@surfcity I agree with you- I think she was wearing extensions. I didn’t like the whole look, because I thought the hair and bright dress just overwhelmed her. She didn’t look comfortable in that ensemble
What does it mean that long hair is aging? I’m 66, how much older does my hair make me look? I think it probably makes me look 66.
@MichiganGeorgia I sincerely meant an “older” young man, like in his mid twenties - thirties. Truly that’s what I was picturing in my head when I wrote that. I’m fine with high school kids and college guys being creative with their hair - that’s just part of being young. Why not get wild and crazy with hair and clothes at that age? But I just don’t like man buns on men any older than that. I also don’t like ponytails on men. Just my personal preference.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend - my son had some pretty creative hair when he was in high school also. I bet your son looks really cute 
. And if the girls love it…
Not a fan here of the short hair rule on older women. That it has become a rule means the inevitable short hair is aging. Though I love some of the spiky Judy Dent hair cuts. My hair is moderately curly, and I like it out of my way for most things, so end up with clips and pony tails much of the time. Fortunately, I have thicker hair than some. In the last year I added bangs, after a decade without. Most say I look younger with the bangs and it softens my pulled back hair. Unlike most of my friends who don’t color, I have longer hair, if just shoulder length, and will keep coloring as long as I work. My grey is patchy and odd, and working with younger people, I like to blend in a bit more. As if I could really blend in? Nope.
Just turned 66 on Saturday and have had essentially the same hairstyle for decades - below shoulder length with bangs. I have dark brunette hair and started getting it professionally colored two years ago after doing it myself forever with temp color. I like it because I think it works best with my little face and not so little body. And it makes me feel like me. I keep it long enough to pull back with a scrunchie or clip up; I let it grow long over last summer and did sometimes wear a high ponytail, especially at the pool!
The neighborhood we live in has an eclectic population and lots of aging hippies. I could let my hair turn grey, grow to my waist, and dye the ends blue and I wouldn’t look out of place.
@BunsenBurner …you feel that way because you’ve never seen me in mine! :))
It’s not just age with high ponytails, etc. it’s your skin, too. Jane is all wrinkly now in those up close pictures, Sofia Vergara is not. There is also a 40 year age difference and Sofia is still youthful.
I tried short hair about 10 years ago (when I was 50) and it was a disaster. The texture of my hair varies, but in general a little length helps so I wear it just touching my shoulder blades and pull it back for yoga and running. I have worn bangs most of my life b/c they flatter the shape of my face.
I plan to color my hair until I die!
“I thought the biggest issue with hair over 50 was the triple threat…hair that’s thinning, graying, and more frizzy, all due to natural aging.”
One thing about Jane, though, was she was wearing a faux ponytail, so not her own hair.
I’m a fan of the man bun and the male top knot, actually.
My hair is long now but I do think it ages me.
@mathmom the rules about our(black)hair are absolutely infuriating. It’s sad that I sometimes have to decide not to wear my hair natural because of how I will be perceived.
I’m glad to see the many variations in hairstyle and color on older women these days. My grandmother had the typical silvery-blueish short curly style and when I was young it seemed like all older women eventually turned to that style.
I’ve worn the same style my whole life- long with bangs (with 2 tries at short hair that I hated almost immediately). Until this spring, it was always dyed very dark brown, to keep it my original color. Now I’m growing out the gray and the rest is silvery blonde. (I was sick of the skunk stripe every few weeks, and of dying it in general.)
If I had seen Grace & Frankie sooner, I probably would have grown out my gray a few years earlier. I love Frankie’s hair!
@doschicos …yes, Jane was wearing a faux ponytail, but they used her own hair to cut the bangs.
Yes…
Just no…
And don’t get me started on her earlobes with all the heavy earrings she wears.
One of the photos in @conmama’s link took me to an article with this comment:
“Jane has a taste for flashy-wear in her advanced age and we support that, but this honestly looks like bad J Lo cosplay.” 
I guess I’m lucky in the hair department. My hair has actually gotten thicker as I’ve aged. My hair used to be stick straight and thin. It now has some body and is thick enough that my stylist thins it. I don’t think I’d look good in short hair. I have a lot of friends with long hair. Most dye it but I have some friends with beautiful salt and pepper long curls. My SIL has long hair almost to her waist that is sprinkled with gray. She is very thin and stressed and the grey long hair does age her. She would look better if she colored it and cut a few inches off.
I think hair goes along with the whole presentation package. If you have long hair and dress old you look old. If you dress in clothes that flatter your body you look younger and great no matter what length your hair is.
I am not a fan of long hair once the wrinkles set in. Most women I encounter with long hair do look like badly aging hippie earth mamas. To each his own and it is important to be happy with yourself first. I keep mine at chin length to a tad longer and Salt and pepper. My mom looked so much better when she stopped the hair dye, toned down her lipstick and cut some length off her hair but she is one of those that doesn’t see reality in the mirror and it took her a long long time to embrace change.
So how does everyone define “long” hair when thinking it’s too long? Past the shoulder? Or half way down the back??
When I say my hair is long it’s shoulder length. I couldn’t grow it half way down my back any more even if I wanted to. I have one friend who for a long time had what I assume were extensions all the way past her waist. It looked rather fabulous but also heavy and inconvenient. She’s got it very short now.
My hair can be anywhere from just above the shoulders to mid back.I consider both lengths long hair. I have a lot of earth mama friends and I think they look great. I also think a lot depends on skin tone. My friends with olive skin look good with their hair grey. On my freckled Irish skin grey hair washes me out and I don’t look as good. I also think that professionally colored hair can make a huge difference over the box from CVS. My stylist sometimes does just the roots, other times she does just a few foils around my fave. Other times she does both highlights and lowlights. The color is not one dimensional.
Not to discount other regions of the country but where I live women tend to dress young longer. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who wear their hair long and still wear bikinis to the beach. I have one dear friend who is 62. She has beautiful olive skin, salt and pepper long curly hair and is close to 6feet tall. She looks great in a tiny bikini.
I think there is medium, medium-long and long. Medium is to the shoulder or slightly past it. Mecium-Long is 2-5 inches (roughly) past your shoulder. Anything more is long.
I think the Medium-long length can be worn well into middle age and longer depending upon, as another said, wrinkles or saggy skin. Long is just a no-no if you are trying to look youthful. It doesn’t have that effect.
I think it is a very individual thing and what you can work for someone won’t work for someone else. It depends on face shape, aging (or not) of skin, body shape, hair texture etc. It can also depend where you are in the work force. I would love to do some color highlights (like blue or something), but at my age and being an executive at a big company, that probably needs to not happen.
I had always had long to shoulder length hair until I got cancer in my mid-40s. I had never seen myself with short hair (which came back wavier/curlier post chemo) before that and wasn’t sure I liked it or not. But since my hair is now less straight than it used to be, I keep it chin to shoulder length now and haven’t really considered growing it out now that I’m in my mid-50s. I have a little gray, so I color it a few times a year and do root touch ups when it occurs to me. My mom never went gray so I wonder if I’m following in her footsteps.
I don’t know if it’s just that we’re culturally conditioned to not have long blond ponytails and bangs post-50, but it just looked odd to me on Jane Fonda. But then I’m used to seeing her in Grace and Frankie.