Who Says Middle-Aged Women Can't Have Long Hair?

Why is there always a debate surrounding long hair? Writer Dominique Browning, 55, wrote a piece for the New York Times today about how she loves having long hair, but everyone in her life seems to have a problem with it: "My mother hates it. My sister worries about it. My agent thinks I’m hiding behind it. A concerned friend suggests that it undermines my professional credibility. But in the middle of my life, I’m happy with it," Browning writes. And we can see where she's coming from!

When you're a young woman, a long, lustrous mane is often hair priority number one. Bouncing long hair is the most popular style for younger celebrities, it's favored by both designers and stylists, and, from what the many magazine surveys tell us, most men love it best. Ladies under 40 will go to great lengths (heh. pun intended) to get the look—even shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars for hair extensions. But the cultural acceptability of long hair comes to a screeching halt by the time you're middle-aged. Then society says it's time to fall in line, cut it all off, and, for many women, opt for a short, boring, de-sexualized "mom" haircut, one that's not particularly stylish, but—what the hey!—it's easy to maintain. The prevailing wisdom seems to be: Young women with long hair are sexy, but old women with long hair look witchy and somehow unkempt. Cripes.

This way of thinking seems unfair to us. We believe many, many older women look great with long hair, which can be flattering on a variety of different face shapes and hair types, and can even make you look younger. And as many of us with long hair can attest, it's often actually easier to deal with than shorter styles—you can go longer between trims, it doesn't require much styling to look great, and you can gather it into a quick bun or ponytail to get it out of your face.

But we also have nothing against short hair. Short hair looks awesome on tons of women. So does shoulder-length hair, for that matter. But the bottom line is this: Women should be able to wear their hair any way they want, no matter what their age.

To prove it, we rounded up an array of  amazing-looking, over-45 celebs--who rock long hair in a gorgeous, sexy way.

Demi Moore, 47

Not only does Demi never seem to age, her hair looks like it could belong to a teenager. So pretty.

Photo by: Getty Images

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Do you think women should cut their long hair when they get to a certain age?


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