Short or longer hair?

Well, I think it looks rather fetching, Penstemmon, especially with the piece of holly stuck in the middle.

rose

I have an appointment booked for tomorrow, I think I will end up going back to the shorter layered cut, a bit like the photo on my profile, as it's a lot easier to manage.

When I start back at work I will need to be up and out at what will seem like a very early time, and the less I have to do to make my self presentable the better!

I had my hair restyled yesterday so that I can grow it a couple of inches, with a new hairdresser. He was great and really got my hair.

Phew!

Just looked at your photo and I think the style suits your face.

Mine is a bit longer than that, but I can finger dry it if I am in a rush (and that seems to straighten it out more as well). Due for a cut next week!

I also agree that short hair is best for seniors and is less ageing. Whilst having my hair done the other day an older lady was having her grey, long hair coloured - I shouldn't say it but she looked like a witch - and old with it!!
PS I would like to add that if long hair is somehow 'put up' it can look very elegant.

I love long hair a lot!! Though short hair are easier to manage but long hair gives such an elegant look!

Like you phoenix I prefer short hair for convenience. Mine is fine and although I grew it in to a bob (with shorter at the back) it flew all over the place when windy weather and irritated me like mad. When I saw myself in a shop mirror that decided it!
Now back to layers, 10 minutes maximum to wash and dry and I think it makes me look younger [deluded mare emoticon]!
When longer it only looked good for 5 minutes, and I had to wash it every day.

I had short hair in various styles for 40 years - the last time I had long hair was in my late teens. Working full time and raising a family I always thought that short hair was easier to look after but I was wrong. My hair started to fall out and get much thinner in my late 50s and having short hair it became very see through and patchy and my scalp was visible in places especially in the summer. So when I retired I bucked the trend of most older women and grew my hair, now just past my shoulders, and it's the best thing I ever did and I just wish I had done it before. I no longer have to wash my hair daily because it has stuck to my head when I was asleep a quick blast with a hair dryer revives it and I now wash it max twice a week. If I am feeling lazy I can just tie it back or put it up. But the best thing is that the quality of my hair has improved so much - no see through patches any more. My DH swears it's because I used to wash and 'mess about' with my hair so much that it became so difficult. But I think that maybe less stress since retiring could be a factor.

Unfortunately there are a lot of 'older women' who don't realise the hair style they had in their 20s looks awful as they get older. what were long flowing locks when they were young now simply look like long straggling hair hanging down their backs, unkept, unstyled and unflattering.

I think the most important thing is to find a style that suits you and you are comfortable with. This might be different from how you wore it when younger. It seem that hair changes significantly with age. A good hairdresser, who you trust is quite important. The cost and trendiness of the salon is somewhat less important!
I have a natural curl in my hair, which was the bane of my life, when young.
Now, less curly and largely white, I have it in a layered bob and coloured a soft blonde. ( I was naturally chestnut )
Damp sends it into a frizz! I am an avid user of Argan oil and organic shampoo.
I know very few women who are 100% happy with their hair. x

Mine reaches just past my shoulder-blades and is white and quite thick. I last visited the hairdresser about 2 years ago, I think! I cut my fringe myself and wear it loose, in a plait or up in a 'bit of a knot' - depending on mood. I think it depends on condition of hair and the confidence of the woman, Anya!

Mine is mad - it has a life of its own! It's naturally curly but I keep it in a shoulder length layered cut and use 'product' to tame it. Curls have their advantage though in that I can wash it, give it a quick blow dry, a handful of mousse and it's done. It's also just long enough to put up in a clip at the back which can look nice as well.

Mine is too fine and thin to grow, it was long until I was about 25 then cut to just touching my shoulders. I've had a shorter and shorter style over the years it's now short and layered. Think Dame Judy.

Personally I don't like long hair on older women, unless the hair is in beautiful condition.

My hair is my asset. Good thick hair. Needs thinned regularly. I spent many years with short and spiky.

