Hairstyle ideas for women over 50 (stylist, conditioner, volume, coarse)

[bande1102]

I guess my point is that I care more about finding a flattering hairstyle than staying on trend. I see lots of younger women with hairstyles that aren't flattering on them and I don't want to be in that camp. Stylists in my area seem to gravitate to 2 styles: angled bob or long hair (often extensions) that are wavy mid-length and straight at the end. So boring.

Even magazines, like Sophisticates, seem to show the same styles, over and over again on the same type of model. Even if they use an older model (rarely), she doesn't look older. More like she's trying to look like the younger models. ugghhh. I guess I just don't want to be crammed into the mold to look like everyone else.

Older women seem to share some things: less fat in our face (so our faces seem thin), hooded eyes, weaker chins...I know I'm generalizing, but that's just my observation. I'd love to find a stylist who could downplay my thinner face and highlight my green eyes.

I love Makeover guy...wish he were in my area. I've debated about seeing him for a makeover, but I don't know anyone in my area who could maintain the look.

[Klassyhk]

Originally Posted by bande1102

I'm looking for some flattering styles for women over 50. Many of the styles I've been finding online are showing models that are definitely not 50. I'd like to see some real world examples (on mature women, with wrinkles) of flattering cuts/styles.

Case in point: Martha Stewart's latest https://www.instagram.com/p/B5nouKAn...ource=ig_embed

I mean, I think I might like the haircut, but its so filtered and she's obviously had work done.

Martha Stewart looks fabulous! I love the makeup and the hair. If or whatever work she had done, it was worth the money. She looks great!

[movinon]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Victorian women kept their hair long, and looked fabulous with it. I supposed it depends on how thick one's hair still is, as one ages. Is that why so many women cut it short after 50?

I don't know if that's why but I suppose it could be. In my family, most of the older women have kept their hair long enough to put up in whatever is the latest up-do. They've definitely kept up with the trends in that way and none of them look dowdy. Some of them have thinner hair but fluff it enough, whether via hot rollers, perms, curling irons or whatever, to achieve some volume.

I've always wondered where the "if you're older than ____, you must cut your hair short" mindset came from. Mine is a mid-neck bob. I can still get it up with some work. I look awful in very short hair and long drags my face down now, so I've settled on this as a compromise. I keep thinking there's a more flattering hairstyle out there that doesn't look like everyone else but I've yet to find it. Hence my fascination with all things Christopher Hopkins.

[Lodestar]

I've worn my hair long since a bad perm in grade school! After fifty I noticed it was thinning and had it layered at shoulder length. It was the Farrah Fawcett do that took forever to style. After a while I switched to straight.

A couple of years ago I wanted to have a pull-through piece for the top but try as I might I just couldn't get a good match without spending more than I was willing. So I decided to grow my own hair for the piece. During this time my hair seems to be thickening out again. Didn't ever expect that. And I've also learned a few tricks, thanks to YouTube, on how to give it more volume.

It's not as thick as it was in my twenties but thick enough to wear up or down without looking scant. And I'm actually getting compliments on it. The other day I was at my stylist for a foiling and had a hat on. My hair was tucked under the hat (one nice thing about Minnesota winters!)

I was having a conversation with a woman who was about my age and when my turn in the chair came I took off my hat and she said, "You just took ten years off your age!" What a nice thing to hear because in spite of encouragement to wear my hair however I want I still hear in my head that old message that at my age my hair should be short.

I'm still growing, just for the fun of it now and enjoy trying all the updo videos, curling, straightening. Guess I'm going through a second adolescence. I wear the bangs choppy and uneven and like the casual look it gives me. Often it's just brush, fluff and go. Can't beat that.

[KathrynAragon]

LOL I am in my upper fifties and my hair is still so thick that it works best in a short, funky style. I got my long, thick, crazy hair cut 25 years ago and it's much easier to deal with short! Note that I said short FUNKY style. It's all in the cut, ladies. Whatever your hair type is, get it cut professionally and in a current style, and use current products and tools on it. No need to look like we're stuck in 1992.

[Nefret]

Kathryn, you've posted pictures of your hair before and it's a really cute "do". I'm curious to know what products you use to maintain the style.

[theoldnorthstate]

My hair is soft and fine and now at 68 is thinning. Hairstylists with their current 'layers to give it body' don't work and bobs get straggly because it is so fine and thin.

I am sorely tempted to do my hair like the English women used to do: grow it shoulder length or so, one length, then bangs, ponytail/updo. I think that may work with the (as the poster said) less fat, hooded eyes, and soft chin.

there is a lot to be said for bringing hair up rather than down.

[hunterseat]

Originally Posted by Klassyhk

Martha Stewart looks fabulous! I love the makeup and the hair. If or whatever work she had done, it was worth the money. She looks great!

I think so too! I wasn't a fan until she went to jail. Now I'm a fan.
OP I think we all have the ability to look through pictures and recognize our own face shape and whether a style would look good or not. Just keep looking!

[pekemom]

At 72 my hair is short, straight, fine and thinning....also medium blonde getting grey. It was never thick...I had wispy looking braids, thin ponytail even as a child. I prefer to keep it short with some volume...I know long hair can look good on women of any age, but on me I like the short styles.

[Nerys52SoSilver]

Been doing some updo hair styles after googling images. The mostly silver hair thinned a bit due to health issues but is still shiny.