My hair was down to the middle of my back until the previous hair person I had cut it to above my shoulders without even asking. :c(

After changing to a new person, I've gone back and forth between short and medium length hair. Currently, it's cut in a layered bob with highlights in it. It's hard to tell but I have a lot of hair. Now when I try to grow it out, the layers get so heavy that I can't do anything with it. I wish it was curly but it's not and it actually has very little body. I got it thinned out and cut to just above my shoulders last Saturday. Now all I have to do is blow dry it and go and I love that.

Elmer – I agree with you. On the other hand, some find the
attractive shorter styles very high maintenance. So my choice may be unflattering,
but I’m not trying to impress anyone.

I'd rather spend the time fussing with hair doing something else more productive (to me).

Agree with Summer some find the attractive shorter styles very high maintenance. So my choice may be unflattering, but I’m not trying to impress anyone.

Long. Several inches just below my shoulders. It doesn't grow much longer or I would have it longer. Did the approaching 40 haircut thing. Too high maintenance for me to have short hair. So after about 6 years of short hair I decided to grow it out. Took almost a decade to find a hairdresser who didn't keep loping it off above my shoulders. The lovely (not) bob look. I am 66. As long as there is enough hair on my head I will keep it long. DH is happy too. He never said a thing about my short hair but when I got it long again he mentioned on how much more he liked it long. I don't care what other people think anyway. The only criticism over long hair seems to come from women, Elmer being the exception. ;-)

MIne is ultra short, a bit of gel and I'm on my way with a short spike. It looks like crap on me but it's fast and easy. With caring for my sick daughter it works for me. My daughters is waist length currently. Shes donated 3 times to locks of love until we found out they do not donate the wigs they sell them at a huge profit..at least they did. I usually wrap hers up into a sloppy bun at home.

I have very thick hair past my shoulders half way to my bra strap. My hair is difficult for me to manage as it's so thick but I think it's the best thing I have going for me. I wash it usually twice a week and I do it either curled or straight everyday. If I had a great figure I doubt that I would spend so much time on it. Hairdressers always tell me that I win the contest for the most foils. I keep it sandy blonde. I have it done every 4-6 weeks.

When I was a child, I remember my grandmother commenting to my mom that women over 30 shouldn't have long hair. Glad to see the age has been raised to 40. ;)

Maybe by the time I reach 40 the limit will be pushed to 50!

I like my hair long, my preferred length is hip length. When I start accidentally sitting on it is when I cut it. I can normally lop off 4 or 5 inches and no one will even notice.

Long hair, for me, is much easier to maintain and I can do so many things with it. When it is short, there is really only one way to wear it and it look good.

As long as it is easy AND I like how I look, I will keep my hair long.

Short does have maintenance. I have bad bed head in the morning. I can not do anything till it's wet, washed, or rinsed. Then I put a dab of curling gel in it and scrunch it up and air dry naturally. I have natural curly hair. I have thought about letting it grow just enough to put in a neat little pony tail. Not ever going long again it used to take hours to dry that long thick hair. I would put it in big rollers and put one of those bonnet hair dryers on and take a nap. It was painful. When I was working I generally always wore it up in some type of style, bun, twist, wrapped braids around, occasionally a pony tail or side pony or long braid. There are many nice looking styles to do long hair rather than just wear it down. When my grandmother passed away her hair was past her waist but most people thought she had short hair because she would make 2 long braids and wrap them halo style around her head or work each braid into a little bun at the base of the neck. She taught me to braid when I was about 3 and she would let me brush her long hair out at night and we would braid it in the morning, do matching hair lol.

the last few years it has been between shoulder length and short. Right now it is very short. I like it, very easy to take care of, although, when I first wash it, it has a tendency to stand straight up at the crown.

Mine is slightly shorter than chin length. I have a long neck, and I'm tall. Short hair looks awful on me, and so does long, shoulder length hair. I did have long hair once in high school and early college. My hair is also fine, straight and thin, which doesn't really do well long or short. In HS and college I wore it parted down the middle, kinda hippie-like (it was the 60's), so very hip. I've also had bangs, perms (80's), and other styles, but the shorter one-length bob works for me and it's easy. I colored it for several years but have been letting it grow out for almost a year, and surprisingly I don't even have that much gray at 68.

