still a beautiful dark chestnut color with only the slightest hint of grey starting to creep in now.

[SailorMom]

My MIL has great, long, thick hair. She just turned 60 - and I can't imagine her with short hair. I wish I had her hair now - grey and all!

I plan on keeping mine long - my hair is just so thin, that at least long hair can disguise it a bit. I also really like being able to braid it our of my way.... Short hair is just so much mroe maintenance.

[Jolash]

I know two personally. And because I won't say it to their faces, I'll say it here: CUT YOUR HAIR! It looks dry and frizzy (friend one)/oily and stringy (friend 2.) And, it makes you look at least ten years older than you are. Of course these are just my opinions, not facts!

[Shellydon]

I know 3 and they all need to cut it. It looks awful!

[Swirl]

My family is Pentecostal, so all the women in my family have long hair. My mother who is more agnostic also has long hair.

 

Same here. I know a lot of women that have long hair, but only one that is not Pentecostal or Mennonite (or used to be).

Edited April 16, 2011 by Swirl