Older Women, Longer Hair: Demi Moore, SJP And 19 Others Go To Great Lengths

HuffPost Social Reading

Remember when there was a notion (ill-conceived, we feel) that women of a certain age should chop off their hair because it was deemed age-appropriate? Well, it seems that thinking has been thrown out the window. With women like Demi Moore, Sarah Jessica Parker and Julianne Moore leading the pack, there's a whole lot of ladies growing their hair way past their shoulders.

We've taken a closer look at the women who are bucking this old fashioned rule. Where do you fall? Do you think longer hair keeps you looking youthful or should it be left to our earlier days?

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lawlibrarian
Happiness is a warm puppy
12:40 PM on 02/22/2012
You know....it really depends on the woman. Some women look great with long hair when they are older and some don't. You've got women who are in their 40's, then others who are over 50 and beyond. Once you get firmly into your 50's....unless you have a VERY youthful face, long hair looks like you are trying WAY too hard. I don't consider shoulder length hair to be long....but flowing manes past the shoulder blades might be pushing it. I am over 50 and sport an inverted bob, while my twin sister has her hair down her back....both styles look good...but then, we were blessed with GREAT skin compliments of my mom!
09:07 AM on 02/12/2012
Call me old-fashioned, but I think that every one of the women shown would look better either with shorter hair or in an updo. I'm not saying that once a woman hits forty she has to go with an androgynous pixie or a bob, but anything past shoulder-length makes a middle-aged woman look like she's in denial, no matter how youthful her face and body (including Demi Moore). I love being in my forties and the style that comes with this age; why should I try to look like I'm in my twenties?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jene88
09:29 AM on 02/11/2012
The examples shown are not average women. They have loads of help, which means great plastic surgeons, stylists, hair dressers and the like. Comparing them to women who live on limited budgets is comparing apples to oranges. The ordinary older woman ages with the concomitant sags and wrinkles. Trying to look young only makes us look older. Lots of older women in the spotlight have cut their hair and look lovely. I think of one immediately, Diane Sawyer, a great beauty and looking very smart in shorter hair. Ditto for Andrea Mitchell, a political commentator and several other older women in the spotlight who have cut their hair. There comes a time when it just doesn't work and we move into another look. Not good, not bad, just life and movement toward a different era.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lawlibrarian
Happiness is a warm puppy
12:42 PM on 02/22/2012
Even some of these women, especially the one's nearing the mid 50 range, just don't look great with the long hair. Their faces show their age and the flowing hair almost accentuates it.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jene88
01:22 PM on 02/22/2012
Agreed.
07:56 AM on 02/11/2012
Depends on the face it frames. Frame a Rembrandt with a rope and it's still a Rembrandt.
09:54 PM on 02/10/2012
What a load of codswallop. This notion died when the female summer wardrobe was "expected to change" on Labor Day to be reinstated on Memorial Day (i.e., light colors to darker colors and vice versa). I read a similar, recent report pertaining to "women of a certain age" who now really should not wear high heels or swimsuits or any sort. Sad, very, very sad America.
08:06 PM on 02/10/2012
FYI: If you haven't tried them yet, extensions are being worn by a lot of caucasian women. They are available at most beauty supply stores and can be applied with glue. Or for a longer lasting look, there are salons that can sew them into your hair.
08:01 PM on 02/10/2012
I was a Hair Stylist in the 80's. After the 60's long hair, moved through the disco and perms in the 70's. Women had very damaged hair that needed to be cut. By this time, those women were around 40. I wonder if that is where the "shorter hair rule" started?
Trust me, women didn't want to let go of their long hair. Remember the "Mullet"? That happened when we compromised with our customers. Stylists called this style a bi-level because it was two haircuts combined into one. The back was long and the top and sides were short. It was ugly, but it got us out of the perms.
So, unless you have permed your hair to death, if it's healthy and you like it I don't see a reason to cut it. Unless you want a new look. Don't be a slave to Hollywood's trends, they are a lot of work.
02:01 PM on 02/12/2012
The mullet said you're lesbian.Howard Stern said so.
06:54 PM on 02/12/2012
Today, perhaps. Also the style of choice by many rednecks ;P
But in the 80's they were a trend for everyone.
07:45 PM on 02/10/2012