For someone to make a sweeping generalization that "older women look better with short hair" is ridiculous.

It shouldn't matter one iota if your hair is long when you're 80 (or super-short when you're 20). If you are happy with your hair, and love your hair, then other people's opinions are worth exactly what you pay for them.

Women, for WAY too long, have been expected to conform to society's definition of "proper" and "appropriate." That's why so many women try desperately to get rid of wrinkles, etc.

Do YOU!

Nobody - but NOBODY - has the right to tell you what you *should* or *ought to* do. Even (and especially) your hairdresser, your children, your spouse, your friends, or strangers on the Internet.

I agree chloecat, it shouldn't matter what someone else likes, it's your hair! What does it matter if the lady with super long hair that I see in my mind would look great in a short bob, it's not my choice to make. My husband is real bad about pointing out a hair or fashion style that he hates and I may not like it but it's not for me to say, heck they may think my hair and clothes are awful and boring...right! They may see my husband and think "why don't you shave that beard guy, you would look better without it". HA!

My hair is about shoulder length because it's what I feel looks the best on me. I have bangs and layered around my face to frame my face. I tried short hair back when everyone had the "Lady Di" hair-do and it looked hideous on me back in my twenties, I cannot imagine how ugly short hair would be now that I'm not as glamorous is I was back then. HA! I would love to have an easy short hair-do but I cannot stand how I look with it...I seriously look like a DORK! I hate it!

When I was young I had long hair. But as it started getting greyer I now wear it short. I have a wash & go cut & love it.

"For someone to make a sweeping generalization that "older women look better with short hair" is ridiculous."

That isn't what I said. I was clear in saying it was my opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In fact, while we're talking about it, I've found that the people I encounter who have the most substance and gravitas are those who are neat, clean, and appropriately dressed but who otherwise seem to pay the least attention to their appearance. And the opposite has been true in my experience too, those who have the least going on seem to spend disproportionate time on their appearance (compared to others) - it's all they have to do.

I wasn't talking about you.

Have had very short hair most of my life. I was born with straight hair. At puberty it began to curl, and curl and curl till it was a mass of fuzz. As a teenager I hated it. Then I got pregnant. The fuzz straightened out till I was left with straight full bodied hair. I left it grow to below shoulder length and loved it. Over 10 years or so some of the curl did came back to just a nice easy to manage full body head of hair. Today I am all grey with thick deeply waved tresses. There is no arguing with those waves, they have a mind of their own. Longer hair with those deep waves would overwhelm my very small face so I keep it short.

Mine is medium-short. It is curly. I spent so many years trying to straighten it. Then finally I found a stylist who liberated me and I embraced the curls! It is easy to care for: I just scrunch it with a blow dryer. The key is the cut.

Mine is down to my waist because it's easy care - wash, braid, wrap and banana-clip. My hair is very thick and when short, requires hot rollers and lots of hair spray - too much trouble for this old lady.

Cloecat, I feel the same way!

When that girl cut my hair off, I was so upset with her and she couldn't understand why. She actually said she cut it because "she" felt that style "would suit me better". It was literally an inch long in the back and it took me weeks to even feel marginally comfortable again at work.

I get that short can be a very smart look but it's not for everyone and I've seen some really really beautiful and yes SMART looking women with long hair.

I wouldn't be "me" without long hair and I'm 77. I wear it up a lot. I did get it cut some as it was clear down to my waist. It is now to about the back of my bra where that hooks. It does get harder and harder for me to take care of, but I do NOT want short hair. I'm not happy with all of the gray, but too lazy to color it anymore.

I wear it short because I am not particular in how it looks and I don't have a lot of time to mess with it. I get it cut when I absolutely can't stand it any more. I wash it and let it dry naturally. I don't own a hair dryer, curling iron or any kind of implements. Never have. Colored it once about 30 years ago. Big mistake. Took forever to grow out and my hair is very white around me face, so the roots show up quickly.

The last time I had my hair cut was June 2016 so it is longer now than it was in the picture and it needs a trim. Loving my grey hair, wish I had let it go natural sooner.

Cherryfizz - Some people pay big bucks to have hair that color. Lucky you!

