I hear the same darn thing as a hairstylist over and over again that long hair isn’t flattering or appropriate at a certain age, and I’m here to prove that wrong.
Today, there are so many reasons why women tend to go shorter with their hair as they get older. And truthfully, it isn’t only because of the stereotype that older women tend to have long hair, although I do feel like that is one of the big reasons.
It’s something that I’ve heard in my chair many, many times. It is something that people think in society in that we kind of tell each other, but it isn’t the only reason. So another reason is that our hair, our face, and our skin change as we age and we try to compensate for those changes by doing what we feel is the right thing to do.
So long hair can start looking very unflattering to us as we get older, and this is why. So as our skin loses elasticity, we also simultaneously lose volume. When we lose volume, we get fine lines and wrinkles. And over time, those fine lines and wrinkles become deeper and more pronounced lines and wrinkles.
Now, when you have very long hair, what happens is the eyeliner gets drawn downwards. When you’ve lost volume in your face, when the eye gets dragged down, your face looks thinner, which is something you do not want when you’ve lost volume.
When your face looks thinner, that long straight line can become very harsh on a face that also maybe has some all of the completely natural and normal things that are bound to happen if you’re lucky enough to live for a very long time.
Right. So it’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s just a natural part of aging. But when we connect that with a very long straight line, it can become a little bit unflattering. And so because of that, women opt to go shorter. Another thing that often happens as we age and begin getting predominantly gray is that our hair texture changes quite a bit. as well.
It’s only natural, right, that many women want to go shorter to make their hair look thicker because shorter hair looks thicker if it’s been down or just to have it be more manageable since you have to deal with less of it when it’s shorter.
Because of all of these reasons, it’s completely understandable why so many people go shorter as they get older. I’m here to tell you that, that is if you have long hair, you’ve always had long hair or you’ve just grown it out and it took you forever because it tends to take forever to grow your hair out.
But now you’re not feeling like it’s super flattering. I’m going to talk about a haircut that is going to turn heads everywhere you go.
My Client, Monica
I will talk about one of my gorgeous clients today, Monica. Now, Monica’s hair is natural. She does not diet. She has a lot of white and gray through it.
What happens with any hair that is very light and color, blond included, is that it turns yellow over time for a variety of different reasons, like sun, minerals, and water buildup from hair products, all of the things.
And there are so many things that turn light hair, kind of a yellowy tone to offset that muddy tone, you can use a purple shampoo once or twice a week. Purple and yellow are opposite colors on the color wheel, making them complementary tones, which means that they completely neutralize and cancel one another out.
Essentially what it does is it turns yellowy white hair into a very cool, icy color. It’s cool. After that, I applied a hydrating treatment mask to her hair. I let it sink in for 5 minutes and then I thought.
If you were struggling with your hair, feeling very dry or wiry, it’s a great idea to invest in like a butter mask or something very nourishing that you can top your conditioner up with maybe once or twice a week just to add that extra to the strands.
Now we can move on even if you have very long hair, it is so important to cut off the stuff that’s dead. I know that sometimes when we grow our hair out, it takes forever. And you are so committed to holding on to it, don’t do that. Trust me, don’t do that. It doesn’t make your hair look longer. It just makes your hair look worse. It just does.
I’ve seen it bajillion times in the salon. Monica let me know that she prefers that when her hair has, a U-shape at the back, she doesn’t like it very, very straight at the back. So to give her that U-shape, I over-directed the hair to the side section which is quite flattering for very, very long hair.
Now, here’s where the magic happens in this long haircut. It all happens in the layers. When you add a lot of layers, you do a few things. You give the hair loads of movement, which in turn leads to a ton of volume, which then gives more width to the hair. It’s as simple as that.
You’re essentially using hair to contour. You’re using a controlling technique with your hair, which is, really cool and a lot easier than having to deal with your makeup, right? When your hair is all layered and contoured and giving you cheekbones and snatching you up and flattering around the eyes.
You can wake up and look great just with a little bit of styling, whereas if your hair isn’t doing that for you if your hair is dragging the lines down, your hair is casting shadows, then you have to work a lot harder with your makeup to give yourself a nice result. I hope that makes sense.
I layered Monica’s hair by pulling it straight out in the middle of the head and then working my way up. As I worked up, I started moving my fingers. So they were eventually pointing to the ceiling.
The first section is in the middle of the head. The second section, my fingers start angling more. In the third section, my fingers are parallel to the floor, and in the last section the top layer, my fingers are angling toward the ceiling.
What that’s going to do is it’s going to give me layers that are all connected, right? So they’re not disconnected, but they’re shorter on the top. But just keep in mind in the back of her head.
I always overcorrect everything back to avoid cutting any holes in the baseline at the front. So if you cut everything in the front the way you do in the back, you’re at risk of cutting some holes and thinning the baseline at the front too much.
So to get around that, you’re just going to cut in the same angle and technique, but you’re going to overcorrect everything back to save some length.
Okay, now let’s get into some detailed face framing, which is my favorite part of this entire haircut. And what’s going to give that contouring effect to the face that I keep talking about?
So you want to take both sides from the top of the head to the back of the ear, and you’re going to subsection the back of the hair away so it doesn’t interfere at all with the front cut.
So Monica told me in her consult that she parts her hair in all different ways. I’m going to use a middle part to keep everything super symmetrical for her so she can flip her part around. I start by making a little triangle at the very top of the head, and then I twist the hair around and I cut my guide.
If you want a more traditional curtain friend, you want to cut that first section It will give you more of like a fringy vibe. But if you want the front to look more like shorter face-framing, cut that guide to the chin. If you’re unsure, start longer. You can always cut more off later.
Now that I have that first section cut, I’m going to slice another section on that front panel and I’m going to connect it by slide cutting, starting at the shorter layer and working my way down. Then I’m going to grab another smaller section and I’m going to do the same thing. I’m working section by section until I finish the entire first side.
So again on the other side, I’m going to take a little section. I’m going to add it to that first guide and I’m going to slide my fingers down to connect it. Then I’m taking another section and connecting it as well, then another section and connecting that as I work through that side section until it’s all blended down into a face frame.
When I am done slide cutting, I always go back and check it with my fingers and I point cut anything that isn’t lining up where I want it to line up.
If you want to cross, check your work to make sure that it is even and well cut. You can do this by actually combing all the hair forward and making sure that it’s all lining up properly and just snipping off anything that hasn’t fallen in line this week.
Monica’s hair when she first stepped into the studio and after being cut and blown is different. It is super versatile. She can wear it in the middle part or on either side parts. She has loads of layering in the back, but it’s all still connected.
The face-framing does an amazing job of contouring her face and giving her an incredibly youthful glow, and if she wants to throw it up, she also has some soft pieces that can fall and frame her face.
