Long Hair and Witchy Women

Monday, October 25, 2010
FASHION & STYLE | NY Times October 24, 2010
The Mirror: Why Can't Middle-Aged Women Have Long Hair?
By DOMINIQUE BROWNING
At a certain age, cutting your hair is considered the appropriate thing to do, as if being shorn is a way of releasing oneself from the locks of the past.

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One commenter said they think that long gray or white hair looks "witchy" on women - maybe this was a guy? What does this mean? That they are powerful, mysterious, dangerous or??? More power to the witchy women!

This NY Times article now has 1266 comments (the most I have ever seen on there, they usually cut comments off way before this point), so it seems like everyone has something to say about long hair on older women. It was interesting to read the comments made about women in the family and hair as something beautiful, something that many people had fond memories of. How women's hair was a big part of collective memory and individual identity.

Well, I have long hair because that is what feels the best to me. I had long hair since about the age of 11. My mom was always hounding me to "get a hair style" after I turned about 35. I did have it cut a jaw length and wore it that way for a few years, but after I went to Jamaica live in Jamaica when I was in my mid 40's, I just let it grow and it has now been halfway down my back for most of my life. Too bad that my hair is fine and thin as it is, but tho I am an "older woman" I am lucky that it hasn't gotten thinner as many people commented on in the article. It now needs a bit of a trim. My friends cut my hair which only takes a couple of minutes. After it is trimmed a few inches there is just a few tablespoons of hair as it thins out towards the bottom.

I started coloring my hair in the 60's. I was a teenager then when we lived in California and I wanted to be a "real" California girl. Tho I was only 14 I went ahead a did it myself without checking with mom, who rarely colored her hair. I used a do-it-yourself blond packet. (God knows that there were a million ads everywhere - Remember "If I only have one life let me live it as a bonde"). But after that I just used "sun in" which you just spritz on. It has always worked well for me and is fast, cheap and easy. Since I was a blonde as a kid, that type of coloring worked fine and looks pretty natural - or at least I think it does.

In the 50's the "pixie" hair cut was just the "thing" and my mom made my sister and I get one. I cried and didn't want my hair to be cut. I could take care of it myself and I tried to talk her out of it. No dice. But I did win honorable mention in a "Cute Kid" photo contest due to that hair cut - that and my chubby round face and pixie smile to match.

The last 3 years I stopped coloring my hair, but I am going to color it again in December. I did it last June for Isaac and Angie's wedding. Sister Chris was commenting on it - repeatedly. She goes to some stylist due to her thin hair and has spent a lot on color and cuts, but that era is coming to an end since she is retired and doesn't have that much to spend on what I would call a luxury. I have spent about $30 on my hair in the past 10 years (shampoo and conditioner excepted). For blonding this time I used Garnier "natural blonde," shampoo-in color for the wedding. It came out a little lighter than I wanted, but seems to have toned down to a kind of honey color which is generally what I hope for. The package said that the color would wash out in 4 weeks. It never did...hmmmm.

In Jamaica fair hair is prized, as it is in Turkey, thus so MANY bottled blondes there. And when the Turks see someone that they suspect has natural blonde hair, that is really something to stare at. (Staring is considered "normal" there.) What they expect is "true" blond is apparently truly "exotic"...

At Madison's Willy St Fair in September I saw so much beautiful, blonde, generally long hair on women or all ages (probably 90% of it colored) that was shining in the sun. I decided I would "do it" again this winter before my trip to Jamaica. I am going to try to avoid my white forelock, which I love. It was one reason not to color my hair recently, since my hair is now such a dark "ash blonde" that there is a good contrast that makes it more noticeable. In my 20's a friend's mom had a white forelock that I thought was so cool. I didn't think I would "get one" as neither of my parents had one, so was very happy when that came in a few years ago.

Of course hair is considered a woman's "crowning glory." In the late 60's or early 70's my mom grew her hair long - almost down to her waist. She was about 50 at that time. You could see the progression of the gray from top to bottom that was very noticeable as she was a brunette. I have a picture of us out in the garden with me holding out her hair out in a cascade for the photo. I think she got tired of taking care of it after a few years and went back to her shorter hair style.

I cut my mom's hair many times, she said I did a better job than a stylist. She cut the family's hair on the "old days" as a cost - cutting - measure. I learned how to do it by watching her and also from watching stylists cut my hair when I did have a "style" for a few years. Now I cut my friend Antonio's hair. Once many years ago I cut five, or more, family member's in succession one Thanksgiving while the turkey was roasting. The last head to be cut was my nephew Isaac's golden locks - he was about 2 and it was his first haircut. We have a photo of it somewhere. He cried the whole time.

Well, let's hear it for the witchy women, and hair as an object of memory, beauty and identity!