Shorter hair or shoulder-length styles with waves work best.
Demi Moore may be able to pull off long, straight hair in her 40s, but stylists give women her age this piece of advice: Chop off the mane. Otherwise, you’ll look old. Women over 40 should be sporting shorter and wavier hair.
“Once you take the hair off, it does take off age,” says Terrelle Jordan, owner of Synerge Salon and Spa in Jacksonville, Fla.
Women over 40 can still have long hair, just not too long.
“I would recommend that they don’t have their hair too much longer than their shoulders,” Heidi Biggs, a stylist at Cheri Bibi Salon in Santa Barbara, says “So keep it shoulder length and above with choppy layers and movement. It gives women more sassiness in their 40s.”
Any style that is too flat and too straight is going to be aging, she says.
Bangs, she says, also take off age. “A lot of women over 40 are worried about lines and wrinkles on their forehead, so I’ve got a lot of clients who say, ‘Botox or bangs.’ Bangs are a cheaper option.”
The trend for many of Jordan’s African-American clients is a short pixie look, similar to Halle Berry’s, that’s fuller on the top and shorter on the sides. Soft short cuts and shag cuts and razor cuts are also popular trends that make women look younger, she says.
And going gray doesn’t always make a woman look old, but it doesn’t look good on everyone. Gray hair can make some women look washed out, Biggs says. Darker-haired women, she says, tend to look better with gray hair because it turns white. The trick, however, is wearing it right. “If you’re going to go gray gracefully then you need a good, fun short cut to carry it off. Either go for something classy and sophisticated, or short and fun and funky and trendy.”
Women with gray hair need weekly deep- conditioning treatments because their hair tends to be coarse and frizzy. Biggs says they should use a temporary color or mouse to tone down any brassy, yellow or golden tones.
For many African-American woman, the trend is to embrace silver hair. “The trend is being with gray, vibrant gray,” Jordan says. “It’s almost like at a certain point in a woman’s life she knows the gray is coming and she’s just letting it out.” But for black women who want a more youthful look, she recommends the shorter hair combined with color. Red, brown or caramels are all good colors, especially for summer, she says.
Women who want to cover up their gray need to make sure their hair dye isn’t too dark, because that’s aging.
“I would suggest one or two shades lighter than the actual natural base,” Biggs says. She recommends the lighter base color, combined with highlights, for a more youthful look.
Hair trends may come and go but gray is always going to be embraced by some women and scorned by others. Either way, you still don’t have to look old.
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