Long hair on older women.

Hair length is an interesting thing, for women anyway because hair is more than just a matter of appearance . It says huge amounts about us, our class, aspirations, character and culture. It is so fundamental to our individuality that when people want to coerce women or force them to adhere to some extraneous norm the hair is the first thing attacked whether it is in the form or a headscarf, wimpole or in the shaved heads of prisoners. When French women were punished at the end of the Second World War for the crime of fraternisation their hair was hacked off.  Hair length matters.

I don’t know about you ladies out there but my life is a round of growing my hair then getting peeved with the maintenance and chopping it off. I suspect women have a default hairstyle and length. My default hairdo is a fringed bob a la Anna Wintour with the length stopping just about at the chin. Other than this I think I have had every colour and variation from peroxide blonde to jet black and waist length to ultrashort. In fact one of the best haircuts I ever had was basically a short back and sides with a floppy fringe...I always slip back to the bob though.

Grace and Anna both look great, hair wisse anyway, not too keen on the fur..

I didn’t really consider the length issue until I heard someone mention recently that long hair was only good on young people. At the moment the obsession is Kate Middleton’s high maintenance shiny mane. I have heard this a couple of times before but it confuses me. Surely the classic image of an elderly woman is of a bun, this requires long hair. Perhaps rather than being long hair it is a certain kind of long hair, the shiny glossy swishy mane. Hmmm, not sure about this, whilst hair changes as it gets older it may not lose this quality (see most of Asia) and some hair actually improves with age, thickening up.  I suspect if there is a prejudice that older women should chop their locks (the classy fringeless blonde short bob is the permed helmet of the present) because they should be more controlled, less sexy and more devoted to other things as they no longer need to attract men. When is that myth that women only dress for men going away?!

Innappropriate?

I’m a bit pissed off about this. Whilst older people are lectured about not becoming obese and society obsesses about youthfulness it doesn’t seem to like it if older women pull it off or ignore the new rules of ageing. So what if a woman looks a certain age from the back and you have to review your impression when she turns around? it is your preconception not hers. In fact I think these attitudes are old fashioned sexist claptrap and we shouldn't fall for it. Behind the idea of neat tidy asexual (and that is what mad long hair implies: sexy) helmety hair for older women is the idea that once they are post -menopausal they are past it, past attractiveness, past sensuality and that this is somehow inappropriate. It is not far from the attitudes that saw old women branded witches in the not too distant past. This is not a mutton dressed as lamb issue, it is about older women being curtailed and by all of us judged as nothing more than breeders, and in any case who says breeders don't have the right to have fun? Personally I'd rather be witchy and creep men out rather than simply being the 'good' woman. Funnily enough the disparaging comments about long hair on older women on-line are nearly all from women, who frankly need a big kick up their silly arses.

Another old lady with long hair...

Long hair does not have to be swishy and shiny. It can be grey and matt, it can be fuzzy curls. I quite like the Grace Coddingtons of this world, I think she looks magisterial, and yes just a touch witchy.  I think if older women want great long piles of mad hair it should be encouraged. I also rather like old women with short sharp sassy hair. One grandmother of my acquaintance has a short spiky hair cut inspired by Keifer Sutherland in the Lost Boys and it looks great. I loved the way Meryl Streeps short hair in the Devil wears Prada looked.  In age perhaps reaching over the sink and dealing with lots of hair becomes untenable but why not chop it off? I wish the blue rinse would come back into fashion too, women should have a laugh and pick hair they like and which makes them feel good whatever their age. 

Helen looks great but is she responsible for the default tasteful blonde elderly haircut? It's booorrinng!

My own hair is currently on the cusp of moving from shoulder length to long and is generally a mess! There is fun to be had with it however and the gripes of those who find long hair inappropriate would encourage me, if I were older to grow it even longer.  It certainly isn’t shiny, does not swish and has witchy tendencies. No doubt I will cut it off but out of boredom, not because as I approach middle age it is regarded as the property of youth. I think we can at least do what we want with our bloody hair as long as we manage to retain the stuff!

There was a good article about this in the New York Times last year but what do you think? Please comment, they are read by me and lots of others.

Red heads under the bed (and everywhere else......)

Lily Cole brunette and light red hair.

