looking younger or older.... a thought question
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URL: https://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=51479
Printed Date: June 01 2024 at 3:29pm
Topic: looking younger or older.... a thought question
Posted By: hairbraider
Subject: looking younger or older.... a thought question
Date Posted: March 29 2007 at 5:09pm
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Ok..... which is it?
Does longer hair or shorter hair make a woman look younger?
Or is it all in the minds of those who oppose long hair on older women?
I'm seeing all these articles and make-over shows who scream "take off years by cutting your hair!" I was amused as I was listening to an old radio show from the 40's... a woman got her hair all cut off into the short curly crop so popular then, and everyone raved about how much younger she looked and how they hardly recognized her. It was so refreshing for them to see another woman embrace the modern look. Reminded me of the original "Parent Trap" movie where Maureen O'Harah (sp?) cut her hair in order to look young and glamorous.
But on the other hand, the most infamous quote about older women who have or want long hair.... "They're just trying to look young." Always said in a sarcastic tone, as if there was something wrong with wanting to look younger. As if it was abnormal for a woman to want to look younger! You never hear someone criticized for cutting their hair because they're trying to look young! What's the deal?
So........ are they just confused or are they just anti-long-hair?
What is it about short hair that makes a woman look young?
They say long hair draws the face down, emphasizing sags and wrinkles, and that a haircut is as good as a facelift. I say it's all in the way you style it.
What is it about long hair that makes a woman look young?
They say it looks immature, childish, etc. I say again, it's all in the way you style it. ------------- sarah 40 inches did henna for the first time http://hairbraider.spaces.live.com - click here to go to My Hair Space 
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Replies:
Posted By: Army Girl
Date Posted: March 29 2007 at 7:31pm
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Younger. Hands down.
Lori
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/femina_crinitus/ - http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/femina_crinitus/ ------------- Lori 1bCiii hennahead http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=avatarjs4.jpg"> 
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Posted By: Longhairdreams
Date Posted: March 30 2007 at 1:36am
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I truly dont get it.IMHO long hair makes everyone look younger.And shorter hair seems to make people look more mature.I know its just my opinion.But its obvious these people might think this too who have this idea.But there seems to be this idea that long hair= bad.And its not just for older women.I cant count how many times I've heard people tell young girls their hair is too long and that they would look better with it shorter.
To be honest though I have really only heard women talk this way.Could it possibly be a tactic to kind of give them a leg up on competition? Especially since hair seem to be revered as something sexy by men.I dont know its late and I'm sure i'm rambling by now,lol. ------------- 
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Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: March 30 2007 at 7:20am
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I always thought long hair made everyone look younger. I've seen longer haired women chop it off, and always thought it added 10 years (making them look like my mother's generation....if she were still alive she'd be in her 70s). And I've seen short haired women grow it just a little and subtract 10 years from their look, so that is definitely my vote. I think many of them are anti long hair, and some of it is also jealousy. ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |
Posted By: hairbraider
Date Posted: March 30 2007 at 9:18am
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This http://lifestyle.msn.com/beautyandfashion/anti-aging/staticslideshowgh.aspx?cp-documentid=3610252 - http://lifestyle.msn.com/beautyandfashion/anti-aging/staticslideshowgh.aspx?cp-documentid=3610252 is the most recent article I've seen about this. I admit, the women do look younger in the "after" pics. But they changed more than just their hair! They changed make-up and style of clothing, and on the first lady, they took off her glasses. It's more than just their hair length that makes them look older. I bet if they changed their clothes and did their make-up different they'd still look alot younger without cutting their hair. Or they could update their hairstyle a bit without taking off length.
If the true emphasis was on how much younger you look when you cut your hair, why didn't they leave them in the same clothes and make-up? It would've given more true results. ------------- sarah 40 inches did henna for the first time http://hairbraider.spaces.live.com - click here to go to My Hair Space
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Posted By: Bob S
Date Posted: March 30 2007 at 3:57pm
 In my eyes, about 90% of women look better and 80% look younger when long of tress. Assuming that the hair is well-groomed, of course!
