Short Haired Old Women

I was sitting in a restaurant (yes I was alone) reading and eating from a buffet when a thought occurred to me. I've been growing out my hair again and I found it much more of a burden to primp and style than when I was young. So the natural train of thought moved too 'do others as they get older trim their hair to shorter lengths'? A brief survey of the room confirmed that there were no older ladies in the room with hair longer than the bottom of their ears.

I then scanned for younger women and sure enough, the younger the person, the longer the hair. Have I stumbled onto a psychological surety in our society? I wasn't sure so I started up a conversation with a woman who was sitting nearby. Her reasons were multiple but when boiled down really only meant it looked better and was easier to maintain.

Perhaps the hair thing is more about learning to be more efficient as we get older. I remember when I was young and worked for hours on my hair to get it to look 'just so'. Tons of hair spray and mousse, teasing and curling and posing to see which style had the best effect. Poofy was in...so was mohawks and bright colors like vibrant purple and shock blue. The 1980's weren't known for fantastic hairstyles, more for their ability to shock (grin). Not so much now. Even as I am growing it back, I fight the urge to cut it short again. I'm always pulling it out of the way into a pony tail or bun and I avoid the mousse and hair spray all together. I tease my boyfriend telling him it's for him so he can run his fingers through my hair (which I really like), but really its because I've gotten lazy about my hair.

I can't deny that I look younger and somewhat more attractive with longer hair. Why then do I fight it so much? I've come to the conclusion that my reasons for fighting it center around boredom. I've moved on to worrying and playing with other things and my hair just doesn't interest me like it once did, and this is good. Can you imagine a woman in her mid-forties in a bright shock blue mohawk... then again...