Your hair may be making you look old before your time

by Lauren Greschner (Subscribe to Lauren Greschner's posts)
Aug 27th 2007 11:17AM

Most of us know to take care of our hands and faces in order to keep a youthful look but do you ever think about how your hair may make you look older? It's not something that I had really considered until I saw this piece that gives advice on how to keep your hair looking as young as the rest of you.

After age 30, women's hair begins to get thinner so help keep your mane strong and think by eating plenty of protein and limiting the amount of time it's braided or in a ponytail, as these styles can cause breakage and damage hair roots. Always use conditioner when you wet your hair in order to prevent dryness and only use dryers, curling irons and straighteners a few times a week, as the high heat can cook your hair.

Finally, be willing to take the time to find a cut that looks good on you (just because a style is current and looks hot on a model in a magazine doesn't mean it will suit your face), and make sure to cover gray with an appropriate color. If you're not sure what will work for you, pay a professional to help you pick a color and style -- it'll be worth the cash.

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Comments (38)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

smdryad 8-27-2007 @ 1:51PM

Let's not forget the importance of the products you use in your hair. Are they clogging hair follicles, drying out the hair, or otherwise causing damage? Here is a good page on hair care. http://www.squidoo.com/helpforhairloss

Vanessa 9-03-2007 @ 11:46AM

You're either born with good hair or not - it's genetics. I was told time and again that my hair would thin after each pregnancy and again after turning 40 - LIES! My hair was always thick (from the day I left the womb) and it is the thickest and healthiest it's ever been . . . and I'm now 43! Likewise, I had a friend with thin, flyaway hair and EVERYTHING she tried did nothing to improve her situation. Use the cheapest shampoo (the main detergent ingredients in all shampoos are the same), find a conditioner suited for your hair type, and go on and live your life and stop buying into the lies/advertising - it's all hype.

otmerh423 9-03-2007 @ 11:46AM

I have been making my own shampoo for about 35 years ... I am 68 years old this year ... check my photo at:

www.jcfaith.com/otmerhorn

My younger brother lost his hair at an early age ...

Ott

Barbara 9-03-2007 @ 11:47AM

I agree with Vanessa - it's a lie that your hair will thin considerably at certain points/events in life, your basic hair health is genetic. I have very thick hair despite 2 pregnancies and being 52 years old. However, I don't use a lot of styling tools on my hair. I wash it and condition it every morning and let it air dry. I do process it chemically though - I dye it regularly else I'd be grey. I was having my hair dyed at a salon for years and was only sometimes happy with the color. About 2 years ago I started dying it at home and it is a much nicer color now and healthier looking. I do use salon shampoos, conditioners, and styling products, mainly for the immediate effect it has on my hair in terms of making it look hydrated and encouraging the curls. I switch from product to product except for my styling cream - Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream - this stuff is incredible at smoothing hair and keeping frizz away while not flattening my curls. I highly recommend it. It's sold at drugstore.com or sephora.com.

Linda 9-03-2007 @ 11:47AM

At 67, my hair is completely white. I've received several compliments and have no intention of ever putting color on it. In my glamor-girl days, I was a redhead, wore the 'frost' for a few years and even brought it up to a champagne blonde. (My personal favorite was during my Elizabeth-Taylor-look-alike phase when I sported a head of onyx black wrapped and piled high with the ambassador curls!) Still use Prell shampoo every other morning and let it air dry. Girls today have an advantage with all the neat products and know how to look up-to-date. Does my gray hair age me? Sure, but I earned every one of them.

MARY LOU WEADOCK 9-03-2007 @ 11:47AM

I am 71 years old and still work full time - I have my hair very short and have not had a perm in over 45 years. The gal that cut my hair 15 years ago advised me to stop coloring my hair as I have a natural platimum color which I did and have many compliments on it. My hair is very thick and bone straight - as a matter of fact every 4 weeks I must have it thinned out. I used to complain about the straight hair but no more I feel very luck to have hair that has remained so thick.

susan 9-03-2007 @ 11:47AM

I am 48 and my hair is as thick and straight as when I was 17 years old. I have to ask my stylist to thin out the back at the top of my neck otherwise I would have a bowl at my shoulders. Not to fond of the grey streaks running through it at the frame of my face but getting used to it. I air dry but cannot live without a curling iron.I guess I still wish for hair with some bounce or wave but I have friends that wish their hair was as straight as mine. I guess one thing is still true about hair, everyone wants just a little of something else..

Emily 9-03-2007 @ 11:48AM

My hair thinned out significantly about 10 years ago after I switched birth control pills. After a year I was looking at the fine print of the possible side effects and it said, "loss of scalp hair." It's never been the same.

vicki 9-03-2007 @ 11:48AM

I am 56. I started going grey in high school. I colored it for years and hated to do it every month. I was told that if I let it go white, I would hate it and it would make me look old. Finally I was SO sick of coloring it that I let the color grow out. It is beautiful! I am one of the lucky ones to have a great white hair, and by the way, it is still very thick. The important thing about white or silver hair is a good haircut! The haircut decides if you look old or not. Give it a try! Go silver!!