My hair is short now. I go to a beautician's home and tell her I want it 2 inches long all the way around. I have natural curly hair, so all I do is either just make it wet or shampoo it. The I comb it straight back and then take my hands and mess it up back and forth. Sometimes I use a product on it and sometimes not. I get it cut about every 6 to 8 weeks. I do not like long hair on older women. I think it makes them look older. I have a friend who always had long hair, now she had it short and I think it makes her look 10 years younger. To each their own though. For me short hair was easier to get ready in the early morning when I was a cook. I also do not color my hair. I don't care if the grey is showing or not.

Short. Part of it is gone, bald men look terrible with long hair on the sides. Also prefer comfort and ease of upkeep associated with shortness.

bengardening, you described my hair except it is about 4" long all over. My hair is wavy and if I try to direct the wave it goes flat so work with what I've got. Originally went short after some character on General Hospital in the 1980s [Emma?] had allover curls and thought it would hide all the frizzes. It helped but finding a leave in moisturizer finally did the trick.

My one rule is I do not trim my own front hair. When it starts to get into my face to the hairdresser I go.

I was seriously scarred seeing all the blue and pink haired ladies back in the '60s and refused to color my hair. It has gone white and my daughter says it's easy to pick me out of a crowd. I'm seeing more and more people going white these days.

When I first met my wife her hair was middle back, hippie braids. Since then she's cleaned up her act and it just touches her neck. During her accounting career her hair was meticulously styled and she's kept up with it since retirement. She has beautiful, thick, gray/brunette hair. I love to run my fingers through her hair but she complains it's distracting.

Mine is 1" and I'm clean shaven or I don't get kisses.

I had long, wavy butt-length hair until my early 20's. Since then I've alternated between fairly short pixies, and shoulder length. I love it short, but husband likes it longer, and I'm lazy about going to the hair salon. I have found that I need layers -- if it's blunt cut at chin length it frizzes out exactly like Roseanne Roseannadanna's.

I see more older ladies keeping their hair long. Fine with me!

I generally let mine grow out a bit in the wintertime and cut it way short in the summertime. I prefer it short because it's easier maintenance. Also, I've been advised to avoid shaving because of the risk of infection so I let my beard grow out a couple weeks and clip it so it's the (now "fashionable") 5:00 shadow and more until it grows out a little. I'm less concerned about the infection risk now but a habit has formed and not shaving every day, especially since I have no need to shave regularly, has become comfortable. I'm ready for my spring shearing now. It's been put off a little longer than I prefer.

My GF used to wear her hair to her waist and cut it to neck length. She hated the cost of haircuts so she'd seldom get them, hence, the long hair. Shortly after we met I suggested that if that's how she handles her hair she should consider donating it for wigs for cancer patients. She did it a couple times but that was a hassle too so she decided she didn't like the long hair with her hobbies and activities so she now keeps it really short. A friend of mine lets his hair grow and donates it. I really commend him for putting up with the hassles of doing it. It's for a great cause.

Add me to the ones traumatized by a pixie cut when she was small.

I had super long hair and my mother and grandmother felt I would look cute with a pixie cut. They cut it all off and I cried and cried for weeks. I felt like a little boy. I was ashamed to go out of the house. I waited for it to grow back out and they would do it again even knowing I was heart broken about it.

When I got old enough to control the length of my hair I swore I would never allow anyone to cut it short again. When I was in my mid 20s I had finally gotten it to grow almost down my back. I went to have it trimmed and the lady had spun my chair around where I couldn't see how much she was cutting. All the sudden my head felt super light and I asked her how much she had cut off. She says oh about 2 inches or so. I said it doesn't feel like 2 inches and she told me don't worry it will look great! When she spun me around it was above my shoulders and I cried again, refused to pay her. She told me she thought I'd look cute with a bob. I told her I didn't ask for her opinion and had told her to just trim it. I was so upset. It took me a long time to get to where when I got a hair cut I didn't make them keep showing me how much they were cutting and tell them when they could stop.

I am mid 40s and my hair is long about down to my bra strap. I personally think I look better with long hair. I have a long face and short hair highlights that fact. People often can't guess my age they think I am late 20s early 30s. I go out with my son who is 30 now and they can't believe I am his mom, some think I am his girlfriend.

