10 Hairstyles That Never Age

Say Yes to the Tress

En español |  By 50, your hair “look” is pretty much a done deal. Even celebs our age have signature tresses, such as Annette Bening’s crop, Susan Sarandon’s wavy lob and Lisa Rinna’s shag. Keeping that true-you style contemporary requires a little yearly tweaking. Here are 10 hair-to-stay styles you’ll never outgrow.

Tousled Pixie

Jamie Lee Curtis, Ellen DeGeneres, Judi Dench, Angela Bassett and Robin Roberts inspire us to crop it short and never look back. Keep this look sexy and edgy by breaking up the mini-layers with styling paste or pomade. Rub a tiny dab between your fingers and rake them through your hair for separation and texture. If it looks a little mussed and imperfect, you’ve got it right. Leave tapered pieces around the ears and nape for a gamine effect. (No shaving, please!)

Crop With Bangs

Go short but sleek with long, versatile bangs that can be swept across the forehead like Kris Jenner and Robin Wright, to the side like Christine Lagarde and Carrie-Anne Moss, or swooped up and off the face like Emma Thompson. It’s a chic solution for anyone but especially works on those with fine, thinning hair. Add highlights for the illusion of thickness that tone-on-tone color provides.

Longish Hair

Long-hair lifers can hang in there with a realistic below-the-collarbone length (two or three inches beneath it — max!). To look modern, add long face-framing layers for movement, a feathery fringe or beachy waves. Check out Jane Seymour, Jaclyn Smith, Téa Leoni, Mary Steenburgen, Laura Dern and Sherri Shepherd. (And trust beauty-editor me, older stars with extremely long hair are always wearing extensions or wigs.)

Curly Ringlets

Let lush, naturally corkscrew manes like those of Melina Kanakaredes, Andie MacDowell, Susan Sarandon, Bebe Neuwirth and Halle Berry (at the 2017 Oscars) be themselves. Boost the bounce and shape with a spin or two of a high-tech curling iron like the Hot Tools CurlBar or BaByliss Pro. Get subtle highlights to emphasize the texture and separation — even dark-brown hair benefits from flashes of caramel or toffee.

Classic Bob

Smooth, side-parted, one-length hair is always fashionable. It creates a crisp frame for the face just when we could use a little structure and definition. Hovering just above or right beneath the chin, it works for Ellen Barkin, Jodie Foster and Sherry Stringfield. Keep it glossy and sleek with a dab of styling oil, or shapely with hot rollers. For extra forehead camouflage, add some bangs.

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Lob

Also known as the longer bob, it skims anywhere from midneck to just above your shoulders for the feeling of long hair — without actually being long. It’s ideal for fine, thinning hair that wishes it were still Rapunzel-like. You can vary the texture from softly wavy (like Glenn Close and Sigourney Weaver) to straight (like Ann Curry, Olivia Newton-John and Garcelle Beauvais) with a flat or curling iron.

Shag

This is really a layered bob with a ruffled feathers look. It can be short like Jane Fonda and Sharon Osbourne or medium length like Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Grey and Candice Bergen. It may include some sort of bang (or not), but it’s the choppy layers that make this timeless cut work. Flip out the ends of all layers away from the face as you blow-dry in order to make it look trendier and full of movement.

Bouffant Bob

Some of us just like big hair. Full-bodied and medium length (midneck to shoulder), this is really a blown-up bob with layers. It works for Glamazons like Gayle King, Christine Baranski, Susan Lucci and Catherine Deneuve. Avoid a stiff, coiffed look by keeping the shape buoyantly casual with a few tousled pieces or a flirty bang, and by using a brushable finishing mist like L’Oreal Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray or Ouai Texturizing Hair Spray to lock down your ’do.

Ponytail

If your hair is long enough, this fallback style looks polished, as it does on Sarah Jessica Parker, Ming-Na Wen, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston and any woman who wants to get up and go ASAP. Tails that are too tight can cause tension breakage, so loosen up the pullback and leave some pieces around the face for a fresh, contemporary take on this classic.

The Natural

Tightly textured African American hair that’s worn in a short Afro like Viola Davis and Shari Belafonte or a textured cloud like Wanda Sykes and Chaka Khan (or sometimes even Oprah Winfrey) is always authentic and cool. Keep it hydrated with Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Moisture & Shine Hair Oil or Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture Brassica Seed Oil. When you need a change, bump up the look with temporary or semipermanent color.

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