brownie 9-03-2007 @ 11:48AM

I am of indian descent (as in born and raised in India) and moved to the states when 17. I have always had no trouble growing out hair so length was never an issue but ever since i moved my hair has begun to thin out. I'm now 27 and when i add volumizing products and blow dry with my hair flipped over like a moneky or empty half a bottle of "gives u body" crap in it... it looks fantastic. I guess i'm wondering after reading all your comments, any hope for me? My mom has pretty thin hair too. But anything i can do to naturally add more hair? I keep a good healthy diet and try to work out at least twice a week. any tips for me? I want that "thick" hair you ladies are talking about. :) Any natural remedies? I've heard pre-natal vitamins makes your hair grow out? Any truth to that? Anyone take any pills or use products that remedy this? I want FULL, thick, bouncy hair. Please advise. Thank u kindly :)

Finnigan 9-03-2007 @ 11:49AM

I have always had really thick, healthy hair until my mother started chemo and lost hers. I don't know if it's sympathy loss or what but I have lost at least a third of mine and shed like crazy daily. I am only 38 and too early to have thinning hair. Everyone in my family has healthy locks and I'm the only one affected.

Love it now! 9-03-2007 @ 11:48AM

My hair was stick straight and very thin my whole life. After 5 kids my hair is now thick and wavey. I soooo love it now. The greys are starting to appear here and there, but you have to look. I'm 44 and my hair is the best it's ever been. Still debating if I'll ever color it. I think I'd rather go natural and rock a stunning cut.

June 9-03-2007 @ 11:49AM

at age 76 my hair is so fine, getting perms, color and high lights early on to give me some body, has really made it a mess, we did quit the highlights but I do believe in using products that are for my damaged hair..But my mother at her death age 96 still had very gray hair,,,yes it is a genetics thing

John 9-03-2007 @ 11:49AM

Nutrition guru Gary Null grew his hair back by taking massive amounts of chlorophyll-rich green vegetable powder in water (in addition to doing everything else right, nutritionally and lifestyle/fitness wise) over the course of a year and a half. He was bald, but grew a new head of dark hair, and he said it wasn't until he started taking so much chlorophyll that this occurred. And everyone who completed the program for regrowing hair that he designed grew his or her hair back in its original color. This goes to show that genes do not necessarily determine what will happen; rather, one has a genetic predisposition for a certain physical trait, but the expression of this predisposition can be avoided if one takes good care, nutritionally and otherwise. Also, there is at least one shampoo that is truly all natural and does not contain any of the detergent agents like sodium laurel sulfate and laureth sulfate, and that's Curetage. The Curetage system has grown hair back in chemotherapy patients.

shakimsells 9-03-2007 @ 11:49AM

the sun really damaged my hair. so beware of the sun it brings more harm than good

Kathy 9-03-2007 @ 11:49AM

I am 52 and my hair is thicker than it was as a teenager. I don't use anything bad on it, no dye, no gunk, or hair dryers, curling irons, etc. My hair still grows fast, but not as fast as when I was in my 20s. I use 3 different shampoos and 2 different conditioners on it during the week, alternating them and then use a clarifying shampoo once a week to get the stuff out that I put in it or the environmnet puts in it, and that seems ot be the best things for me. I wash it and drip dry every other day. Its' waist length again. I cut it to my neck 18 months ago and donated my hair to Locks of Love. AT night, I braid it to keep it from getting more tangled at night and use the right kind of binding on the hair so the ends/roots dont seem to break. I started getting a couple grays in my late 40s and look on them as a badge of honor or courage, after raising my kids. I earned them I figure! The beauty of a woman is in her eyes, her personality, and her smile ~ not the color of her hair or the measurment of her waist! I will never dye my hair and think, at least for myself, that the aging process is normal so why not just embrace it and enjoy the ride.

Lisa 5.0 9-03-2007 @ 11:50AM

I have had BABY fine hair all of my life. Salon people always freak when they start to cut and exclaim how thin it is. I have been pregnant 2 times and it has changed either way. I am 39 and age hasnt changed it either way. Basically hair is hair and there isnt much that you can do. Products dont work and if anyone really thought about it, how could they? I have never looked at someone and said OH she has thick hair so she must be young, or OH she has thin hair so she must be old. I thought that the cut could make a difference and was upset since I cant hold a style due to how fine it is but then I realized that my straight longer hair doesnt place me in any age group. Little girls, teens, 20 yo's to 70 yo's wear this style. 20 somethings wear short cropped hair as well as 40-70 year olds so what is the point of all of this?? Wear your hair however you want as long as you are comfortable!

Blessed Be,
Lisa

jean 9-03-2007 @ 11:50AM

I am fro the Phil. Asian women always have a beautiful hair. I wash my hair everyday with shampoo and conditioner. I always buy the cheepest
conditioner and shampoo, but I rinse my hair with cold water. Look shiney and look think.

Bev Wurmser 9-03-2007 @ 11:50AM

I'm 75 and have only a small patch of grey hair. I've been lightening my hair for over 55 years waiting for a head of silver grey but it never changes. I recently let it grow out and it's still dishwater, nasty blond. Everyone's amazed when they learn my age, which is flattering, but I yearn to be a silver fox.

chris 9-03-2007 @ 11:50AM

I'm 64, have always had curly, thick hair. Have virtually no grey. It's thinned enough that it falls a little less thickly than in younger years. I attribute it to diet as my mother was grey in her 30's-- mostly vegetarian with chicken and fish the only meats for well over 40 years and a lot of tofu and soy products.

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