Hair: Give us a crack at current styles
Classic bobs, ponytails, pixies and the shoulder-length mane: popular styles for women past 50, and I'll head off defensive comments by saying these are beloved classics for a reason: cut well, they look current and pretty.
I also see the retiree buzz job, the the man's-cut-on-a-woman helmet. I'm more leery of this one; only the rare grown woman doesn't look like she's out on a day pass, but stylists dole it out anyway.
Some of the current looks seem off limits to clients who need bifocals to read the bill. I'd like to see them at least offered, even if we decide against them.
It's not always the stylist's fault; my friend Alice looked at her 8th grade graduation photo one day and realized that she had not changed her cut for 45 years. (She found a new salon and got a fab makeover.)
The styles below are all riffs on classics; it's the little detail that updates the 'do. None may be for you, but just like window shopping, it's useful to see what's current.
1. Undone braids and twists
We were the genration to own the ponytail, and it still lends a crisp, classic vibe to long hair, which more of us are keeping. But there are some updated long styles that would look stunning with grey hair.
I love the insouciance, the wink of the fan of ends, and the fact that you can garden in this style and not have to keep pushing it back. Yes, you do need to essay a side French braid, but that's a fun life skill to acquire.
Girl, if I never see a lank ponytail trussed with a banana clip again, it's too soon. The young'uns deconstruct the updo with twisted sections. Works well on medium to long hair, just taking sections and playing.
Here's a curly version with the twists moved to the nape:
Directions and ideas are here; and take a look at another romantic braid, the fishtail. If you are worried about the pins showing, get some good-looking "tortoise" ones and they'll seem deliberate.
2. Po-mo pixies
A pixie shows off our eyes, and we love the carefree charm, but too many hairdressers see you're past fifty and the next thing you know, every bit of softness can get sheared off.
The "relaxed pixie" with its longer top and nape updates this super-short cut. A good stylist can create your own variation.
Note too that the sweeping bangs start a little further back on the crown, a good trick for thinner hair.
Its downtown cousin, the undercut pixie, with a versatile long top layer, can be worn with that top tossed back or to to the side, as Garance Doré shows in a cheeky 30-second video of herself playing with her new cut:
3. New bits for a bob
The classic side-swept bang, ubiquitous and practical, does avert the need for a precise trim every few weeks. But the asymmetrical bang, which works with any length of bob, is edgier. Why don't we get us some edge?
We own classic bobs, but how often does a hairdresser suggest we try a half-up knot as a looser, lighter effect?
It comes down to a hairdresser's sensibility, which may not coincide with his or her technical skill.
As wardrobe stylist and author Sherri Mathieson observed on her blog:
"I've met people over 80 that have more sense of real style than 20 year olds. So it has less to do with age than the more important—exposure (geography, family, friends, job), curiosity and interest.
And then your true ace is—(drumroll please!)—how you absorb the information of what you see."
Some stylists are not absorbing the information; they're wearing Gran Goggles when a client over 50 gets in the chair.
And when they do, what an improvement! Here's an example, retrieved from Good Housekeeping's site. Maryellen is 60. Here's the "before" bob. As she herself said, "I look like a mushroom."
A new cut and colour (and more current clothes) take Maryellen from the '90s to now:
(I'll bet some of you are hankering to offer suggestions for the glasses, too.)
Too often they let us drift along, asking "Same as usual, right?" If you've found the stylist who has both eyes that see and hands that create, you're a lucky woman!
I also see the retiree buzz job, the the man's-cut-on-a-woman helmet. I'm more leery of this one; only the rare grown woman doesn't look like she's out on a day pass, but stylists dole it out anyway.
Some of the current looks seem off limits to clients who need bifocals to read the bill. I'd like to see them at least offered, even if we decide against them.
It's not always the stylist's fault; my friend Alice looked at her 8th grade graduation photo one day and realized that she had not changed her cut for 45 years. (She found a new salon and got a fab makeover.)
The styles below are all riffs on classics; it's the little detail that updates the 'do. None may be for you, but just like window shopping, it's useful to see what's current.
1. Undone braids and twists
We were the genration to own the ponytail, and it still lends a crisp, classic vibe to long hair, which more of us are keeping. But there are some updated long styles that would look stunning with grey hair.
I love the insouciance, the wink of the fan of ends, and the fact that you can garden in this style and not have to keep pushing it back. Yes, you do need to essay a side French braid, but that's a fun life skill to acquire.
Girl, if I never see a lank ponytail trussed with a banana clip again, it's too soon. The young'uns deconstruct the updo with twisted sections. Works well on medium to long hair, just taking sections and playing.
Here's a curly version with the twists moved to the nape:
Directions and ideas are here; and take a look at another romantic braid, the fishtail. If you are worried about the pins showing, get some good-looking "tortoise" ones and they'll seem deliberate.
2. Po-mo pixies
A pixie shows off our eyes, and we love the carefree charm, but too many hairdressers see you're past fifty and the next thing you know, every bit of softness can get sheared off.