So I am wondering for those who think women in their 40s should keep their hair short. Does it matter if we don't look in our 40s? Not that I would cut my hair because someone thinks that it is age appropriate. I am just curious is it and age thing or how someone looks at their age.

I will never say never but at this point I can not see myself ever having short hair. I still associate myself looking like a boy with short hair.

I've always had short hair, short on top, and cut around my ears. I love the look of bobs and blunt cuts on other women, and I'm trying to grow mine out. This in-between stage drives me crazy. I'm pinning my bangs to the side as they're at the length where they're in my face, and I hate hair on my face. Right now my hair is collar-length.....it reaches the bottom of my turtleneck. The jury is still out whether I'll keep it or not, but I'd like to give it a chance to see if the bob/blunt, whatever even works on me.

I am 78 and up until 4 yrs ago, had hair to my waist. I decided to get it cut. It was so much work to keep up and the constant hair dresser appointments and money to keep it, and I really didnt like it very much, so now, I am in the process of growing it out. It is about to the middle of my bra strap. The grow out is not that much fun, because, one hairdresser decided I needed more bangs, than I actually need, or want, so I have a large section of hair that I am growing out. Most of that, has finally gotten long enough to be caught in the elastic band of a pony tail. If I am wearing it down, then I have to put a comb in it to hold that part. Never again, will I cut my hair, and I am very grateful, that it also still grows quite fast. I do color it, but, only to lighten it enough to be my original color, since it has darkened some with age. I do not have any gray hair, but, there are a few pure white ones here and there, and they do not take color either, so I guess, they are sort of highlights. LOL

I can relate how traumatic a haircut can be especially when young. As I said in my first post, my mom kept my hair short even though I wanted it long. I cried every time I got a haircut. But even when I could grow it long, it just wouldn't grow. I envied all the women out there that had long sleek straight hair down to their waist or but. Mine only got as long as my bra strap after trying for years! I guess it was because my type of hair was very wiry and frizzy. I looked like I stuck my finger in a light socket.

My mom kept our hair in a pixie cut (easy) until we were old enough to refuse, and then it seemed to take years and years to grow long, which was THE style of the early 70's. I have a long face so it didn't look good on my, but I didn't care. To me, long hair is easy to take care of and doesn't have to be washed daily. I finally cut my hair short after my kids made an appearance as it started to thin. I keep it just above shoulder-length and wish it were curlier. No bangs for me either, because of a cowlick. And no color--I'm too lazy and too cheap for that.

Because my mom kept my hair in a pixie when I was young, I kept my daughter's hair long (she wanted it long). It was to the middle of her back in Kindergarten. One day, my mother picked her up after school for a "girlie day" and they went to my mom's beauty shop. She had the hair dresser cut SIX INCHES off my daughter's hair.

I. Was. Furious.

When I was a kid, we always had longer hair. And I can remember standing in line (there were 3 of us) to get it either braided or put in pony tails for school. It was the bang cuts that killed us. Always, always crooked.

I always wanted long hair. It never really cooperated. I gave up at about age 50. It now varies from just lower than ear length to just at shoulder length, I prefer to keep it at the latter so I am less likely to be mistaken for a guy - one of those things that happen if one is very tall and not overly "endowed". I'm 63 now, and my hair is still mostly brown, just a few strands of gray.

This was my most traumatic hair cut. I had long hair down to my waist.. My sister bought a Hair Whiz and there went my long hair. Another time when I was 16 years old my sisters and sister in law said they wanted to "frost" my hair, put streaks in it. I went to my sister in law's house where everyone was gathered and they took me to the kitchen sink to wash my hair. I thought I saw what was the colour of my hair going down the drain. They cut my hair, styled it and gave me the mirror to see. I had bleach blond hair, no colour. I kind of liked it but I knew my Mom who was out of town would freak out and freak out she did. haha She told my sister to put the colour back into my hair so my sister took me to her friend's house where she dyed my hair "ash blond" Well, it wasn't ash blond, it was orange and then when she dyed it again a few weeks later it turned green and so all through high school I either had bleach blond, orange or green hair. Just before I had my Graduation picture taken I had stopped dying it and then went and got my long hair cut off really short so I would have my normal hair colour for my Grad picture. I have since learned never, ever let a family member touch my hair haha I can tell in this picture I had been crying and look at my sister laughing

I too resented the short haircuts that were forced on me as a girl. I really thought I and my sisters were the only girls this happened to. I'm sorry to read I was wrong! :(

I hope your parent's reasons were different than mine. She wanted us to look more like boys. As it was we were not allowed to dress up like girls and look too nice as my M had raging jealousy if our D paid attention to us. We would all suffer then. You should have seen the clothes she bought us! Shudder.

