Hair!!!

Every time the likes of Dawson, Franks et al appear with their tresses, I'm itching to send them for a nice, neat bob - shaped to suit. Please, please, please don't think it makes anyone look younger - it ages you!!! If you've dyed your hair blonde or whatever to hide the grey and your face still makes you look your age, keep your hair short.

Please.


:mysmilie_365:

Here we go again...

Women of a certain age should cut their hair - WHY?

I am blonde - I have a bob - my choice... I expect the same applies to Jill and Ann... personal choice to please themselves.

It can be hard to go short or shorter after a lifetime of long.

Anne would look better with a shorter hairdo , im not so sure about Jill though.

I think Jill Franks has lovely hair.

The hair might be lovely and thick and in excellent condition but as you get older the shape of your face changes and shorter styles invariably flatter and soften your look.

Here we go again...
Women of a certain age should cut their hair - WHY?

It is NOT to say that old women shouldn't have long hair per se - but older women benefit from having their features softened and shorter styles - ie with a bit of styling - do that. I know - I'm one of them. You can cut (or not) and colour (or not) as radically as you please - that's up to you. But my opinion is that long, lank, dyed locks look artificial and unflattering, particularly on older complexions. As for colouring your hair, Mother Nature has an excellent trick up her sleeve - she's designed the perfect complexion to match your hair colour. If you need to colour it, then soften the colour, to tone with your complexion. Makes perfect sense.

Don't agree I'm afraid...

People - regardless of age - should choose a style they like and are comfortable with.

Long hair can look fabulous on older women and shorter hair can look great on younger women... there are no rules, only prejudices.

Women around the world OF ALL AGES get it fantastically right or horribly wrong or sometimes just about right... it's an individual thing.

Personal choice rules.

I think it depends on fashion of the times. I was in my local Frankie and Benny's recently. They had old photographs on the walls which I guess were taken sometime in the1940's or 50's. There was a woman on one of them who was obviously in her 20's, smiling at the camera. She had her hair short and set, like she had put her hair in curlers. The exact same style both of my grandparents wore for most of their lives. It made me realise that when I am in my 70's and 80's there will be whole armies of women of my generation walking around with a bob. My children and grandchildren will think a bob-of any length-is for "old ladies" a bit like I associate short hair in rollers with both of my grandmothers.

Personally I think that unless a woman has very youthful looks or has had lots of work done then long hair does not look right, but that's just my opinion. I think Goody the Q model looks silly with her hair as long as that.

there are no rules, only prejudices.

No. There are no rules, only opinions.

Funny how we can all agree that a presenter can look a fright in a frock but hair is a no-go area. I think some of them can get away with long hair despite their age and some can't. I don't mind Jilly or Goody because it's clearly an essential part of their style and they are very comfortable with it and so am I. Anne used to have shorter, darker hair and because I've seen it that way I think I'm entitled to say that it suited her a lot more. I think her colour is way too light and her longer hair drags her down. Pipa also struggled with longer hair, not because of age but I just don't think it suited her. People tend to look in the mirror and see what they want to see rather than the reality, be it hair, make-up or anything else. Some think they look better than they really do and others will always think they look terrible. It's all in the eye of the beholder as these posts show but can't see the harm in giving our opinions.

I think Ann could have a more flattering style for her but that has nothing to do with her age.

I think Jill and Jilly have great hair and it does suit them as they have it now... nothing to do with their age.

I just don't see why some people just have this.. 'getting older = going shorter' blanket opinion regarding hair when we are all individuals.

I agree, plus the same applies to makeup, its needs to be softened as you get older otherwise you can end up looking like Barbara Cartland. OK a bit extreme I know, but you get the general idea I am sure.

Each to their own, but these people are on TV and are trying to sell us things. They all wear the clothes range or make up that are being sold for the day and those horrible hair pieces which would send me running in the opposite direction. I think a number of them need a make over.

I don't think Jill would suit short hair at all. I remember about 7 or 8 years back she had it dyed light blond, it did not suit her complexion at all. It quickly went back to the brown shade she now wears. Ann, yes the warmer short bob suited her much much better.

I speak has someone who had her long hair cut off in my mid 20s and its been in a pixie crop for well over 15 years. I have small features so as a hairdresser once said, "You suit it the short and I mean really short." My current hairdresser did once suggest a growing into a short bob. The answer was big no thank you. I have a kink in my hair and it goes into curls easily oh and two cow's licks on each side at the front. I am not fa*ting about with straighteners etc thank.

Oh no! Here I go with sweeping generalisations...

Nothing says "now we are sixty" to me like a short beige blonde kinda shortish ruffled hair cut, scrunch dried, or a bob that's nearer to a page-boy or purdy. I don't mean a sharp gamine bob or elfin crop. Mind you I blow dried my mum's hair years ago but had to admit she looked better with her QE2 shampoo and set. When they showed that clip of Julia Roberts on the 1993 launch of QVC her tight curled shorter hair looked "older" than her longer looser waves imho. Don't try to be invisible in your 50s...flaunt whatever you've got I say!

