I remember when I was about a teenager, my mother always complained about these “young” hairdressers who would try to change her hairstyle to something modern. She would rant and rave and talk about how they were trying to make an older woman look ridiculous. I have complete empathy for my mother’s dilemma because I experience the same problem now.
First, where are all the hairstylists who are my age? Have they all quit? Is there some rule that once you get past age 30, you must retire from being a hairstylist? Second, why do all women have to have the same hairdo regardless of their age or hair type?
A few years ago I watched a documentary called The September Issue. It was about the process that Vogue went through to publish their 2007 fall-fashion issue. The editor is Anna Wintour, and the creative director is Grace Coddington. Both women are well into their 60’s. Yet, both women have the same hairstyle that they have had for years. They showed photos of Anna from her modeling days in the 1960’s. Guess what. Her hairstyle is the same as it is today. Grace has long, frizzy auburn hair that she often pulls back in a ponytail. The other women who work at Vogue generally have straight hair that they also wear in ponytails. Oh, and as an aside, they don’t wear much make-up either.
So this is my question: if the women who publish the most famous fashion magazine in the world, and who live in New York City, and who frequently travel to Paris, and who hob knob with the big fashion names of the industry, can wear their hair in the same style that they did twenty or more years ago, why can’t I? Why do I have to endure with twenty-somethings who insist that I must wear my hair in some fad style that does not work with my hair, my lifestyle, or my fashion style?
Can I please just have a one-layered bob, with no stupid, intense a-line? Why can’t I have the same hairdo that I had as a teenager and a twenty-something? Guess what? That style fits with my hair, my lifestyle, and my fashion style. I guess it’s time to move back East.
