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How long would you let your hair get after 70

(104 Posts)
Allsorts Sun 04-Sept-22 19:54:44

My dear grandma, never cut her hair and it and it was down to her waist, so I suppose sometimes she must have trimmed it or it woukd have been down to the floor.it was put up every morning into a low chignon. It doesn’t seem fashionable to let older people to have such long hair these days, mine rests in my shoulder and I will have a few inches off next week. How long would you go?

luluaugust Mon 05-Sept-22 09:31:06

Hair similar to yours Norah, needs a cut at present but have one booked. It is a good length for covering the hearing aids grin

henetha Mon 05-Sept-22 09:33:00

I love long hair really, but it's too difficult for me to deal with now, so it's short. I cut it myself every few weeks. I'm grey, but often put pink streaks in it myself.

merlotgran Mon 05-Sept-22 09:39:13

BlueBelle

Mines short and I certainly don’t look masculine ??? skydancer a bit of an assumption there

I think she’s right about a severe cut looking masculine though.

A softer pixie cut like Judi Dench’s looks great so long as you have the face shape to carry it off and it’s important to look at yourself in profile before exposing the side of your face.

Think chin(s) ?

Marmight Mon 05-Sept-22 09:58:13

Just above shoulder length for me. I look hideous with it up or with short hair. It gets to a certain length then I have a couple inches off every 8/9 weeks. I’d love to have the cute pixie cut I had when I was young, slim & wrinkle free and my hair was black but it ain’t going to happen ?

AreWeThereYet Mon 05-Sept-22 12:53:11

Mine is half way to my waist and usually curled. When it's hot or very wet (or I'm going out in the evening) I pin it up and have loads of curls around my head. When it's cold I leave it down and it keeps my neck warm. I really like the fact that I haven't been to a hairdresser in about ten years now.

I quite liked my hair really short when I was young and had good bone structure, now I don't think it would suit me so much. I did say I might cut it short again when it goes grey but it depends on how I go grey.

AreWeThereYet Mon 05-Sept-22 13:02:05

Long hair is ageing unless it’s put up. Short severe cuts look masculine.

Don't necessarily agree with those statements. All depends on who is wearing them and how they are worn. Lank, long hair hanging next to a jowly face is not a good look on any age. Well kept, shiny hair can look good at any age and in any colour.

Prentice Mon 05-Sept-22 14:53:37

I think ladies of any age can look attractive with longer hair, it is all down to colour, condition and face really.
my own hair is curly and now as white as snow so it is kept very short.

Esmay Mon 05-Sept-22 16:50:10

My hair is really long .
It's curly and difficult to style .
In the past I've spent a fortune at the salon and come home in tears .
I should have been a Victorian !

I dyed it at the weekend for a party and hacked off a great chunk at the ends .

I always wear it up in a variety of styles .

I should allow it to go grey .
Maybe when I hit 70 !

fairfraise Mon 05-Sept-22 16:57:14

I had real lockdown hair. I had not been for two and a half years. I liked the length but it needed trimming and fringe shaping. So I had it cut today. Still longish but looks tidier, at the moment.

Allsorts Tue 06-Sept-22 07:00:55

That any if us did have lock fiend hair, I never attempted to cut it as something more serious had taken over the world. Mine grew the silver came in and I liked it, I put it up most days or in a low pony, I find it very versatile. I do think I look older maybe than if I had it dyed and went to the hairdresser every few weeks but quite honestly I don't want regrowth, having it cut once a month, sitting in salons for ages. I never realised how much I was spending on it.
Thank you for your thoughts it has been interesting.

TerriBull Tue 06-Sept-22 08:03:23

Mine is jaw length, I can just about pin it up for swimming. I go to the hairdressers every six weeks and have an inch or so cut off. I intend to keep it this length I find it easy to manage, I'm lucky insomuch it's still quite thick I think I've only suffered very minimal thinning, even if my hairbrush at time tells me otherwise. I can't see myself having it either long or short again, my husband hates short back and sides on women in any case. Although I agree Pixie look can look good, but I personally wouldn't go that short again.

Susie42 Tue 06-Sept-22 10:42:58

Whether you have long or short hair, make sure you have a good haircut. Untrimmed long hair looks awful no matter how old you are.