I have had my hair short once as an adult but not for years, and I've never coloured it either. I hope I hope to never have to have short hair again. That might not be my choice now that I'm getting more gray and I heard it doesn't grow as long. My hair is half way down my butt.

I'm surprised and saddened at how many of you mention your parents dictating your hair to you.

As long as my children are old enough and capable enough to manage their own hair, I don't dictate their hair. My mom never "forced" a haircut on me either.

Maybe hair styles are like politics: Local. That comes to mind because we just flew to and from Maui via Dallas. We saw a wide range of hair and dress styles on our flights and in the airports.

I agree with Elmer in liking a 'whole-person' look that is simple, neat, smooth, and not 'fussy' -- on men and on women. It's sometimes called looking 'put together'.

HS boys sport sparse whiskers to 'look manly'. HS girls buy every 'beauty' product in the drugstore to needlessly decorate their beautiful young selves. The same insecurities often result in balding men who add facial hair and 'locks' down the backs of their necks -- and ladies with flowing manes who turn their heads and shock you with their surgically stretched faces.

'Simple' doesn't mean childish-- like the haggard country and western singer in a full skirt with her hair hanging down her back, a caricature of the weepy girls in her songs.

There is such a thing as the general perception of 'age appropriate' and 'occasion appropriate' in hair styles as well as clothing. Hair styling is one way to 'age' an actresses in a story. In "Victoria", the unformed girl is presented with long hair held back with an Alice band...and she skips and runs. Ah, but to be perceived as more than a child, she 'puts her hair up'...and she walks with poise.

Women didn't cut their hair in that time, but today they still 'put their hair up', by sleeking it close to the head. The high 'pony tail' that flips around in youth is fastened at the nape, becomes a chignon -- or is cut. The visual is no longer childish, *girlish*, but adult -- often adult in the workplace.

How a woman wears her hair in bed is a whole 'nother story. Were I a man, I'd hope my lover would save her most *attractive* style for me.

Speaking of hair and bedtime, it would annoy me when my hair got caught underneath while moving around in bed (sleeping or doing other activities). Do women with hair down to their butt wear it in a long braid like you see in historical movies? I do admit with short hair during winter my head gets cold, so I wear a beanie type cap.

caflowerluver- I used to sleep with my hair in either a high or low bun so it wouldn't push on the back of my head.

I've found that keeping it that tight wreaks havoc on my natural curls, so do ponytails, so I switched to a loose braid.

Long hair = messy bun for sleep. Not long enough for a braid. :)

I don't do anything except pile it on my pillow so maybe that helps. I also use leave in conditioner so my hair is slippery so doesn't tangle around me. If I braid my hair it does tangle and frizz out more so I have to apply more conditioner.

The perfect length for me is where I can hold the end of my hair and fully extend my arm and have the hair nice and taught so I can put it in neatly done Victory rolls. Any longer and they get sloppy, any shorter and they're too small. I also occasionally wear it in high pigtails. Obviously not worried one bit about other peoples opinions at all.

Thanks everyone for answering my question. I didn't know what "Victory rolls" were so had to look it up. My mom wore her hair like that in the 1940's in pictures I have seen of her.

Marcy345

I had long hair all my life. Now that I'm 72 I have it very short and stopped coloring it 3 years ago. To my and many others surprise I don't have any gray hair and it's still red. I've gone through all the things mentioned here to curl hair starting with the rags and my grandmother. Great to be back

I just got a new haircut Saturday and it's about the shortest I ever had. I got some spike stuff to do something different on occasion. It's fun. Very cool I mean actually cool not hot lol. It dries very fast.

Right now it's no hair. It began to come out in handfuls two weeks to the day after my first chemo treatment. I'll be bald for a while.