There are a *few* women who look more youthful with the right short cut, IMO. They just look "right" coiffed, for some inexlicable reason. It's just *them*. But long locks, assuming genetic allowance, look attractive on every woman.
Just a couple weeks ago, my friend commented about this one co-worker, "What happened to her?" I knew exactly what he meant. You see, this woman, about 40, had worn pixie hair for over a decade and her kids convinced her to grow it a year ago. She has gone from a fortyish, kinda cute woman to a head-turner at least five years younger.
 And *everyone* is imressed! Best, Bob |
Posted By: Army Girl
Date Posted: March 30 2007 at 4:19pm
Not really! The one with the gorgeous honey colored long hair?? She had NO make-up and was wearing slouchy clothes. In her after pic, I imagined her with that long gorgeous hair and realized she would have looked even YOUNGER. Actually all of them would have looked better!
The ad is decieving, they took the candid shots of them before, then had "posed" shots of the After. Well..I betcha they would have looked better posed before. ------------- Lori 1bCiii hennahead http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=avatarjs4.jpg">
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hairbraider wrote:Posted By: Sunsailing
Date Posted: March 31 2007 at 9:43am
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I agree with Army Girl. The last woman truely had beautiful long, wavy, thick-looking hair in the before shot. She had absolutely no make-up on.
The second shot shows her with professionally done make-up. I think the cut makes her hair look limp and thin.....which I don't understand since it looked so great in the before shot! Her face looked better due to the professional make-up, but I don't understand how anyone could possibly think her hair looked nicer after the cut. Imagine her with the professional make-up and her hair in the "before" shot. Or imagine her with the professional make-up and her longer hair in an elegant updo.
Long hair doesn't make anyone look older. How you wear it possibly could, just like certain shorter styles could.
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Posted By: hairbraider
Date Posted: March 31 2007 at 10:24am
My sentiments exactly. I would love to have seen them with no change but the professional make-up and new clothes. ------------- sarah 40 inches did henna for the first time http://hairbraider.spaces.live.com - click here to go to My Hair Space
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Posted By: Army Girl
Date Posted: March 31 2007 at 10:45am
yep but think of the hairstylists they would have put out of business. ------------- Lori 1bCiii hennahead http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=avatarjs4.jpg">
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Posted By: Kitty Kat
Date Posted: March 31 2007 at 1:48pm
| Sarah - Have you ever noticed in those before and after shots how many times the before photo is very sullen looking and the after shows a big smile? THAT in itself goes a long way toward making someone look better and younger. That wasn't the case in those photos though. But I agree with you...their makeup and clothes are done in the after photos. As others said, the last woman had beautiful hair! |
Posted By: horselover_1625
Date Posted: April 10 2007 at 12:14am
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I definitely think longer hair makes you look younger but like Sunsailing said how it is worn would perhaps affect the way it makes you look....and IMO long hair is way better :) ------------- RANITA~~ ----------- What good is life without a horse??!!! |
Posted By: julesyjul88
Date Posted: April 12 2007 at 1:32am
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Honestly,I think it depends on the person. So many factors to consider as well.Like,long GREY hair will of course make someone look older as opposed to a shorter colored hairstyle. Personally,I have always thought I looked younger with long hair. I think when college girls cut their hair short it makes them look OLDER. Either way,whether it really does or doesnt make you look older to have long hair~ There is just something very appealing about long cascading hair no matter what the age. Cant wait until mine is like that!!! I think most women are just jealous of other women who have long hair. Afterall it takes time and patience to get it that way. |
Posted By: Mike46019
Date Posted: April 12 2007 at 1:15pm
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Longer. Look at your actress that have it long then short. I think that would give you a good guage to go by. ------------- Few men are killed by the bayonet;many are scared by it.Bayonets should be fixed when the fire fight starts.General George Patton Jr.,War As I Knew It,1947. |
Posted By: silknsilver
Date Posted: April 29 2007 at 11:15am
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My grandson (19) has begged me not to cut my hair short...he says it's just for old women who aren't able to take care of their hair anymore.
