A salon visit presents a wonderful chance to experiment with a fresh hairstyle that reflects your unique style and personality. Yet, selecting the ideal haircut after 40 can be a challenging endeavor. With a plethora of styles available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed about where to begin.
To ensure a successful trip to the salon this fall, bringing a reference photo of a celebrity haircut you admire can be helpful. But don’t stop there. It’s crucial to take into account your face shape and hair texture to guarantee the hairstyle suits you perfectly. To assist you in making the best decision, we consulted with leading hair stylists. They revealed four “outdated” and “unstylish” hairstyles that could inadvertently add years to one’s look, and suggested four more flattering alternatives.
Read on for tips, suggestions and insight from Janine Jarman, celebrity hair stylist and founder of Curl Cult, Ghanima Abdullah, hair expert and cosmetologist at The Right Hairstyles, Lauren Udoh, hair stylist and hair creative director of WigReports and Gina Rivera, celebrity hair stylist and founder of Phenix Salon Suites.
4 Outdated Haircuts To Skip This Fall — And Chic Alternatives
1. Skip Chin-Length Bobs with Blunt Bangs
According to Abdullah, if you're aiming to achieve a more youthful appearance, you should avoid the blunt, chin-length bob hairstyle accompanied by blunt fringe. This hairstyle may not work in your favor as it has the potential to make you look older than your actual age. Abdullah warns that adding this kind of bangs to a chin-length bob (or slightly longer lob) can also highlight the effects of aging without enhancing your best features.
Thick, blunt bangs that "come past the eyebrows on a blunt lob emphasize every sign of age in the face, as they don't frame the face well,” she explains. “Rather, they push all the attention to the eyes, with all their lines.” This, she says, is seen as a very classic chic look, but it can make you look older if not cut with voluminous ayers to frame your face shape.
Instead, Try a Bob or Lob with Curtain Bangs
"Like the lob with blunt bangs, the bob emphasizes the eye area, which might not look dewy," Abdullah says. "Then, it also emphasizes the jaw area, an area that many of us struggle with as we age."
Her alternate suggestion is also to ask for the ever-so-stylish curtain bangs, since they “flatter just about any face at any age,” with any length, as well, as seen here on Alexa Chung. “They neatly frame the face while drawing attention away from serious aging signs,” she points out.
2. Skip Blunt Bobs with Center Parts
Middle-parts can create a symmetrical look at any age, but Abdullah stresses that they can also draw more attention to forehead wrinkles and make your tresses look flatter. "A bob with a center part might have been your go-to hairstyle before, but maybe your part seems to be getting wider and wider," Abdullah acknowledges, as thinning in the crown area is common as many age.
"If you're thinning in the crown of your head, a center part is going to draw attention to it. This is because you're putting the part right in the same area," she says. To avoid this, Abdullah recommends a side part for more volume and a youthful energy.
Instead, Try a Layered Bob with a Deep Side Part
"Try a side part instead," Abdullah suggests, pointing to Salma Hayek's 'do above. "In this manner, you can move the hair from one side to the other, as you wish," she notes. "The added hair going over will increase volume in the area as well, especially if your hair is used to being parted down the center."
If you really prefer a center part, she suggests making "a short one instead, so that the hair in front goes to either side of your face." Then, she adds, the hair in the center can be brushed back. "Any difference that you create when your hair is used to lying flat and completely to the sides will create volume and make a big difference," she says.
3. Skip Choppy Shags
While shag cuts are iconic, 70s-esque and trendy (and usually flattering for any face shape when paired with no-fail curtain bangs), adding too many layers can head into mullet territory, Shags, Abudllah points out, can easily be cut to frame your face and best features, but adding a heavy amount of layers can often do the opposite.
The worst haircut you can have if your goal is to look younger is having "too many layers," she explains. Layers, when cut appropriately, can help to "add volume" and flow to your hair, "giving the appearance of fuller locks," she notes. Adding too many layers, on the other hand, she notes, "can make your hair appear even more limp than before."
Instead, Try a Wispy Shag with Delicate Layers
Too much texturization in a hairstyle can make thin hair appear even thinner, rather than full, she warns. "While shags are fashionable, it's vital to avoid over-layering thin hair because it can make it difficult to work with and lifeless," she says.
As seen here on January Jones, a wispy shag with light, delicate layers can help bring more attention to your favorite features without weighing them down, as too many layers can often do.
4. Skip Pin-Straight Long Hair
If you have "fine, thinning, fragile, damaged hair," Jarman recommends "cutting it off." She adds that "healthy hair is always the best bet. If your hair is thin, it only gets thinner as it grows out and if it’s damaged it will only continue to break the longer it gets." Rivera agrees in that "long, straight, blunt hair" is not always becoming with age.
“The long length can pull the features down and make them appear more drawn,” Rivera says, “If you select longer hair, it’s important to opt for longer layers that will create movement and texture," she advises.
Instead, Try Face-Framing Layers
"Longer side bangs" and "face framing pieces" a la Jennifer Aniston can "also result in a more youthful appearance by drawing the eye to the appealing facial features," Rivera explains. "In general, this provides for a fresher and more youthful look." The more you know!
