The days of blue rinsed, short permed hairstyles for older women have, thankfully, ended. The social restrictions often put upon the aging generations have sometimes been a form of prejudice. It was thought that as we aged our usefulness as attractive members of society faded with our youthful looks, and so we may as well have all cut our hair short and dressed unattractively.

In this day and age the older generation of women are more youthful than ever before. Older women can now be viewed as attractive, and sexy, when they have taken care of themselves and presented themselves well.

As with gray hair now not being a social no no, long hair on an older lady has become not only acceptable, but desirable.

Older women in the media are being portrayed as sexual beings, rather than as worn out and over the hill. These women are confident, attractive and often still own long, flowing locks.

If you are an older women who is contemplating whether to have long hair, you need not take your age into consideration. It is your facial features and face shape, as it is with younger women, which will help you to determine whether long hair will suit you.

We have mostly thrown out ageist stereotypes and now welcome the changes that have occurred with regards to how we view older women. Such women may have been found, huddled together, in a hairdresser's under great big hooded hairdryers enjoying reading magazines on knitting covers for toilette rolls in the past. Their hair would have been very short and then wound tightly into little perm rods.

They would have chatted to their hairdresser about what their nieces and nephews were doing with their lives, and then talked about their own ailments which stopped them from living their own lives to the full any more.

They all had bad backs, aching limbs and wore a blanket over their knees on chilly evenings sat in their rocking chairs. Then, before lights out, they would scrunch what little hair they had left into a little hairnet to keep it safe at night and still in shape by morning.

The same women today would probably be sat in a modern hairdressers planning their trips around the world as their long, luscious hair tumbled loosely around their shoulders after their highlights were applied.

They would still be swapping beauty tips and talking about men with a gleam in their eye. They would be writing novels, skydiving, dancing and cycling or jogging for charity. Times really have changed, as has how women of all ages consider their appearance.

Learn more about this author, Bridget Webber.
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