On the other hand, long hair hanging straight around your face and no makeup can make anyone look older, in my opinion...
Personally, I plan to grow mine as long as it will get...
(I'm 69, and all gray)
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Posted By: PurpleBubba
Date Posted: April 29 2007 at 11:36am
It is my feeling that if those stylists want to keep the business coming in then they will have to adapt. That means if they want to keep being a stylist and suddenly the trend is to keep your hair long then they will need to train how to handle longer hair. They should go learn how to do braids and updos using hairtoys. Not just bobby pins and spray. It's just like other industries that have to adapt to changing times or be left behind. This brings to mind the magazines who go for months talking about short hair or damaging styling and then one month they suddenly have a long hair is in issue. No matter how long hair supportive the actual article is they will have some big name stylist with a quote saying something about how long hair shouldn't be longer than ______ or that it has to have layers. Meanwhile flipping through the magazine there are tons of ads featuring models with long hair. Really long hair by their standards. Also there are these product companies that have tried to promote their long hair lines or use long hair in their tv commercials and mag ads. Pantene & Fructis to name a couple. If stylists and magazines want to stay in business they will have to learn what the real trends are and not just keep trying to force their own ideas on people. ------------- 
http://s7.invisionfree.com/The_Hair_Care_Family/index.php?showtopic=12 - My Journal |
Posted By: Army Girl
Date Posted: April 29 2007 at 5:31pm
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I have long thought that if I could just find a really good naturalist hair care provider... I have found a stylist that will listen to me, but she is still brainwashed by the industry. ------------- Lori 1bCiii hennahead http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=avatarjs4.jpg">
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Posted By: Sharyg11
Date Posted: April 29 2007 at 9:06pm
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I think it has alot more to do with the style and how well cared for the hair is, rather than how long it is. I've seen older women with long hair, that was shiny well styled, and well cared for and they just looked amazing. Now, like Jules said, if you have long gray hair, that does not have a defined cut, and has no style, then yes, you are going to look older. Then again that is also true for shorter hair.
There are some people that do look younger with shorter hair. For example my mom looks younger when her hair is no longer than shoulder lenght. Usually with layers and some volume. It has to do with the shape of her face. I personaly get alot of male attention with long hair, but when I cut it into a bob I start getting carded. However any other short style, and I look older. So it has to do with the style too.
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Posted By: peachesxxx
Date Posted: May 02 2007 at 10:58am
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After reading this post I was also curious how that lady #3 would look with the new haircut but with the same clothes and no make up on. So I used photoshop to find out.
http://members.cox.net/kingandqueens/girl3.jpg - http://members.cox.net/kingandqueens/girl3.jpg
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Posted By: hairbraider
Date Posted: May 03 2007 at 10:34pm
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Cool effects! Thanks for sharing that! The haircut did make her look a little perkier, but I think the biggest help was the new outfit and make-up. Could you maybe photoshop her "old" hair onto the "new" face and outfit??? ------------- sarah 40 inches did henna for the first time http://hairbraider.spaces.live.com - click here to go to My Hair Space
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Posted By: Mike46019
Date Posted: May 05 2007 at 11:31pm
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I think that would give you a better base line also. The old hair with the new makeup. Or add the new color in. I bet that would make it also. I just wished they would do a real before and after shot. Smiles and new makeup before doing a cut. Then see if the person still wants to cut thier hair. ------------- Few men are killed by the bayonet;many are scared by it.Bayonets should be fixed when the fire fight starts.General George Patton Jr.,War As I Knew It,1947. |
Posted By: peachesxxx
Date Posted: May 06 2007 at 7:18pm
| here it is......http://www.lwwpets.com/longhair.jpg |
Posted By: peachesxxx
Date Posted: May 06 2007 at 7:21pm
| heres all of the pics on one page to easily compare http://www.lwwpets.com/thatgirlshair.htm - http://www.lwwpets.com/thatgirlshair.htm |
Posted By: Sarsvati
Date Posted: May 07 2007 at 3:14pm
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she definitely looks the best with long hair and bangs (and makeup of course). Regarding the question I think, in general long hair looks better. Some people look good both ways, just different and it just depends on which look you prefer. If someone has a long face and long hair with a middle part and no bangs, I think that does drag the face down. but you could just get a side part and some bangs or face-framing layers and that solves the problem without having to get short hair. It's probably an instinctual thing - long hair= healthy and makes good babies. ------------- http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=51616 - No 'Poo or Condish Experiment |
Posted By: juliap
Date Posted: May 08 2007 at 2:50pm
| I think the bangs, makeup, and the haircolor are what made her look younger. When you put her made up face on the long hair you left the bangs which also had some of the new haircolor in them. This made her look younger. I think if she had just cut bangs and dyed her hair the new haircolor but left the long hair she would have looked the best. This is so funny she probably has no clue we are talking about her. |
Posted By: DaveDecker
Date Posted: May 08 2007 at 8:20pm
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Comparing the actual after, with the simulated long-haired after, she looks much better long... and the simulated long-hair after blows away the simulated short-hair before. An excellent deconstruction of the myth about short hair looking better. (Ha!) Well done, folks! 
