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I love long hair and have always worn it long, but as I got older, it just didn't have the same sheen, bounce, and thickness it did when I was young, no matter what conditioning treatment I used. I knew the time to go shorter was when my French braid got thinner and thinner the further to the bottom the braid went, until I was barely plaiting anything. Big difference from my younger days! I am satisfied with a longish bob now. Long enough to feel feminine and short enough to keep thin ends from forming.
I have had long hair all my life starting as a toddler. I always dyed my hair to match my horse and their manes and tails were long, too, flying in the wind. However, mid 50s I got in a terrible fall, not form a horse by the way, and was airlifted out. Being in shock and on a ventilator caused half my hair to fallout 2 months later. This is because being in shock shuts the hair follicles down. More started growing back so my hair ended up very thin and in two lengths. For the first time in my life I cut it to shoulder length. It looks great! Just a little past the shoulders. And by the way it still matches my horse. He is a black stallion. Jet black is too harsh for a woman my age so it is brownish black by by golly, at just below the shoulders I look like Cleopatra, if she had not allowed the snake to bite her. Whatever ladies want to do with their hair, go for it!
They are most likely Thinking Thoughts that reflect whatever filter their past lives have placed in their Minds. Maybe some are thinking "That looks like mutton dressed up as lamb," maybe some are thinking "I wish I had long hair," maybe some are thinking "There's an old Country Gal."
Thinkers gonna think. Let them Think and wear your hair how you like.
Hair down to an older woman's rear isn't attractive or becoming to older women IMO. On the other hand, I also don't care for the ultra short haircuts many older women get. Both seem to accentuate age. Softly styled hair of various lengths are more attractive IMO.
What I THINK is "Gurl if only you knew how much easier life is, how much quicker you can get dressed and how much COOLER you feel with short hair, you'd chop that stuff off in a quick minute."
Just like I did last year. My hair was about bra length where your short sleeve would be....and as a dog walker I never SAW IT because it has to be UP and out of my face.
First I went chin length. Fine. BTW you look YOUNGER with hair between your chin and shoulders not dragging down your face with super long hair but whatever....
Then I kept going shorter and shorter to super short.
I LOVE IT. NO tangling and nonsense, no tons of products necessary, and it is super much cooler and I live in Florida.
Yesterday in Home Depot I took a picture of a woman with a buzz type cut with "pieces" and shocking red.
I'm going THERE next. But more auburn-ish, my natural color.
The beauty is you can experiment, it grows back FAST and you can always cover it up with a visor or cap if you don't like something about it.
And if you have NATURAL hair in your 50's then YES you have dulling and loss of color. It's nature.
At least go get a glaze and brightening it up is the OTHER thing I'd be thinking.
The OTHER thing I'd be thinking is "Why is this woman so attached to this hair? What does it represent?"
You only get ONE life why live it looking EXACTLY THE SAME and doing all that work for really, NO reason.
I know you didn't ask all that but that's what I AM THINKING.
I had the same epiphany!
Kept my hair on the long side - to bra length like you. Then shoulder length, then short, now extreme short! What a difference. It takes me 10 minutes to get ready.
And everyone tells me they love it. And that I have dropped 20 years off my age! Now that was a shocker. When it was shoulder - they said 10. I guess I have the face for short hair.
And as someone else pointed out - features stand out more. I have long eyelashes, but one lady kept insisting that they had to be fake. I told her - no - just good mascara.
Did have to buy earrings and brighter tops. The hairdresser said that is one reason she doesn't cut her hair. Her wardrobe, makeup, and jewelry would have to be updated.
I have that type of long hair also, and just turned 60. I usually keep it in a bun or pony tail, and wear it long only with girlfriends I know well. I have not really analyzed this situation too well, but I have spent much time in Europe and I admire how European women of all ages usually "do something" with their hair rather than just wearing it down. It adds dignity no matter what your age.
In the last year or so the hair has been thinning, which dismays me. The mother of a friend (she is 88) remedies this problem by braiding her hair using a contrasting color ribbon for one of the strands, and her own hair for the other two strands. Looks really good.
I admit that 80% of the reason I have long hair is that I hate going in and having it cut. Hate-hate-hate it, plus you have to pay on top of the awful experience.
My grandma had long hair her whole life. In her late 70's she finally yielded to fashion and had it cut and styled. Less than one year later she was dead of a stroke.
I think hair to mid-back is about as long as it needs to go. Beyond that, there are always split ends or stringiness or something. I'm envious of people who can grow their hair long. I would absolutely love to be able to do some of the fancy updos. It depends on the person as to whether long hair looks good or not. Not all women can carry off the really short look either. It's cute if it is pixyish, but not when it looks masculine. The shoulder to chin length looks nice with the right cut. I'm seeing a lot of cuts that really aren't that flattering.
Sometimes you see women with hair down to their knees. This is rather freakish like Cousin It. All you notice is the hair not the person.
On the other hand, why when women with beautiful long hair reach a certain age and they cut it off? I mean up around their ears. Nothing says old lady like doing that. Maybe they would look better soft and wavy with enough that they can pin it up.
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