8 WAYS TO ANTI-AGE YOUR HAIR
1 BEWARE THE BOB: A bob can be flattering. However they can look ageing. You don’t want to fall into the newsreader category! Go for a choppy cut. A dry texturising spray, like Sam McKnight’s Cool Girl Barely There Texture Mist (£10, cultbeauty.co.uk) can help.
2 KEEP LONG HAIR GROOMED: Some older women also look great with a longer style. But a cut like this needs to look well-maintained otherwise it can look witchy. A soft, loose tong is a great way to style long hair. My go-to tongs are GHD.
3 THE MAGIC OF A FRINGE: Our features harden as we age, so the right fringe can soften them. For many mid-life women, they are a comfort blanket — ask my client Claudia Winkleman, known for her fringe, she would be the first to admit it!
4 DON’T GO DARK: If you’re colouring your hair, you want it to look natural. Our hair colour and skin tone fade with age so anything too dark will drain your features. If you’re brunette, take it up a shade.
5 GREY HAIR NEEDS GREAT CUTS: It can be liberating to embrace grey hair. It’s easier to pull off if you balance it with a youthful, cropped style, like Helen Mirren’s. Plus invest in a silver shampoo with a violet tone as white hair can yellow. I’m grey and use
Sachajuan Silver Shampoo (£22, lookfantastic.co.uk).
6 CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION: Our hair gets more vulnerable with age so invest in hydrating products. It’s a good idea to use a weekly conditioning mask such as Phillip Kingsley’s Elasticizer (£34 for 150ml, look fantastic.com).
7 TONE DOWN VOLUME: Too much volume can look dated so opt for a soft wave that doesn’t look too set by putting Velcro rollers in and shaking them through. Conversely, if your hair is fine, a deep cleanse can build volume. A weekly detoxing shampoo, such as Redken’s Hair Cleansing Cream (£9.55), is great to prevent product build-up clogging hair.
8 CHANGE IT: It’s important to change your hair regularly, reinventing yourself with tweaks. In lockdown we’ve grown our hair longer, so now is the time to try something new.