BEAUTY

Long hair, do care

Cassie Steer, HELLO!’s head of beauty, on the long and short of extra-long locks in midlife

Demi Moore continues to rock long tresses at 63

To chop or not to chop: that is the question. Granted, it’s a conundrum that doesn’t materialise purely with age, but after turning 48 – and having had bra-length hair for about 46 of those years – it’s one I find myself pondering more as I inch towards the big 5-0.

I was recently reminded of an Instagram post by the hairstylist Sam McKnight that summed it up perfectly. Chatting at Balmain’s show at Paris Fashion Week in 2024 to the model Paulina Porizkova, now 60, he said that older women having long hair was a topic that had been coming up a lot, and he found himself surprised by the reaction to it – mostly from other women.

Paulina, whose flowing grey locks have become her trademark, said: “It’s been in the domain of young women, and there seems to be some unwritten rule that when you turn 45 or 50, you’re supposed to cut your hair off.