Hair can make or break your look, especially as you age. Many of us hang onto styles that were popular decades ago, not realizing they’re adding years to our appearance.
Updating your hairstyle can be one of the quickest ways to refresh your entire look and boost your confidence after 50.
1. Stiff Helmet Hair
Remember when hairspray was applied by the canful? That rigid, unmovable dome of hair screams outdated.
Modern styles embrace movement and texture, giving your look a youthful energy. Try a softer hold product instead for hair that moves naturally.
2. Permed Poodle Curls
Tight, frizzy perms from the 80s add years to your face instantly. Those small, uniform curls create an aging effect that’s hard to ignore.
Today’s curls are looser and more defined, with varying sizes for a natural appearance. Consider a modern wave instead.
3. Blunt Bob Without Layers
A one-length, severe bob can emphasize facial sagging and create a harsh frame around mature features. Without movement or softness, it draws attention to neck issues too.
Adding subtle layers creates movement while maintaining the classic bob shape you love.
4. Super Short Pixie With No Texture
Buzz-cut pixies can look severe on mature women, especially when cut without any softness or texture. This military-inspired look often emphasizes facial asymmetries that come with age.
A slightly longer pixie with textured pieces around the face flatters most women beautifully.
5. Wispy Thin Bangs
Sparse, see-through bangs draw attention to forehead lines rather than concealing them. These thin wisps can look accidental rather than intentional.
Fuller, more substantial bangs create a youthful frame for your eyes while hiding fine lines. They instantly refresh your entire look.
6. Bouffant Updo
Sky-high volume at the crown paired with stiff sides looks straight out of a 1960s yearbook. This dated style ages you faster than almost any other hairdo.
Modern updos incorporate softer volume and texture while maintaining elegance. Think relaxed sophistication rather than formal stiffness.
7. Uniform One-Color Dye Job
Flat, single-process color lacks dimension and can look artificial against mature skin. This solid-color approach often highlights rather than hides gray roots, creating obvious regrowth lines.
Multi-dimensional color with subtle highlights mimics natural hair’s varied tones, creating a more youthful effect.
8. Mall Bangs
Remember those teased, sprayed-to-the-ceiling bangs from the 80s? Some women never quite let them go. The extreme height and artificial shape instantly date your look.
Softer, side-swept bangs or face-framing layers offer a modern alternative that’s much more flattering.
9. De wigvormige snede
Popular in the 70s and 80s, this short, stacked back with longer front pieces creates a dated silhouette. The severe angle often emphasizes jowls and neck issues.
A more balanced, graduated bob offers similar convenience without the time-capsule effect. It frames the face more flatteringly.
10. Excessive Teasing For Volume
Backcombed, ratted hair damages already fragile strands and looks obviously artificial. This technique from decades past creates a matte, dull appearance that ages you.
Modern volumizing products and blow-dry techniques create lift without damage or that telltale teased look.
11. The Mullet Revival
Despite recent attempts to bring back this style, the “business in front, party in back” look rarely flatters mature faces. The disjointed lengths create an unbalanced frame for aging features.
A graduated cut with consistent layers throughout creates a more harmonious, age-appropriate style.
12. Poker-Straight Long Hair
Ultra-long, flat-ironed hair without layers can drag down mature features and emphasize thinning that comes with age. The severe look draws the eye downward away from your best features.
Soft layers and subtle waves add movement and volume that lift your entire appearance.
13. Too-Dark Single-Process Color
Jet black or very dark brown dye can look harsh against maturing skin, emphasizing every line and shadow. This severe contrast often creates an unnatural, aging effect.
Softer shades just a few tones lighter add warmth to your complexion and create a more natural, youthful appearance.
14. The Dynasty-Era Feathered Look
Heavily feathered layers reminiscent of 80s prime-time soaps create a dated silhouette instantly recognizable as from another era. The excessive wings and flips scream “throwback” rather than “timeless.”
Softer, more blended layers offer the same face-framing benefits without the time-capsule effect.
15. Tight Spiral Perms
Those tiny, uniform corkscrew curls popular in the 80s and 90s create an aging, outdated effect. The uniform pattern looks artificial and often frizzes easily.
Looser, varied curl patterns that mimic natural waves look fresh and youthful. They add volume without the dated perm look.
16. Blunt, Straight-Across Bangs
Heavy, straight-across bangs cut at eyebrow level can look severe on mature faces. They create a hard horizontal line that emphasizes rather than softens aging features.
Side-swept or softly textured bangs that blend with the rest of your hair create a more flattering frame for your face.
17. The Mushroom Cut
This bowl-shaped cut with rounded fullness at the bottom and flatness at the crown creates an unflattering silhouette on mature women. The shape emphasizes fullness in the wrong places.
A style with more volume on top and less on the sides creates better balance and a more youthful effect.
18. The Super-Short Retirement Cut
Many women drastically chop their hair after 50, thinking shorter is easier. But these overly cropped cuts often lack style and can look matronly rather than modern.
A slightly longer short cut with texture and movement offers the same convenience while looking intentionally stylish rather than merely practical.