Hairstyles for your age: your 40's and 50's

Welcome to the second installment of 'Hairstyles for your age'! This is the mid-life segment where I'll be writing about women in their 40's and 50's, who are hopefully more carefree about their appearance than their younger selves and have the confidence to pull off whatever look they please! It's important to choose a look that reflects your personality and lifestyle, just as it was in your 20's and 30's. The only rule and important thing to adhere to when considering your hair is to be true to yourself.

Your 40's:
It's important that you take care of your hair as it will get more and more brittle and dry, so you may want to consider oil treatments weekly and go for regular hair trims, anyways from every 4-6 weeks on average. Layers are a great idea if you don't want your hair to appear flat and to avoid tangles. If your hair is starting to go lighter naturally (if you're getting gray hairs) you may want to consider getting highlights so that they camouflage the need to color every 3 weeks or so, you can get away with color every 5-6 weeks if you manage to get plenty of dimension from the highlighting of your hair. The general rule of thumb is that skin tends to get paler as we age, so your hair should match, you will want to go about 2 shades lighter than your natural hair color when it comes to coloring and even lighter should you choose highlights. Warm highlights, rather than cool tones, will bring more redness to your face and give you that 'naturally blushing' appearance that young faces have! Wispy short hair is also a good choice, especially if your hair is too coarse to control long or if it is too thin and would become to weak if you continued to grow it out long. Consider getting lots of layers to improve your hair's appearance and give it a more vibrant, youthful appearance.

You will want to stay away from ombre hair where the darker color is on top and then the tips are lighter because if you have gray hair, once it starts to grow in, it will be like a white line where the part of your hair is against the stark dark brown of your hair or black. You  may want to consider reverse ombre hair which is a funky trend and can make you appear more youthful and draw attention away from your roots. The roots are basically a very light blonde and the tips are a darker shade of brown, creating a beautiful gradient, this gives almost the appearance of a goddess. Ombre vs. reverse ombre hair is pictured below, if you have gray hairs you want to stay away from ombre (pictured on the left) but may want to consider reverse ombre (pictured on the right) to camouflage your grays.

Your 50's:

The most important thing to remember in your 50's is that you are not old and even if you were, you are not doomed to a short hairstyle. If you take care of your hair and it is maintained beautifully, you will never have to go short, as long as you can grow it and it looks good, you will never have to resort to short hair unless you do so because of preference. What is flattering at this age is hair that is about shoulder length, such as a beautifully groomed bob that contours your  face. If you're a career woman, keeping up with the younger ladies in your field will be difficult so you will have to maintain your hair color, or go bold and stand out by dying your hair silver like Meryl Streep in 'The Devil Wears Prada' (I loved this look and think it looks absolutely beautiful). Whatever you do, make sure the haircut you choose is one that will flatter the shape of your face and masque any wrinkles that you're seeing on your face (bangs might be a good choice if you have many forehead wrinkles, for example).

Make sure that the style appears natural and not too fussed over because anything that appears to 'worked on' can be dated and out of style, if you have long hair go for beachy waves rather than severe curls or dead straight hair. If you have short hair, go for a romantic style rather than a spikey style that is best suited for a 20-year-old punk rocker chic. Again, make sure that you are sticking to a lighter color, especially because darker hair colors will bring out the wrinkles in your face a lot more than light hair colors which will bring light to your face rather than creating uncomfortable shadows. If you are still uncomfortable with light colored hair, then consider just using highlights over top of your darker hair color, but I do recommend at least going chestnut rather than a blackish brown. Remember that layers and soft highlights, mid-length or shorter hair is beautiful to frame your face at this age.

Hairstyles for your age: your 20's and 30's

Everyone knows that certain hairstyles look great when you're young but not necessarily as you grow older. We find ourselves looking at others, at times, in shock and awe with what they've done with their hair. The most important consideration at any age is to find a hairstyle that flatters the shape of your face and to take into account the texture of your hair. Coarse hair lends itself better to wearing long hairstyles while short, fine hair should be worn shorter in a layered haircut to achieve fullness and body. Let's be honest, though, under the age of 20, you can basically get away with the biggest hair atrocities and still look good because of that youthful vibrancy!

Find out what you can get away with in your age group

Your 20's: You can try out all kinds of cuts and styles, many opt for the romantic and pretty long hair styles, but others either want to look younger or older so they get shorter haircuts (whether you look younger or older really depends on the style and the competency of your hairdresser). Beware of getting short cuts that are not ideal for your face shape and age, you don't want to end up looking like a cartoon with a boyish mushroom cut. Highlights and lowlights are always a great way to achieve dimension with any haircut, so consider getting them in a tone matching the full color of your hair.

Make sure to always choose a look that fits your age and latest trends. It's important to consider your career since you are most likely establishing what it will in your 20's. If you're more into the arts you can probably get away with some funky colors and fun styles, but if you're in a conservative profession you should steer clear of anything that might be construed as rebellious. 

You should experiment with length and color because this is the time that you can, later on maybe your hair won't grow as beautifully long and your face may not lend itself to trying all sorts of dye colors. In your 20's your hair will grow faster and thicker than any other time in your life, so make sure you take care of it and take advantage of it!

Your 30's: During these years, you're probably beginning a family or working your way up in your career (if you're lucky, then both) and you can still get away with quite a few styles but you should pick one that fits your lifestyle. If you're busy and need to take care of a baby as well as go to work and look professional, maybe shoulder-length hair is the choice for you so that you can style it more easily than longer hair since there is less of it and  you can throw it up into a ponytail when you're at home. It's simple to curl or flat-iron when you want to look professional or go out on a date with your hubby! Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you can't be sultry, if you want long hair then by all means achieve that long hair, just make sure to take care of it so you don't end up with ratty looking hair.

 Don't be afraid to try new haircuts or go short with your hair, some people just naturally look better with short hair, especially if you have beautiful facial features, they will be highly accentuated without all that hair in the way. If you're starting to have significant amounts of gray hair you can start coloring your hair pretty regularly, or you can ask your stylist to hand-paint the couple of strands of gray that you have in a tone that matches your hair, so that you don't have to color fully. Another great way to camouflage gray hair is to color it with a color of mascara that matches your natural hair (they make mascara in tons of shades now).