Written by Stuart Miles- the UK's leading ageing expert and founder of MilesYounger.com
Add volume!
When it comes to your hairstyle it’s easy to get stuck in your ways. That colour and cut that made you feel young once may have literally outgrown itself. Sometimes we cling on to things as an attachment to our youth or we become stuck in our ways and so bother less with our hair. As we age it’s really important to adapt our hair so that we soften, warm and even distract by making our hair the main attraction. The aim is to flatter your face and draw attention away from the key signs of ageing around the eyes or on the forehead, for example. These simple techniques apply to all women whatever their hair type or colour.
Highlight your face with warmth.
Dark, brown or fair hair it really doesn’t matter as a few soft highlights around your face will warm up your skin tone making you look healthier and more vibrant. Add the colour through the front if you have shorter hair and for shoulder length hair adding an Ombre means that the hair that naturally falls around the side of your face will be bright and act like soft lighting wherever you go!
Add volume and avoid hair flat to the face.
As we age, sleek hair that hangs down straight can drag a tired face down. Hair with a bit more bounce and volume can frame the face. It also adds impact, cleverly making not only your face the focus but allowing the face and hair to work together providing a more flattering overall look.
Use a soft fringe.
Whereas in the past you may have used a parting and swept your hair across and to the side, as we age a softer fuller fringe works. It not only hides any forehead lines that may have appeared but it helps draw attention to your cheekbones. This tends to be an area of skin that remains smooth on a woman as she ages and can also be cleverly enhanced using shading.
Look at your natural skin tone and enhance it with hair colour.
Look at your natural skin tone. A really simple way to do this is to look at your wrist. If you see yellowy colours and your veins appear a green colour your tone is naturally warm. If your veins are more blue with a pink skin tone you are cool. For those with cool skin they need warming up and those with warmer skin can try slightly cooler colours. Beware as we age as we mainly need warmth, even for those with a warmer skin tone as this can fade. For dark hair that means caramel tones. For brown hair try honey tones and for blonde hair some golden tones work best. The trick is to not go too brassy when adding warmth so consult a decent hairdresser on this.
Go for soft contrasting colours and differing tones to add definition and interest to your hair.
Darker one-dimensional colours are very ageing. Giving your hair more interest and contrast is a good thing as it softens your look rather than one uniform colour which can be harsh. As we get older our hair should be looking more interesting and not less. The trick is to only go one or two shades lighter or darker than your natural colour and work around this palate so the hair colour appears natural.
Tagged in Hair Tips Stuart Miles