Are you making mistakes in regards to the length of your hair that are maybe taking some of the youthful appearance away from you?
Should you cut your hair short at a certain age and if you are going to cut your hair shorter, is there anything you should be aware of?
No worries! I’m going to answer all those questions.
There are a lot of concerns, a lot of misconceptions, a lot of random thoughts about going shorter as you hit a certain age.
It’s a big question. It’s probably the one with the most controversy wrapped around it and I’m gonna give you my opinion.
I’m actually going to share some things that you need to think about if you do decide to go short, some things that I don’t really see people talking about, but it’s definitely going to weigh in or it should weigh in to your decision making process.
Table of Contents
Age Does Not Determine Hair Length
There is not an age at which you should cut your hair short because I am a strong proponent of the idea that it isn’t a length that determines what makes your hair look good on you.
It’s how you cut the shape inside of that length!
With that said, there are a couple things that you do need to be aware of.
Hair Length Determines The Layering
My second tip would be to understand why certain stylists or people think that there is a point at which you should cut your hair shorter and that is typically because the farther your hair gets from the neckline, the less it supports certain kinds of layers.
As we age typically our hair texture will change as well.
What may happen is as you age you may find that your hair is not getting the volume that it once got and for you to create that extra volume, you have to layer your hair in a different way, which unfortunately the longer your hair is, your hair may be a texture that doesn’t allow for that kind of layering.
Then what happens is you end up with long hair, but not long hair that’s shaped well for you. It’s just long hair and doesn’t really do you any service.
Consider Your Comfort Zone
The next tip is just simply taking in consideration your comfort zone.
Maybe you read the last tip and you said maybe I do need to cut my hair shorter.
You got to understand your comfort zone.
I will always say above everything else, if you’re not comfortable in a certain haircut, how great it looks on you, how much it emphasizes the things that it’s supposed to emphasize, is completely irrelevant if you don’t feel confident in it.
Figure out your comfort zone!
How short can you feasibly be comfortable in?
Once you determine what your comfort zone is and if you did decide to go shorter, how short could you go and what options do you have in that length?
Start Looking For Photo Inspiration
That leads us into the next tip, which is once you do determine your comfort zone, if it is a bit shorter, and you do decide I’m gonna move forward and try something in that length range, you have to start looking for photos and start looking for ideas of what you would like, what shapes draw your attention, what do you connect yourself with.
It doesn’t have to be a specific style, it could be: you like this length, you like the bangs on this one, you like the sides on this one, you don’t like this.
What you’re trying to do is just figure out a rough idea of directions that you want to head.
Will Your Hair Texture Work For The Style You Want?
And then you have to take into consideration, once you have determined a rough shape, is your hair texture going to work with that.
If you look at the shorter shapes of the comfort zone that you’re willing to go into, and you look at all of the things that you like in that length range, but your hair texture won’t work for any of those shapes, it may not be the best option for you.
You want to take into consideration will your hair texture suit itself well for that determined length.
Do You Wear Your Hair Up Most of The Time?
If you’re still on the fence on whether or not you should go short, maybe you want to, but you’re just not quite sure, I’ll ask you a question that I ask a lot of my clients and that is do you tend to pull your hair back. Are you pulling it up and off your face a lot?
There are two ways that this can go.
If the answer is yes, I pull it back all the time, then my follow-up question is why.
If you’re pulling it up a lot because it’s just easier to get out of your face, you like the versatility of being able to pull it back, but you also love being able to wear it down, then maybe you don’t need to go short.
However, if you pull your hair back all the time because you don’t like it when it’s worn down, or you feel like it’s more flattering to your face, you feel it opens you up more.
If those are the reasons that you like it pulled back and off your face, then going short could be a good option.
Short Hair Isn’t Always Less Maintenance
Let’s talk about some concerns.
Maybe you’re thinking you’re ready to go short but there are some things that you need to pay attention to before you make that call.
Some things that people aren’t really talking about, but you’re going to want to know.
What do you need to think about, what do you need to pay attention to before you end up going short.
There’s this misconception that going shorter inherently means less maintenance.
To be completely honest, that’s not true.
If you’re a person where you let your hair air dry and then you pull it back into a ponytail and that’s your day-to-day routine, then going shorter may not be actually less maintenance for you.
It may be a situation where the shorter style does require some blow-dry and styling and that is more than what you’re used to doing right now.
On the flip side of that, maybe you’re a person that spends a lot of time styling your hair down right now, and then you go short. You may find that it’s half the hair or whatever to style and it’s much quicker for you.
While we’re on the topic of maintenance, let’s talk about cutting maintenance.
Right now with longer hair, you may find that you only go into the salon every few months. However, when you go short, you might find that your maintenance to maintain that specific style becomes a lot more intensive and therefore you find yourself at the salon every six to eight weeks.
You definitely want to take into consideration how much more maintenance this is going to give you and if that’s something that you’re willing to put the effort towards.
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Samantha is a hairstylist with over 12 years of color and stylist experience. She enjoys using her knowledge to create what her clients really want when they sit down in her chair. Her passion is creating unique looks that her clients feel great in.