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Posted By: hairbraider
Date Posted: May 12 2007 at 10:48pm
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Thanks Peaches!! You really proved something here, I believe.
The bangs do help her face shape, I think. But the make-up made so much more difference than the haircut! My sister and I both think she looks younger with the haircut and make-up, but looks even younger with long hair and make-up. People can be so deceiving to get what they want.
 ------------- sarah 40 inches did henna for the first time http://hairbraider.spaces.live.com - click here to go to My Hair Space
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Posted By: Bob S
Date Posted: May 26 2007 at 4:47pm
Game, set and match, Peaches! Even *I* had given some credit to the hairdo for her improved look!  Now, with the old pose, that cut is not so impressive after all. Without styling, it may actually look a bit frumpy. Her hair was MUCH lovelier *long*! Phew, Bob
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Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: May 29 2007 at 9:12am
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Wow! What a montage! I think the shorter do actually looks better with no make up than the longer hair with no makeup (just my opinion guys! Though she would have to do more work in the morning to keep the shorter do looking like that.) But with the makeup, WOW on the longer hair! The shorter hair with makeup is okay, but she looks much younger to me in the longer one (also just my opinion!). ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |
Posted By: Mike46019
Date Posted: May 31 2007 at 9:08am
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peachesxxx nice work thanks. They still won't do what we did becuase it isn't a "real makeover" I bet if they did a lot of women would keep it long. ------------- Few men are killed by the bayonet;many are scared by it.Bayonets should be fixed when the fire fight starts.General George Patton Jr.,War As I Knew It,1947. |
Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: June 01 2007 at 11:13am
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That's a good point, with today's tech they ought to photoshop everyone and give them choices for those shows instead of shocking them. ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |
Posted By: hairbraider
Date Posted: June 01 2007 at 7:27pm
Amen to that!
......but then it wouldn't be the emotional sensational whatever that makes the tv show attractive to the audience. ------------- sarah 40 inches did henna for the first time http://hairbraider.spaces.live.com - click here to go to My Hair Space
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Posted By: DaveDecker
Date Posted: June 03 2007 at 8:23pm
Most importantly from their perspective, though, once people saw how beautiful the women looked -- with the clothes and makeup and lighting and smiles and long hair styled (uncut or simply trimmed a bit) -- nobody would want short haircuts and they wouldn't get their haircutting jollies  (sarcastic tears), although clothing and makeup sales might continue at their usual pace.------------- |
Posted By: Bob S
Date Posted: June 04 2007 at 4:16pm
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It's kind of funny; we got into a discussion about age and hair length yesterday at my nephew's b-day party. My two older DD's were exhorting their mom to lose about half her length, at least. I asked them why. It's not that the hair does not look good, (It DOES!), tho' it was braided and pigtailed yesterday, and not fully on display. But their thinking was that it was simply too long (34") for her age.
DD2 opined that hair is already long when it's at the shoulders, like her own is, and that longer than that is superfluous, *esp.* when one is pushing 50. She asked me, "Does the extra length really make her mom's hair look more beautiful to you?" "OMG yes!" I emphasized.
