We’ve been told ‘You can’t have long hair passed a certain age or else it will age you’. That's a belief we’ve all heard before. Yet what is a belief but a thought you’ve repeated over and over. Change the thought and you change the belief. I propose we change this thought right now and start thinking that long hair on mature women is beautiful, then we’ll be creating a new belief which will embrace a new definition of beauty for women which is all encompassing.
Let’s ask the question, “How long is too long?” According to a Southern California celebrity hairstylist, long hair is too long when it grows past your ribs and then it officially makes you look older. How many of us can grow our hair past our ribs? The exact point where your hair will no longer grow is call the terminal length. Most people I know don’t grow their hair past their ribs and have reached their own personal terminal point much shorter than their ribs. I know I’ve never been able to grow my hair that long because the longest I’ve been able to grow it is to the bottom of my scapula, or wing bones. Even if I could grow my hair past my ribs, do I think I would look older, or too old?
My girlfriend who I’ve been friends with for the last twenty years has always had long hair. Very long hair. She is 5’6” and she has always had hair down to her calves. She’s never trimmed her hair as she got older because long hair was, and still is, her self identity. She’s 65 years old today and she looks very feminine, strong, and graceful as she moves. The weight of her hair makes her stand up straighter than most people and she is elegant, empowered and definitely not old looking but highly unique and attractive. Long hair on a mature woman stops us in our tracks and we admire the beauty of the length. Never do we stop and think, ‘She looks too old because of her long her.” It’s absurd.
Think of these popular women with their long hair and how attractive they are. The late editor in chief of Vogue Italia, Franca Sozzani, casually flaunted her long locks well into her 60’s. I repeat: this was the editor in chief of Vogue Italia and that means this woman knew style. Many public iconic women wear their hair long and look fabulous with it. There is Julianne Moore, Maria Shriver, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Anniston, Salma Hayek, Christie Brinkley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Crystal Gayle, and the list goes on.
As long as your hair is healthy and is cut into a flattering style, why follow some archaic ideology which says you can’t wear your hair long if you’re an older woman without it aging you? Personally, I love my long hair. This is how I self-identify. It seems ridiculous to me to cut my hair and keep it short because someone, somewhere, once said that long hair on a woman who is passed a certain age equals old. Doesn’t that seem ridiculous to you, too? Since I was a little girl I always had long hair. To me, long hair equates to youth. It’s fun and easy in more ways than one. I doubt I’ll ever cut my hair short but if I do, it’ll be because it will make me happy to do so. Moral of this story is, ‘Keep your hair the length that feels right to you and that makes you happy.’ After all, a happy woman is a beautiful woman.