Fur is for cavemen! When I see a woman wearing a fur coat, I know this person thinks they are too good to be cold and they don't care who or what suffers and dies to keep them warm.
Either that or they are a prostitute.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lawlibrarian
Happiness is a warm puppy
12:43 PM on 02/22/2012
This was an article about hair length on middle aged women....not fur coats.
12:14 AM on 02/23/2012
There were two different stories. I posted a comment on each. If you look at the dates of my comments, they are 2 days apart. I can't control where they post them. Originally, they were each by the respective story?
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Josie728
Clowns to the LEFT of me, Jokers to the RIGHT....
03:45 PM on 02/10/2012
I've got news for anyone who thinks having short hair makes you look younger; it doesn't. You can not get a haircut and lose 10, 15 years. Sorry. Your girlfriends pressure you to cut off you hair because they did, and your having long hair makes them uncomfortable. I was a hairstylist for 20 years before I quit to go back to school. I see this "long hair makes you look much older!" syndrome and it just isn't true. Cutting off your hair is NOT going to give you plastic surgery.
02:27 PM on 02/10/2012
What does age and hair length have to do with each other? Why are there so many rules in this world for everything? Is not of anybody else's business what you wear and how long the hair is. Do we live for us or for others? It is amazing to see how many people live their lives for others instead of themselves.
02:00 PM on 02/10/2012
SJP is wearing hair extensions
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lawlibrarian
Happiness is a warm puppy
12:50 PM on 02/22/2012
SJP looks awful. She is skin and bones and her face looks horsey....not to mention her witches claws for hands.
And I'm a fan of hers!
01:16 PM on 02/22/2012
I agree and i am a fan as well. She is too old to wear that much hair. I don't mind long hair on older women but this is not a serious hairstyle for someone her age. She might start with dropping the extensions. And hair that long lengthens a long face.
01:42 PM on 02/10/2012
Let's be serious here. 1) very beautiful women can wear just about any hairstyle--young or old. Many featured here such as SJP and Demi Moore are further harshened by draggy, long locks. Others pictured are wearing someone ELSE'S hair, as in, hair extensions. If the color and style aren't too severe, as with Goldie Hawn or Jane Seymour, I think it looks great. I'm 52, have hair past my shoulders, and am assumed by people to be "40-ish." So, I think it can work. Unfortunately, age brings most of us thinner, finer hair. When that happens, we have to go shorter--like it or not.
11:39 PM on 02/13/2012
But long hair makes a ugly woman look better.short hair looks mean as a wet hen.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lawlibrarian
Happiness is a warm puppy
12:52 PM on 02/22/2012
I agree. Wearing your own HEALTHY hair about shoulder length is the key. If you look at the pics, the women with shoulder length hair look MUCH better than the women wearing extensions or overprocessed hair. And Sissy Spacek has GOT to get her bangs out of her eyes!
11:50 AM on 02/10/2012
In EVERY one of those pictures above - the women are wearing extensions. I am a very fashion forward 40-year old...but I beleive that women of a certain age should wear there hair just a bit shorter. A couple inches past shoulder legnth is enough. If it is your culture that is a different story. Personally - I think it looks haggy and desperate on some of these ladies. I guess no matter how young it makes you look - doesn't mean your man will stick around (Demi)?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MLCooknc
11:46 AM on 02/10/2012
All these women have great personal style and the money to keep their hair colored and styled by the best hairdressers in the business, which enables them to pull off this look. The average woman doesn't have either of these resources.

Also, I think it's undeniable that long hair often "pulls down" a woman's face. (I'm 61 with short hair. I've been wearing it that way since my early forties, though more because it's baby fine, straight, and not exactly thick than because of my age.)
10:01 AM on 02/10/2012
I am a woman of a certain age and have hair to my waist. Most of the time it is styled in some sort of up-do. My grandma dies at 93 with hair to her waist and I only saw it at night when she took her braids out and combed it. It was a beautiful salt and pepper still. We are Swedish so braids wrapped around the head is our culter in the older years, no religious beleifs about not cutting, but our hair is straight and thin, If it was cut it would be aweful, I already tried computer makeovers for style,color, and length, what I have is what is working for this woman of a certain age.

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