Hairstyle Guidelines for Every Age

One of the easiest ways to update your image is through your hairstyle.  I love changing hairstyles.  In this age of instant gratification, this is one place you can gain a quick new look and take 10 years off your face.  According to Ken Pave, hairstylist to the stars, the stages of a woman’s life help determine what styles are appropriate.  One rule of thumb way to know if you are ready for a new look is to ask yourself whether you have changed your hairstyle since high school or college.  If the answer is NO, you know that you are stuck in a time warp and it is time for a change.  Here are some simple age related rules for hairstyles (not color).  Embracing the age you are in by an appropriate hairstyle will help you move into each generation with ease and confidence.

Hairstyles for Your 20’s

At 20, you’re establishing what works and what doesn’t work for the future.  Things are more forgiving now, so figure it out.  What ever you do, wear your hair with confidence and learn what works and what doesn’t.

• Have fun with your style
• Experiment –but don’t go too extreme
• Find out what you like and don’t like
• If you sport long hair, go short-short hair go long
• If you are light, go dark-dark go light

Hairstyles for Your 30’s

At 30, most women are usually into their careers either in work or as mothers.  In either case, we want to be taken seriously.  You should have learned from your 20’s what was working and your 30’s should reflect.  You’ve settled on a shape that works with your face.  Keep it simple-something that is versatile that you can wear from work to play.

• Classic shapes
• Move away from old high school or college styles

Hairstyles for Your 40’s

Women in their 40s are usually busy women and sometimes forget to focus on themselves.  Know you flaws, but don’t focus on them. 

• Focus on positives (eyes, smile, shape of face)
• Nothing extreme (too short or too long, too dark or too light)

It used to be women were told to cut their hair shorter because long hair tends to drag the face down and short hair would ‘lift’ the face.  Although this is true, it is not the only way to remedy the solution.  New hairstyles involve layering, which can achieve the same results by drawing the face out and upward which give an instant face-lift.So if do not want to cut your long hair, it is imperative that you have a hairstyle that is cut with techniques that layer and lift the face upward.  A single long layer hair style simply will not do. “There is often a stability related to our 40s which reflects in our personal style,” Ken says. “I find this to usually be the most conservative time in a woman’s life—a time where she wants an easy style which gives her more time to enjoy life’s richness. 

Hairstyles for Your 50’s

As women reached their 50’s they are not as compelled to prove anything to anyone.  During their 50’s women begin to refocus energies on themselves.  It is a new-found time for freedom and self discovery. 

• Keep shapes soft-especially around the face
• Embrace flirty style
• No extreme haircuts and styles, but keep movement in hair
• Keep hair soft and shiny, reflects youth
• A soft pigment to dull dry hair will give it a youthful shine
• Mature hair tends to be coarser and dehydrated-regular conditioning will help.