The "relaxed pixie" with its longer top and nape updates this super-short cut. A good stylist can create your own variation.
Note too that the sweeping bangs start a little further back on the crown, a good trick for thinner hair.
Its downtown cousin, the undercut pixie, with a versatile long top layer, can be worn with that top tossed back or to to the side, as Garance Doré shows in a cheeky 30-second video of herself playing with her new cut:
3. New bits for a bob
The classic side-swept bang, ubiquitous and practical, does avert the need for a precise trim every few weeks. But the asymmetrical bang, which works with any length of bob, is edgier. Why don't we get us some edge?
We own classic bobs, but how often does a hairdresser suggest we try a half-up knot as a looser, lighter effect?
It comes down to a hairdresser's sensibility, which may not coincide with his or her technical skill.
As wardrobe stylist and author Sherri Mathieson observed on her blog:
"I've met people over 80 that have more sense of real style than 20 year olds. So it has less to do with age than the more important—exposure (geography, family, friends, job), curiosity and interest.
And then your true ace is—(drumroll please!)—how you absorb the information of what you see."
Some stylists are not absorbing the information; they're wearing Gran Goggles when a client over 50 gets in the chair.
And when they do, what an improvement! Here's an example, retrieved from Good Housekeeping's site. Maryellen is 60. Here's the "before" bob. As she herself said, "I look like a mushroom."
A new cut and colour (and more current clothes) take Maryellen from the '90s to now:
(I'll bet some of you are hankering to offer suggestions for the glasses, too.)
Too often they let us drift along, asking "Same as usual, right?" If you've found the stylist who has both eyes that see and hands that create, you're a lucky woman!
Comments
While Maryellen's "before" hair was definitely dated, I don't like the very short after cut on her. Perhaps it could be a starting point for her growing out her hair more, though. She has nice thick hair, seems a shame to have it all shorn off.
In my opinion, many older women (50+) need to also think carefully about the color of their hair. An all over dark color is extremely aging. In fact, more aging than an out of date haircut.
materfamilias: Parts are murder for showing roots but if you do not have them, 7 weeks is possible.
lagatta: I find it is a vast
improvement on her former 'do, and usually like short cuts.
Susan: The monochromatic dark colour job can result from overprocessing, which has happened to me both at the salon and at home. Then there is colour choice and some women want the dark shade they had when 25 or so, which is often a mistake when older.
Mardel: Sometimes it's us; but then again we do have to keep up the style they create. Not interested in styles I can't maintain no matter how great they look when I walk out.
Sissy: I most often let them go for it; after all, it's only hair. (BTW, wonder if you know that all caps is considered shouting in the online world?)
And yes, over processing can be an issue--even for those of us who lighten our hair rather than try to maintain a youthful dark color.
I applaud this post. The styles you posted were fun to see, even if they won't work for my hair.
I admit that I don't often like "senior" short cuts, unless of course they are necessary for thinning hair, or conversely to set off a very delicate face and frame.
I have a harder time about colour. Not everyone has a lot of grey at 50, and women with naturally dark hair look fine with it at any age. I certainly don't think a person with naturally dark hair at 50 or 60 should feel the need to "lighten" it.
My hair was very dark, almost black, but my skin has Celtic pale influences as well as darker, more southerly ones and I have blue-green eyes. So when the dark brown became too harsh, I went for that Parisian "reddish-black", but eventually that too became too harsh and I resigned myself to letting it go natural. Not because I dislike silver hair, but because the transition makes one look rather a bag lady, and I do NOT look pretty with a pixie cut.
Fortunately it is attractive now, silver with dark undertones, but I know grey hair can be draining too; no rules!
I have enjoyed your blog and comments for several years now. Please accept my apologies for such a lengthy, rambling comment.
Sandy B
This is a very timely post for me -- I have a haircut scheduled for Thursday and my stylist suggested something like Michelle Williams' pixie, which is also another longer-on-top style. Still trying to decide.
We have a friend with the same problem as yours; she is wearing a wig for work as she does not want to be seen as "ill" and thus not capable of doing her demanding work (simultaneous interpretation).
By the way, she has always been one of those with delicate features who looks good with a short but stylish cut. But health is far more of a priority!
Susan: I knew exactly what you mean and suspect others do, too. Most advice articles counsel women using colour to go a shade or two lighter than their young-adult years- but then there was Diana Vreeland, who kept a very dark black-brown till her last illness. But then she was hardly your typical woman!
Sisty: The Claire Underwood cut is more or less like the relaxed pixie photo, but more plastered to her head and maybe a touch shorter on top. The Garance cut is hipper, with the undercut sides.
Susan: re face shape, I've mused over those drawings for years, but in real life, I see women of all shapes of faces in bobs, pixies and long hair. I wonder if face shape really matters that much?
But I have seen stylists turn down requests for a certain style because of hair texture and condition.
That is a great-looking hair clip!