I still have a chubby cheeked round face (used to be heart-shaped sigh) and my Mum kept my hair short when I was at school (possibly to avoid nits but also for much darker reasons) and I looked bloomin awful! When I grew it in my 20s it was amazing! It looked thicker and healthier and, although I've had it shorter and all different colours, long suits me best. If I start to resemble Neil from the young ones then I'll go shorter to shoulder or collar length.

So many hairdressers want to layer my hair but it's so fine that this makes it virtually disappear (it also ties me to trims every few weeks...they're not stupid!).

I think there's a lot of truth in the idea that we stick with the style that makes us feel the best. But I don't want to force anyone to conform to some vague standard.

Back to Anne Dawson, I do think the colour is too pale yellow for her face colour and if she stopped using straighteners it might look a little more lively.

I really hope I'm not offending anyone with my observations above, but the sweeping "cut you're hair you middle aged woman!" comments that crop up on here periodically are far too prescriptive and a little depressing when we should be feeling fabulous and confident in our 40+ years!

Jill franks, Jilly halliday and model goody all have long hair which I think looks awful - its not an age thing its just completely lacking in shape. A more flattering style I think would be better.

Not everyone "over the hill", as perceived by society, wants to look like the Queen or Maggie Thatcher!

After years and years of long hair mine gradually got shorter and shorter until finally I had a pixie cut done.If you had said 5 years ago that my hair would be like this,I would have laughed.At now aged 40 my hair is exactly like the singer "Pink".In fact currently my hair is the shortest its ever been.I like it,lots of people like it and many comment that I don't look my age (just call me CH :mysmilie_14: )

The thing is though I get bored.I'm sure 5 years from now it will be long again.I may like it,I may not - but I wont put myself in any box that I must be defined by age or shape or society.

I think goody and jilly halliday have beautiful long hair and it suits them.I remember gilly halliday with a short bob and it most definitely didn't suit her.Claire sutto could definitely get ready of the shaggy mane and I think Anne dawson is defintely the one who most needs a shorter and better color style.

A bob can be edgy and trendy but its so often a mummy cut!

Don't really like Anne or Jills hair (both limp and lifeless) but its their hair so what does my opinion matter. A lot lot the ladies on QVC seem to be stuck in a style rut but i don't think thats unique to them - we all tend to stick with whats safe.

Funny how we can all agree that a presenter can look a fright in a frock but hair is a no-go area.

True. Why is that? After all, both have been added onto what Mother Nature has provided in order to improve appearance or build up self-esteem. And why shouldn't we be allowed to air our opinions without being accused of prejudice - against myself, obviously, since I'm older than the presenters!? I think some of the reaction here has jumped on the discrimination bandwagon, something that people are very quick to do these days. Take a look eg at Jill Franks in the adverts where she has her hair pulled back into a ponytail - it suits her much better than when it's hanging down lank. The lank hair doesn't show her off to her best advantage, though she obviously likes it. Like it she may, but because my hard-earned money pays for her and others' salaries/beauty and clothing allowance, I'm entitled to voice an opinion. Much worse things have been said on this site eg about presenters' make-up/clothes/mutton dressed as lamb etc. Why is hair a no-go area compared with clothes and make-up? It makes no sense.

I am 46 and have had long (naturally fair but with a fair few snow white ones now, sadly) hair for most of my life. It is down to my bottom now and I wear it up most of the time, or a long plait. I know that it can be ageing but I love my hair long. It is almost like a security blanket for me and I feel that I am not ready to cut it yet, I have had a bob cut a couple of times in my life and liked it but didn't love it. My husband brushes my hair very often and that feels fabulous, pampering and a bit intimate as well. The hair swishing along the bottom of my back makes me feel good and essentially we want our hair to make us feel good.

I am a nurse, so having a bun is most practical but whenever anybody sees me with my hair down, they can't believe how long it actually is, kind of my secret! I think it will be inevitable that I will cut it at some stage but how short I go will depend on how brave I am I love looking at other women from different ethnicities, I saw an absolutely stunning lady, I would say mid 50's in age with hair all the way down her back, she rocked that look and it looked so natural on her.

With regards to Ann Dawson, yes I feel that a shorter style is a bit more flattering but a bit of length is nice. I don't like her latest shade that she is sporting and that can be easily fixed, but maybe she likes it that colour and fair play to her. I like Jilly and Jill's longer locks and I actually think that Claire Sutton looked very pretty (she has a pretty face whatever) the last time I saw her but that was quite a long time ago. Julia looks prettier now than in the early days of QVC but again she is a naturally beautiful woman in my opinion. Pipa looked great with her little pixie cut I thought, I wonder what she will be sporting when she returns to us in January? I liked Alison Young's hair when it was a bit longer with the layered cut. She looks good with it shorter but as has been said, it is all down to an individual's opinion at the end of the day.

Inge x