Avoid: Too-Short Bangs
Bangs are wonderful on mature hair and can soften up any hairstyle. But the way your bangs are cut matters greatly. If your bangs are cut too short it will only draw attention to a wide forehead and throw the spotlight on crow’s feet and other fine lines.
Swap: Longer, Wispier Bangs
Softness in your hair is your friend — especially as we age. Swap too-short bangs for bangs that have a little more length and are not blunt.
Avoid: Square, Blunt Bangs
Even if they aren’t super-short, blunt bangs that have a square shape can have the effect of making your facial features look more square and severe.
Swap: Longer, Layered Bangs
The way to soften blunt, square bangs is to add lengthier layers to the sides so that they become longer, more graduated and layered bangs. Try curtain bangs instead, which start off shorter in the front of then gradually become longer until they blend into your haircut.
Avoid: Layering Only At the Bottom of Your Hair
Layers shouldn’t be an afterthought. If your stylist is only layering your hair at the bottom, you can wind up with a flat top, which looks especially obvious on thinning or fine hair, and feathered ends.
Swap: Cohesive Layering Throughout
Be strategic with layering and make sure your stylist is adding face-framing layers that lift in the front of your face, as well as layering at the ends of your hair for movement.
Avoid: Blowing Out Your Natural Texture
When you were younger, you might have considered any amount of frizz to be too much, or maybe your style of choice was stick-straight and smooth. As we age though, texture becomes our friend. If you’ve been blowing out your natural wave or curl, you could be missing out on a chance to make your hair look denser and healthier.
Swap: Let Air Dry Naturally Or Use a Diffuser
Try working with your hair’s natural texture and not against it. If you’re unfamiliar with curl and wave creams, start there: pick up a hydrating product that supports your hair’s curl pattern and experiment with leaving it to dry naturally or using a diffuser.
Avoid: Flat Pixies With No Layers
Giving thinning hair new life with a pixie haircut is one of the wisest moves you can make if you’re searching for new styles. But don’t go all that distance and then forget to layer your cut so that it falls flat at your crown.
Swap: Layer Your Pixie
The pixie cut is customizable. You can layer yours as little or as much as you want. But getting some layering movement into your style can really help make it look modern and fresh.
Avoid: Blunt Bobs
Right up there with the classic pixie, you’ll find the classic bob — one of the best haircuts for mature women and thinning hair. This chin-length cut is another highly customizable pick. Blunt bobs look great, but not as great if you are trying to find ways to boost your hair’s volume because they tend to fall flat at the roots.
Swap: Light Layering
Keep the base of your bob blunt to boost thin, fragile hair, but lightly layer the top and maybe even consider bangs or long bangs that will provide a lift to your face.
Avoid: Long, Straight Hair
Long, straight hair with no layering or color dimension can look overly girly, unstylish, and flat. You don’t have to chop off your length if you’re over a certain age, but it helps to change up your style’s shape.
Swap: Long Layers and Highlights
A few sweeping and face-framing layers, and maybe even some strategic highlights around the face can really give life and a boost to long, straight hair.
Avoid: Pixie With Too-Short Layers
This tip relies completely upon your personal style and how you prefer to wear your hair. A super-short pixie with spiky short layers is a great look for many. But if you feel like it looks too severe on you, there’s a simple way to change your cut.
Swap: Grow Longer Top Layers
Keep your pixie short in the back and on the sides, but play with longer layers on top. You can sweep these to the side or slick them back — the length provides softness to your face and your overall look.
Avoid: Severe Medium Haircuts With Blunt Edges
Blunt haircuts and baselines are great for giving fine or thinning hair the appearance of density. But they can also look a little severe when not paired with light layering at the top of your head. A medium haircut that falls at the shoulder is the ultimate compromise between short and long hair. It’s easier to maintain, gives enough length to put it up into a bun or ponytail, but it can also be difficult to keep looking stylish. And blunt ends don’t always help.
Swap: Light Layering
Lightly layer the front and top of your hair so that your haircut takes on a new shape. This simple change keeps a fresh, blunter baseline that looks polished, but gives your haircut more volume and movement.