How long is too long?

Every now and then amidst the chaos of life I look in the mirror and say to myself, “Wow, you really need a haircut!”.

I know I’m not the only mom out there who’s let a beauty ritual fall to the bottom of the priority list.  Yet, there always comes that time when my hair gets so long it doesn't even stay in a ponytail and I disgustedly look at my dry split ends and say enough is enough.  This time as I finally sat in the pumped up chair staring at the reflection of myself, wet shampooed hair hanging flat around my face, the stylist’s familiar question came.

“How much are we taking off?”

Without even thinking about it I uttered my standard response, “Just clean it up, the usual trim.” 

See I’ve had long hair ever since I can remember.  There may have been a few experimental do’s gone wrong at points in my teen years, but for the most part, as you can see in my photo, long hair has been my never changing style. Yet, as I sat for this overdue cut, I wondered about something not thought of before. 

“At what point in a woman’s life is long hair not age appropriate?  Is that even a thing or just some absurd notion popping up in the mind of a woman approaching the age of forty?”

I flashed back to my own childhood recalling my mom.  As I shuffled through memories I realized her hair started out below her shoulders and progressively got shorter as time went on.  As a matter of fact, most of the moms I remember from high school all had short hair.  One exception was a friend of mine’s mother whose silver locks flowed down to the middle of her back.  Yet, no matter how pretty, I do remember feeling it was a bit strange whenever I saw her long braid or up-do.  Was that simply because my own mother had chosen to wear her hair short or was it something more?  Perhaps it’s an unspoken societal norm.

In any event, as silly as it seems, I find myself seeking input on the subject.  As women, is there proper hair length etiquette for a certain age?  Or, is shorter hair as you age just something that happens out of necessity for the mere reason of simplifying one’s life?

I have to admit, even if there is such a rule, I’ll probably end up rebelling.  I can’t picture my hairstyle any other way than curly, mostly unmanageable and long.  Well, with the exception of it changing color to grey, but we can discuss the ‘too dye or not to dye’ issue another time.

In the mean time I’d love to hear your thoughts.  How long is too long for hair forty and above?  Post comments below or follow me on Twitter @40byFortyList.