Haircuts and hair color as we age
Aging and Your Hair
Haircuts and hair color as we age
Age Appropriate Haircuts
Many people believe that they need to wear certain hair lengths and styles as they age. Strictly speaking, this is not true.
There is no such thing as an age appropriate cut. Appropriate haircuts are haircuts that flatter our face shape and bring out our best features.
Our face shape changes as we age.
- We get double chins, fuller cheeks, and sagging cheeks.
- Some people get fillers and/or surgery that alter the face shape.
- Our eyes begin to sag.
- Sagging features create lines that affect the shape of the face.
- Most of the lines are going down.
- Therefore mentally, without being conscious of it, the human mind and eye see lines going down and our mind thinks that the hair is dragging.
Solutions
- As we get older, gravity takes a toll and things start falling. Hairstyles need to change to compliment the lines and angles of the face.
- Generally speaking, angles should be cut into the hair at a 45-degree angle. The human eye and mind will see a 45-degree as going up and this appears to lift the face. This effect varies depending on our hair length, texture and density.
- Whether it is extremely short, a mid-length bob or long hair with layer should be cut on 45-degree angles.
- Cutting on the vertical is not good because it creates length, causing the eye to go up and down. And will increase the appearance of the face falling.
- Cutting on the leads the human eye to see increased width. Most should not be cut on a horizontal.
- Cutting on a 45 degree angle is best because it creates lift.
Age Appropriate Hair Color
Some people think that hair color should be adjusted with age.
- There is no such thing as age appropriate color. Hair should be matched to skin tones regardless of age.
- As women get grayer they tend to not want to maintain a color that must done every four weeks or sooner depending on the percentage of gray.
- Example: if someone is 76% gray and has dark hair, in two to three weeks they are going to be showing a line of gray hair that would need to be covered up.
- Many clients start highlighting and over a period of time the hair becomes much lighter and the gray comes in more. So people see this happening and their mind is telling them they have gone lighter. People think that we are supposed to go lighter as we age. This is not always true.
Choosing the Right Hair Color
The important factors in determining our chosen hair color as we age are:
- What color compliments our skin-tone.
- What percentage of gray hair we have.
- What budget and time considerations we have.
Fact: Grey is harder to cover
Resistant grey hair usually comes from hair that was originally very coarse and is a grey silver in color or pure white. It can be extremely coarse because the outer layer of the hair is like fish scales when looked at under a microscope. Those scales should lie flat and smooth but as hair ages and is damaged by age sun, pollutants, shampoos with high pH levels styling aids with high levels of alcohol. (Hairspray, gels and mousse have the highest levels of alcohol.)
Plus medications and other things can cause the shaft to open fully. Then, when a color molecule goes into the shaft to fill it, the molecule cannot due what it is designed to do. The color may only stain the hair because the molecule partially washes out because of the shaft pores being open.
Yellow Grey
A yellow gray is easier to cover because two of the five pigment of color are still in the shaft or (it wouldn’t be yellow.) For gray hair to be completely covered the color must be mixed with all five colors as well as fashion tone (such as auburn or honey gold).
The use of ammonia free hair color such as INOA color will respect the hair, condition and provide complete coverage. Hair should be de-mineralized with a pre-treatment such as Malibu to provide the very best coverage.
Conditioning is Very Important
- Conditioners are designed to make the shaft lie back down.
- Many people don’t use conditioners because they think it makes their hair too soft or too flat. This only happens when the wrong type of conditioner is put right onto the scalp and worked in and then rinsed out because in that short period of time the conditioner has helped smooth down the cortex. This causes the hair to lie the way it should.
- Colored hair and gray hair should always be conditioned because it will dry out quicker than most due to the shaft being so open.
- The proper way to use conditioner on this hair is to apply to the ends first, working up the hair so that when you get to the scalp the ends have been on longer. The ends of hair will make the hair lighter in weight so you will have more volume.
Proper At Home Maintenance
For beautiful, healthy hair you must use professional products. The best products have the proper pH balance, contain sunscreens, clear away pollutants, and do not contain sulfates or alcohol. We recommend Oribe and L’Oreal Professionnel products for at home maintenance of your gorgeous hair.
When we have the right cut and color, we look amazing at any age.
