Cutting it (the hair)

[Dogmama]

Today is the day.

The past several months have seen my below shoulder length hair get very thin. Found out that my thyroid (T3) was very low and my estrogen was non-existent. I'm correcting both of those but the hair is still sad. For me at age 59, I just don't think long hair is attractive anymore. It's very straight and pulls down my face. Gravity is doing a nice job of that, thank you, I don't need help.

So - today is the day that I go short again. I say "again" because I've been growing it for the past five years. Previously, I always had short to super short (matchstick length) hair. My hair is naturally straight and very fine. Long hair does not hold any curl and just separates into long stringy strands.

I guess I'm just fishing for confirmation. I know that lots of women on this board have been where I'm at & love their short hair. It just seems like a rite of passage, somehow, to give up long hair at a certain age. I know some women my age can wear long hair but I see many others who really need to reconsider (like me.)

I'm rambling. I think I'll go ride my bike.

[Pax]

I'm a big fan of "do whatever you like, whenever you like"... but think it's a rare woman who can pull off long hair as we age, most that I know just wear ponytails or wind it up into a bun or braids.

[OakLeaf]

I was 27 when I cut my hair from hip length to chin length. I'd just got my first white hair and I was d*mned if I was going to have any more that were three feet long. Before that, it had been 18 years since I'd had more than a trim. That was pretty intense. Going from chin length to short was more of a relief, because it was going from incredible hassle, to wash, towel, run my fingers through it and walk out the door.

[lph]

I wonder if the link between hair length and age is stronger in the US, I've never thought about it much or heard it mentioned here. Young Norwegian girls do tend to have longer hair than adult women, but I reckoned it was mostly a fashion thing among teenagers, and that they were the only ones that had the time to tend to waist-length hair :-) Certainly among young adults it's quite common to not have very long hair.

I have several friends who have cut their long hair and look gorgeous, it can be very flattering. I know it's tough to cut it, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it!

[GLC1968]

Just do it!

I'm of the belief that it is just hair. I've had mine super short, really long and everywhere in between. I've dyed it, bleached it, highlighted it, and now I'm completely natural and very white for someone who is 45 (though my underlying color is dark brown). I also wear it both ridiculously curly and super straight. Depends on my mood (and how much time I have).

I'm growing it out now but we'll see how long I can stand it. The 'in-between stage' can be rough. Right now, it's still a couple of inches from my shoulders, so I've got a long way to go before anyone can call it long even though it feels long to me. I've still got at least 6 months before I can even consider making any kind of 'tail' out of it!

Personally, I love the 'shock' of going from longer to super short. It's always such fun to me! I bet you'll get a huge kick out it once it's done.

[Eden]

I have curly hair and have it long right now. I'm pretty sure that as I get more white, I'm going to have to cut it or end up looking like one of the old wiches in Macbeth...... My white ones (so far) are thicker and wilder than the rest.

[ny biker]

One of my neighbors had very very long hair. I never realized it because she always had it in a bun, but apparently she had not cut it in decades. She had also never colored it. A few months ago she got it cut to shoulder length and donated the sheared-off part to Locks of Love. Now she's enjoying the different hairstyle choices that her shorter hair allows.

I've never been able to have really long hair, because mine is just thick enough to go triangular as it gets longer (like Alice in the Dilbert cartoon), and I don't want to be bothered to use an iron to thin it out. And a few years ago, when I was "growing it out" to be below chin length, I looked at some old photos and realized that even that is too long for my face. Now I keep it around 6-8 inches long, chin-length or less but not super short.

I'm actually past due for a haircut right now, but I can only make it to the salon on Saturdays, and I have long bike rides planned for every Saturday between now and the end of October. And just yesterday I saw that a very nice man in our cycling club has scheduled a 72-mile ride on the first Saturday in November to celebrate his 72nd birthday, so I'll want to do that. I may actually have to take vacation time to get a haircut on a weekday...

[TrekDianna]

I have curly hair and have it long right now. I'm pretty sure that as I get more white, I'm going to have to cut it or end up looking like one of the old wiches in Macbeth...... My white ones (so far) are thicker and wilder than the rest.

That's me, but wavy hair almost to my waist. I have a white streak on each side. I like them. I like my hair. I even like the witches in Macbeth.

[PamNY]

I wonder if the link between hair length and age is stronger in the US, I've never thought about it much or heard it mentioned here. Young Norwegian girls do tend to have longer hair than adult women, but I reckoned it was mostly a fashion thing among teenagers, and that they were the only ones that had the time to tend to waist-length hair :-) Certainly among young adults it's quite common to not have very long hair.

I have several friends who have cut their long hair and look gorgeous, it can be very flattering. I know it's tough to cut it, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it!

I hadn't heard of hair length and age connection and I'm in the US. As a practical matter, my grey hairs are more curly and flyaway than the others, so now that my hair is long it looks a bit unkempt. I'm beginning to understand why older ladies often have short, curly hair styles.

[OakLeaf]

Now that I think about it, it's been a few years, but when we travelled in Austria and northern Italy, buzz cuts were very popular with women of a certain age.