Should a 40 year old woman have very long hair ? How about a 50 year old woman ?

My mother kept her hair long until her late 40s but it was almost always up in a French braid or a chignon for special occasions. Seeing her first thing in the morning while it was hanging loose was a bit of a shock. We used to joke that she pulled those braids to tight it gave her a facelift.

This is an old fashioned trope and complete bullshit.

I don't think one needs the Fox News sausage curls + extensions look past, let's say, 40, nor do I think it looks really good on many people. Nor does super long, stick straight, center parted hair like Demi Moore. I don't think as you age you have to have shorter hair but wearing it up or a partial updo is probably more flattering. If it is too thin at the ends it's not a good look long. More volume around the face or cuts that lift and / or soften are probably better.

Growing up, the only older women I saw with longer hair tended to have long gray tresses, lived on Cape Cod, (or were academics) and always had it in a ponytail. They also wore khaki culottes or skirts.

As long as they aren’t still teasing it like it’s 1988, I think it’s fine.

Long hair does not make women look older, short hair does.

If it’s long like Crystal Gayle and hippie / witchy-like, I can see your point.

Imagine J. Lo, Madonna, Mariah, Gwen Stefani with pixie cuts. They’d look much older.

Glenn Close had very long silver gray hair in the 2003 movie Le Divorce. She looked sensational. I thought she was in her 40s but just searched and she was 56.

I think women should wear their hair any way they want to, regardless of age.

Only if they wear it in a bun.

If she wants to. It's up to her.

Mine takes 30 years off me

I must be in a minority as i dont like the long hair look (reaching your waist or nearby) look even in young women.

But while it can look good exceptionally , if too long it does ages you. SJP is a case in point now. It doesn’t mean you have to have a severe grandma cut, but shoulder length or slightly longer is fine.

Vanessa Paraids and would look bad with short hair. She looks much better with long hair.

Long hair is fine as long as they stay away from scrunchies.

Yeah, but always suspect Mormon or trad wife hiding bruises

No, they should all cut it off and look like identical sexless "post-menopausal females," as JD Vance would say.

If an older woman feels good with long hair, then who gives a shit? She's probably a more interesting person who doesn't care about conforming. Obviously this doesn't apply to Real Housewives and MAGA skanks who wear pounds of extensions and more makeup than a drag queen.

I’ve met women and men of all preferences who enjoyed maintaining long hair as kind of a hobby. The straight guys usually brag about donating 9 inches of hair for cancer kids.

It’s like having a bar friend who spends 45 minutes cleaning all their jewelry and piercing inserts every night. Good for a bullshitting, but we won’t fly together ever and I don’t want to hear about different anti-biotics..

My sister is 42 and has long, thick, red hair that reaches her hips. It's naturally wavy/curly but she blow dries it straight because curly hair that long is a pain to care for. It's her best feature and I've told her in no uncertain terms that if she ever cuts it just because some idiot tells her she's too old for long hair I'll never forgive her.

I think the veil that Sophia wore in one episode seemed appropriate. Fully hides the ravages of post-menopausal old age.

A good pixie cut works wonders.

^only when you’re Judi Dench

Straight men like long hair on women. I've known more than one woman whose SO told them they would leave them if they cut their hair.

It works if it’s thick and healthy texture and if she has people to help care for it. Stevie Nicks was nearing 50 when she rocked the long blonde hair in that famous Fleetwood Mac reunion concert (The Dance) in 1997.

It doesn’t work if it’s thin and lifeless, or if it’s dried out with a flyaway/frizz problem all over it.

This isn't new - the long straight hair look on women has been popular for a long stretch of time now and older women wear it as well - I think it depends on the woman and other aspects of her face and skin care.

The long style can make a well-maintained older woman look youthful, but if that woman is larger/heavyset, or has some wrinkles or other signs of age, a midlength or shorter hair style might be better for her, really depends on the individual.

I have long hair that is also curly when shorter, but wavy now because it's about waist length. For the poster upthread who talked about his sister blow-drying her hair straight because it's "easier to maintain" - how does spending 20 minutes blow-drying your hair equal "easy to maintain?"

I just shower and let it dry naturally. Sometimes it's a bit of a pain if I'm doing something to leave it loose, so yes, I use a scrunchie to tie it back. I also have hair claws and other things. That's about as easy to maintain as I've ever had to deal with when I tried to have a shorter style throughout my life.

I look like absolute shit with shorter hair and I don't give a shit what anyone thinks about my long hair vs my age. It's MY LONG HAIR and I'll do what I want with it.

Long hair is easier for busy women. Just put it up in a clip or ponytail. Shorter styles seem to require more styling unless it's just a butch men's cut which isn't flattering on older women.

OP, you’re a man, stfu.

[quote]Imagine J. Lo, Madonna, Mariah, Gwen Stefani with pixie cuts. They’d look much older.

Madonna always looks good with short hair.

It all depends on the woman’s face and hair texture.

But yeah, who cares. I hate the MAGA long hair extension look.

NO NO NO! The mermaid hair has got to GO!

Mermaid hair?

I am 60. I don't recall seeing older women (40+) with very long hair when I was a teen. None of my friends mothers or my aunts had hair below the shoulders. A lot of girls at school had very long hair but if I remember correctly long hair was mostly a girls/teens thing.

The silent generation went full blow-out in the 80s - if they were over 40 they chose a pageboy variant.

In fact, I would say that middle America tracked more with Beatrice Arthur than anyone else.

Enjoy long hair!

I'm a man, and a gay one. I don't really feel the need to take a position on what length women of any age like to keep their hair.

It's like the current thread "Which titty club is Pat Benatar in?"

Why?

R34 is straight and I can’t answer

I think it signals hanging on to youth and the illusion of hotness but it's every woman's prerogative.

r35 - I like the way the Pat Benatar thread almost immediately shifted to everything BUT non-titty talk. So typically DL.

Of course it is a woman's prerogative...as is my 66 year old uncle Fred still wearing his red speedos at the beach... .

it depends on the condition of the hair, long, stringy hair with split ends is unflattering on any woman of any age

R39 I agree, but the condition of hair tends to deteriorate with age in both men and women. Most women will look better with a more medium length or wearing it up as they get older. Very long extensions in middle age/older women rarely is a good look (like Kimberly Guilfoyle). She was attractive as a younger woman but now looks like a caricature.

I’m not a big fan of long straight hair with a middle part and a flat head on older women or even many younger women. But if the women who wear it that way feel good…

What I find ten times uglier is the Larry David style on men (you know, absolutely bald on top but long and bushy on the sides and back). Last night I went to the movies and saw at least ten men with that Bozo cut. It’s hideous. Why don’t their wives say something? (I mean, they can’t be gay. Can they?)

R41 They’re not gay and they just don’t know any better.