Now it is slightly longer. No bother growing it out because I keep the layers and grew it down to between ears and chin. Use gel and finger dry with hairdryer blasts. Break it up with some product so it looks a bit messy. Fringe is a must and I cut and thin this myself. Fringe must be long and angled down over right eye to the ear. Use straighteners selectively here and there to make it interesting. A spray of Elnet and it's done until bedtime.

Tidied trim about every 6 weeks to thin it while growing cos it can sprout overnight and looks like a mushroom.

I've been known to often thin it myself.
Wearing it messy ....you can get away with a lot.
But it can be blown dry nice and smooth if wished.
Used to be ginger....strawberry blonde, now blonde with blonder meshes/foils.
Love it when I get vouchers as a gift.
Same Local hairdresser for years....No faffing.
Cut and blow dry £18.
Dry trim £13.
Cut, colour, meshes, blow dry, £40 and out in one hour.

Sometimes I put on a nice n easy myself for a few months.

Hair ??? Ah yes, I remember now.

Mine goes long, short, long, short, long...........You'd think at my age I would have found a style that suits and stuck with it but I haven't.

The only style I think is not a good look for ladies of a certain age is thick, long hair which is all one length. I do think a few layers looks better.

What about Mary Beard's hair? She gets a lot of stick for her style but she obviously likes it. I think it might look better up?

I would like her to layer her hair more. I quite fancy the meg ryan look, lately. My hair is very curly and layered because it is so thick, and it gets cut to my shoulders and then grows about two inches before it is pruned again. I think, when you look at yourself sideways, as you age your hair needs to go in at the back of your neck to counterbalance a loosening neck and chin. That's one of the reasons why longer hair doesn't work on older women - unless they have a lovely long neck, as does one of my friends. I do think soft choppy hair cut to curve around the face is very flattering, my MiL just has hers chopped off very severely and she looks androgynous. I thought it was very telling that when she lived in France and Belgium her local hairdressers cut her hair to soften and suit her, with slightly longer layers on top and the odd wisp around her face. Over here they just give her a short back and sides, basically!

Marelli long hair plaited or put up on an older woman can look wonderful, especially if it's thick. And as you say it depends on the condition of the hair.

It's the long and straggly look of long hair on some old woman that leaves me shuddering.

Anya I've been having mine put up in one of those bun wraps which keep it tidy and fashionable to some extent also I go for the plait down the back,I'm off next week for a half yearly trim I really need this done in a salon as I have major problems cutting my own fringe and need the help of my hairdresser to get it looking anywhere near straight.

There is the hair and there is you, isn't there. I always think the hairdresser works to my hair which is very fine and very straight and is cut in a mid-length bob. I am not sure that it really suits me and I have to wash and dry it each morning

I have been thinking about a perm just to soften the look but I am worried it will age me. Has anyone any advice.

I keep mine around chin length as any longer and it becomes even more unruly than it is now. It is very thick, too curly to be straight and too straight to be curly also quite dry and goes frizzy at the mere mention of rain. My hairdresser doesn't need to go to the gym, she says struggling to dry my hair gives her all the workout she needs .

Pompa

short and salt and pepper

My hair is a bit like Crafting's.
I do try and get it different from time to time. I used to even resort to taking in magazine cuttings.
But all hairdressers say to me that my hair is "difficult". Well great!
So I cant have this and that style.
Since I am no hairdresser myself, and I cant beat the hairdressers, I have kept to the same style for years.
It also doesnt help that one side of my hair dries inwards, and one outwards.

I swear by serum - Frizzease or the Boots' equivalent. It does stop that dry and frizzy look but too much and it goes greasy, so you have to be careful.

Gracesgran - I'd say avoid a perm as it could look very dated. Perms were a bit of an 80s thing, weren't they? I remember my mum having them in the 50s, too. I did used to like the 80s curly perms as they were very easy to look after - just wash and drip dry - but I don't think it would be a good look today.

Soontobe - nothing wrong with taking in a magazine cutting. I do it all the time. Mind you, it never seems to turn out like the picture!

Does anyone still tip hairdressers? My daughter says no-one does it now as they charge such high prices, so I stopped, but I sometimes feel quite mean.