Awesomegranny Wed 07-Sept-22 11:28:49

All depends on hair type. I hate short hair on me, so it’s slightly longer than shoulder length so I can tie it up for a change

Lupatria Wed 07-Sept-22 11:38:29

mine's just a bit below my shoulders (and coloured!). i don't suit short hair as i'm a bit under 6' and overweight. got to have the hair to balance it all.

SueLindsey Wed 07-Sept-22 11:57:38

Ive been cutting my own since the first lockdown and its very short. Was just thinking about going back to my local hairdresser. Have a friend who usually has short hair but has also avoided hairdressers and now has a pony tail which really suits her. We are both 71.

Annaram1 Wed 07-Sept-22 11:57:54

I am 81 and my hair comes to about 3 inches below my jaw. I still have my natural dark blonde hair, so I think I am lucky.

nj30 Wed 07-Sept-22 12:03:47

Age is just a number. We can wear our hair long, short or mid-length at any age. Just go with what suits you, and what you like.

Gwenisgreat1 Wed 07-Sept-22 12:10:30

Well, at 78 I am trying to grow my hair - aiming at shoulder length, but may get tired of it and chop it off again!

missdeke Wed 07-Sept-22 12:15:12

My hair grows very quickly and even though I have it cut to just below my shoulders it's quickly on it's way towards my waist. I can't 'do' my hair when it's short, if I get it to look right one day , by the next it won't go the same. Short hair is not always easy to manage at all.

Frogs Wed 07-Sept-22 12:15:51

My grey hair is cut in a bob. I always admire ladies who are are confident enough to wear long hair at an older age. The model who appears on adverts with long grey hair looks stunning (or perhaps it’s just the lighting/camera angles)
A good friend of mine who died suddenly recently had long grey shoulder length hair. When I was talking about her to some WI ladies who didn’t know her very well - one said ahhh I know the lady with ‘the hair’….. I’m not sure how they meant this.

widgeon3 Wed 07-Sept-22 12:22:27

When I waas younger I grew my hair long or had it cut short according to how I felt at the time

Then came menopause and it seemed as if the direction of its growth changed. No longer could I have it shaped to my neck as, instead of lying quite flat the growth around my neck directed the hair upwards which seems to make the shorter cut I would prefer impossible
Has any other GNer found that this happened?
It happened to one of my daughters just after puberty. Her long straight chestnut hair became thinner, much darker and almost afro in style

pen50 Wed 07-Sept-22 12:24:16

I'm 66 next week and my hair is long, down to below my bra band. I do have it coloured sort of ash blondish but that will probably have to stop when I retire next year. But other than that I plan to keep it long until it thins too much.

It's never loose; I used to wear it in a side swiped ponytail but recently I've started plaiting it down my back - pretty inexpertly but hopefully there'll be improvement with time. In high summer I scrunch it all up into a bun.

It's rather higher maintenance than I would prefer but DH likes it and so do I.

Theoddbird Wed 07-Sept-22 12:35:11

If my hair was thicker I would probably grow it long enough to pin up....would love to be able to do that. It isn't though so I have a pixie cut. I always have a bandana round head and tied on top. I have around thirty...a colour to go with whatever I wear

grandtanteJE65 Wed 07-Sept-22 12:38:35

Mine is waist length as it always has been and I would never dream of having it cut.

OP most likely your grandmother did trim the ends of her hair, but it would have been highly unlikely to grow much longer than to her waist.

Hair length is presumably in our genes, which is why some people have naturally short hair and others long.

Certainly in the Edwardian era it was said of some ladies that they could sit on their hair when they let it down - and Colette the French writer said of herself as a young married woman that her hair was even longer than that.

My grandmother shared a room at teaching college with a girl whose hair reached the back of her knees.

But I think it is only very few women indeed whose hair grew so long.

Mamma66 Wed 07-Sept-22 12:40:49

I wish my hair was a little longer. It seems to have a ‘natural’ length and simply will not grow past its current length (just about touching my shoulders). I would love to be able to wear it up in a soft bun as my grandmother did, but then I haven’t got her bone structure or colouring, so would probably look daft anyway…