I then added, "IMO if a woman wants to experiment with shorter hair, she should do it while she's young. But after 40 especially, longer styles make a woman look stunning and elegant. The WOW effect remains intact! With very few exceptions, the women who are in their 40's and beyond, and have guys still raving about them are the ones who have the long hair." Her one brother totally agreed.
As an aside, DW's one SIL, the mom of my nephew, had phenomenally thick, beautiful salt and pepper mid-back hair, until last week. She is 47 and shocked everyone, I'm sure, with a chin-length layered bob at the party. There may have been some comments, but I heard none. Her hair had been a strikingly pleasant contrast to that of her pixied sister and mom at parties past. Why do I suspect that those two may have had something to do with her decision to go for a radical cut? Hummm... (lol) Bob
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Posted By: DaveDecker
Date Posted: June 04 2007 at 6:43pm
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Interesting story, Bob. I never cease to be amazed at the insensitivity people express toward those who choose to accept most of the hair they are capable of growing. IMHO, your lesson to your daughters ought to be one of respecting other's choices even though they may contrast with their own sense of aesthetics.
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Posted By: HopeB
Date Posted: June 04 2007 at 7:43pm
| I think it depends upon the person--their face, hair texture, personal style and the style they prefer. To be honest, the one thing that automatically makes EVERYONE look younger to me is coloring grey hair. Grey hair automatically ages you---I was stunned to find out the other day that Anderson Cooper just turned 42! |
Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: June 06 2007 at 7:04am
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Bob S: Nice story! I think that all the makeover shows, and magazines "rules" about how to look at whatever age are what gives people these opinions that are against what would seem to be the obvious truth (that a little makeup, a smile and no haircut fixes everything). What I don't understand is why people are so easily influenced by that kind of stuff, and so powerfully so that they push others to change their appearances because of it. For my mother, you just didn't do anything different. You HAD to do what everyone else was doing (she was from a small town in Louisiana and looking at her yearbook from 1952 shows how true that was, as every girl had the exact same haircut). Is that why? ------------- Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com |
Posted By: chitraa
Date Posted: June 07 2007 at 11:17am
| healthy & beautiful hair gives the young look |
Posted By: Alisa06
Date Posted: June 08 2007 at 11:09am
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WOW, I think the lady in the link looked sooooo much yonger with the longer hair and makeup! To me is was quite a difference. IMO long hair brings about a youthful appearance. It is the shorter styles that add age. It is such a shame that women feel that they need to cut their hair at a certain age. My mom is one of them, she always tells me to enjoy my hair while I can still wear it long. I , in return tell her I will still enjoy it long when I am 20- 30 years older. It may go up and down a few inches here, and there, but that would be it. I have had short, short hair,( only a few inches on the top and shaved in the back) and shoulder length, and waist length. I can honestly say that I feel the most like myself, when my hair is longer.It seams to complete me. It is so sad that so many women out there will not be able to experience to joys of having long hair strictly because of the limitations society has put on our women. ------------- Alisa06 2c-3a ciii I want my hair back!!! |
Posted By: apsara
Date Posted: June 14 2007 at 10:23am
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I'm new here. I've had long hair and I've had *very* short (especially as a child - my mother's decree because it was 'easier'). I feel that my hair now makes me look younger. I'm 41, but am often mistaken for younger and yet, I do believe that if I chopped it, the age guesses would be closer to home. My hair is about 2 inches below collarbone right now and I'm aiming for my bra strap - so about 4-5 inches. I'm taking Hairtopia and viviscal and I bought a bunch of different oils. My avatar is a current shot, taken about 2 mos ago, so my hair is about an inch longer than it is there. My 2 daughters love my hair and want to have long hair too (they do!) and they have beautiful lush hair that can be a pain to take care of (the youngest inherited my mom's thick thick 'india' hair, and the older one inherited my finer hair (also indian, but not the coarse thick hair that everyone else in the family has, much to my dismay growing up) But my daughters aren't teens yet. I imagine as they get older, a lot of the things they admire about me might annoy them. |