Recently Lily Cole swapped her trademark copper tresses for a dark brunette shade. Being an inveterate hair hue shifter myself I realize you get bored of the same old colour. Some don’t feel this way and happily leave their hair to its own devices. Not a bad idea, au naturel naturally matches skin tone and everything else. Some dye their hair and hang on to the same old shade of blonde forever. This is a little more difficult to understand, if you already zap your hair the condition is whatever any stylist tries to sell you, kaput. Condition is highly overrated; it’s the way it looks that matters. So if you hair is coloured how do you resist the temptation to then tinker with it?

There is no other thing (short of amputation which seems a bit extreme) that overhauls your appearance as effectively. I have personally been just about every shade some of which were ill advised. Jet black or rather Recital blue black was my default in my youth. Then it set off my pallor and I had the youthful patience to paint on my Goth warpaint every morning but I cannot really carry it off now or rather I can’t be bothered. I have had all kinds of blonde from the light and brash (which I liked )to some ill advised ‘classy’ high lights (yawn), I lived in Bath and I think I was trying to match the architecture. Brunette is my natural shade, in my case a darkish chestnut the same hue as fenland soil. I have had lighter browns and personally I like mouse brown. A true mouse brown should be more fairly labeled sable or mink, a lovely tone I wish I had. Currently it is a coppery red but this has veered from marmalade to pinkish in the last year alone.  I do understand Lily Cole’s motivation but the change has somehow or the other managed to make a very tall slim woman with unusual features look duller. This is probably because red hair is so flamboyant, like black and peroxide blonde you can’t escape from it short of wearing a large wooly hat or being decapitated (what is it with me today? I have a very bloody turn of phrase).

Red haired Rita

Brunette Rita

Blonde Rita...

There seems to be a kind of pecking order with hair colour changes. Blondes reverting to their natural brunette works well if the blonde is the high maintenance ‘natural’ type. The brown hair brightens eyes, improves skin and just makes people look more interesting.  A peroxide blonde or that incredibly rare creature the natural blonde can however risk becoming heavier and older; swamped by the brown hair. Somehow or the other moving from red to another colour always seems to involve a kind of ‘giving up’. Moving from a vibrant bright unusual colour into a kind of monochrome. Last time I moved from red back to my natural brown the reaction from many was of dismay. My claims that I needed to save money and time were not sufficient to make up for losing the red tresses which I had become identified with.

Kristen McMenemy's beautiful grey hair.

I’m not always sold on my red hair, my colourist is one of the best in London but when tired or manic I have the suspicion that I resemble Vivien Westwood in one of her stranger moods. Red can be brassy, like black and peroxide blonde it demands some cosmetic effort and it does stand out. It has the advantage of being associated with positive values in a woman: fieriness, passion, strong character  and independence. I also like it's associations with celts, pre-raphealites, jewish proto godesses and romantic heroines. Also it can  absolutely sing when combined with particular colours in a way that blonde never can. Blonde can only be complemented. Lily Cole has been red for a long time and the quiet more mysterious image of the pale skinned brunette must be fun to play with, I would be surprised if she maintains it for a long time. This natural brunette may revert to her brown hair but cannot help thinking that after fiery locks  brown  alone may not be enough and a silver/white streak bleached through the front may be required.  I had to go blonde to go red, and peroxide blonde was tempting for a mad moment but I doubt I'll ever go for a tasteful blonde again.

Of course a white 'mallen streak' might might age me, but that is one of the advantages of styling yourself for yourself; I don’t feel the need to look youthful. I’d rather aspire even if I invariably fail, to look distinctive.  I have also discovered people being surprised by my advanced years recently, I suspect this is because the fake tanning, hair highlighting, figure hugging jersey and modern jewellery default of looking more youthful is perversely becoming ageing. Or maybe it is just down to my immature personality.or dressing like people's grannies. Of course talking of grannies, white and silver tresses are the last frontier of hair colour and if I am fortunate enough to turn a nice shade of pale grey or silver white I may finally hang up my hair dyeing hat forever.  I  am particularly inspired by model Kristen McMenemy's fantastic wintry locks but suspect by the time I get these I may have stopped bothering!

Comments are welcome, especially if you have just had or are planning to change your hue. How about you redheads, how do you feel about your flame coloured tresses?