Long hair after 40?

So many of you have written to us with the age old question, “Can I still wear long hair when I am over 40?”, that we thought we could get everyone to chat more about it!

The Glam Gals take on long hair: We are not against ladies wearing long hair, but we don’t think we can just make it a blanket statement. Here are some guidelines that we suggest:

Long hair looks “nifty” if:

• You have super healthy hair
• You have the right face shape for long hair (oval or long)
• You keep it trimmed up regularly and don’t let it go too long

Long hair is “iffy” when:

• You hair is too thin
• You wear it with those “puffy” bangs or “wings”
• You wear it down to your waist
• You end up wearing up in a bun all the time or using clips to hold it back.
• If you have super thick hair, beware it can really drag your face down and be aging if you wear it too long! (but don’t cut too short either)

Here is one of our readers, Julie Srhir (age 51). She is an excellent example of someone who is wearing long hair and rocking it!!

One more note…

Long hair is a very “romantic”, soft look. If you are working in a corporate environment or one that is very competitive, you might consider a shorter style or keeping it pulled back for those times that you want to look more professional. Check out some of these makeovers on long hair.

Too see more examples of  great hair ideas, check out Christopher Hopkins book, Staging Your Comeback!

If you have a question about your long hair, send us  your photo or comment below!

Does your over 40 hairstyle make you look old?

We recently posted a lovely picture of an over 40 gal looking hip and chic.

After seeing this, one of our readers asked:

“I [have a question] about the old lady hair problem…maybe you could follow up with some more hair thoughts? Techniques? Products? Pretty please?” M.N.

So M.N. we took your question to who else, but The Makeover Guy, Christopher Hopkins!

Here is what he said…

“Dear M.N,

I am currently tackling this problem myself. (I am irritated that my grays are not as smooth as my regular brown).

But what I’m doing is taking medium hair and going back to the curling iron - Eva Longoriaish.

Also…the blonde on Desperate Housewives is sometimes straight sometimes curled…and that is a very relate-able current look for women over 40.

Long hair: Iffy. Even though that is not the popular sound byte, nor what women want to hear, so you don’t tell them because you want them to buy your product, it’s just true. Once hair is past the clavicles if your face isn’t young looking and your hair isn’t luxurious it is often just not flattering.

But extensions do help, and can make over 40 hair look a little less over 40.

The problem is the texture. Texture changes (as does face/weight/body proportions) and just blow and go hair isn’t as easy as it once was. So you kind of have to create the illusion of ‘blow and go’ with products that have protein in them (to strengthen the hair). I like Nigelle’s Blow Make Smooth Essence. This gives a little more strength and polish so you can style it easier.

Also, a reason why shorter hair tends to work better is because it not only looks like you didn’t have to work so hard, but it still looks good later in the day.

But if it is longer, making sure it’s shiny (using the curling iron, flat iron etc) helps.  Can look sort of Farrah if you don’t’ start curling at the base first and click the hair through rather than pulling the curling iron to the ends and wrapping it up.”

Thanks Christopher, for your expert advice!!!

P.S. If you haven’t bought it yet, check out his book, Staging Your Comeback... it is one we keep on recommending, it’s that good!

If Susan Boyle were to get a makeover…

So, of course you have seen Britain’s newest, hottest talent Susan Boyle?... We did too, and we’re cheering on this 47 year old,  Britian’s Got Talent, vocal sensation!

Still, there’ no denying that although she’s a fabulous singer, Ms. Boyle is a little behind the times when it comes to her fashion sense.

Recently, The Fashionator from iVillage asked the Glam Gals, “If you could make over Susan, what would you do?”

Here’s how we’d help Susan look Age-mazing™ ( Amazing for her Age):

When we saw Susan we just wanted to throw our arms around her and give her a big hug! She has an adorable, frisky personality, but it does not match the way she dresses.  If she wants to be a performer and a star, she will need to class up her act. We would LOVE to be the ones to do it!

• She is dressing too old and matronly and we would like to help her in this area.
• We would give her an outfit that is age appropriate, elegant and stylish.
• Then of course her hair needs color and style (We would work with the over 40 hair expert, Christopher Hopkins, The Makeover Guy, on this project)
• She seems to like to wear blah beige.  We would like to brighten her up in a dress with some color to it, to fit her sassy personality!
• Also, she has a cute figure that we could show off better and we need to get those breasts into a good bra!
• She does not wear makeup and we would like to see her made up naturally, not too heavy.
• And last but not least, we would take care of her bushy eyebrows!

SUSAN needs to get rid of the Frump! To read Ysolt Usigan’s (aka The Fashionator) full story on Susan Boyle and other makeover tips go to iVillage.