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Do you think long hair makes one look: the same age, younger, or older?
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Splat
I used to think that long hair made me look older but then a pretty obvious fact was pointed out to me. The photos of me with short hair were taken when I was er... younger !
In my case, my grey hair is more noticeable with long hair because (again, pretty obviously) there's more of it.
I think it makes you look better - when you are below your natural age, it makes yu look older, when you are above your natural age it makes you look yunger.
Differs. For me, when I was in 8th grade, people asked me when if I was going to start college soon. When I first got long hair, people started to perceive me as my real age (instead of as older)
I look younger with longer hair because I think it makes me look more playful and less serious and also less professional. Unless I pull it back, then I look about my age. I think if I had short hair my hairline would let people know that I am a bit older (though I am not receeding that much at all).
What makes me look much older is facial hair. I look about 5 years older.
Absolutely older. I must have gained about 3 years at least. Since I was a freshman in college (last year), absolutely everybody thought I was a senior. People think I'm older than my brother who's 5 years older. I really hate the fact that my hair makes me look older, but that's the price for my vanity. *sigh*.
Love,
Kiat T.
1. In the first place, the OLDer a man is, the LESS likely it is
that he will have ALL of his hair.
2. And IF he does happen to have ALL of his hair
(something that gets rarer as a man gets older),
the ODDs are that he will still have SHORT hair.
3. So for an OLDer man to have ALL OF his hair and
to have it LONG is RARE indeed!
4. Finally, IF a man has ALL of his hair + has LONG hair + has THICK hair...
well, people will naturally tend to *believe* that he is younger.
5. And IF you add all of the above to an OLDer man who has
taken good care of his skin (so that he has fewer wrinkles, etc.)
most people (if pressed to guess) would probably say he was YEARS
YOUNGer than he actually is.
Considering how long my hair is I guess I am doing really well at 51 years of age. Be sure to click on my photo. Absalom
THere's no question, Absolom. You are fit, and you fit all of Luckskind's points. I would have guessed you nearer my age--44. If you did not have gray in your beard, even younger.
This has been my experience. I am often mistaken for 30 something, which is nice. Two years ago, I shaved my goatee, and for a while was asked for ID when buying beer/wine in my local grocery. That was fun, too, for a while. In any regard, until I get lots of gray, I suspect that I will always appear younger than I am, and even if fully gray, I suspect Luckskind's observations are culturally accurate.
Robert
I was knew a man in his 50s who had long hair and who frequently wore pigtails.
One day he decided to cut his hair short. SUDDENLY he
became an OLD MAN!
The transformation was amazing!: he went from looking like
a really interesting guy with a kind-looking face...
to a bitter old man (just his looks because he was still a nice guy, of course.)
Take a look at the photo above and see if you think that looks like a man who has had an AARP Card in his wallet for 10 years !!??
THere's no question, Absolom. You are fit, and you fit all of Luckskind's points. I would have guessed you nearer my age--44. If you did not have gray in your beard, even younger.
This has been my experience. I am often mistaken for 30 something, which is nice. Two years ago, I shaved my goatee, and for a while was asked for ID when buying beer/wine in my local grocery. That was fun, too, for a while. In any regard, until I get lots of gray, I suspect that I will always appear younger than I am, and even if fully gray, I suspect Luckskind's observations are culturally accurate.
Robert
You are a rare breed indeed!
I'd say so, bro. I hope I can say the same when I get there.
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Splat
Using the same logic as Luckskind, I think that with Younger men, more specifically Teenagers will always look OLDER if they have long hair.
In the first place a teenager is less likely to have long hair because this is age group most likely to suffer from peer pressure. Which in today's society means "pressure to conform to a short hairstyle."
Teenagers who have longhair have shown a maturity that indicates they are not restricted by the social contraints put on them by their peers. This kind of maturity normally evolves when people get older.
Curiously the real reason most teenagers grow their hair is because they are been influenced by a role model, maybe a Rock/Heavy Metal Band. OK maybe not a specific individual but a general Genre or sub-culture. Its just that the influence of the role model outweights the infulence of their peers.
Equally though, this also indicates that they have developed their own tastes and infulences and are no longer governed or restricted by their parents (or their peers), which inturn suggests maturity beyond their years.
I think also, that throughout the ages, hair has been a sign of maturity & seniority in many cultures, so it could be said that long hair is a visual sign of "comming of age".
So long hair makes the YOUNG look older and the OLD look younger, I'd say that was a win win situation. Though personally, I think for 20-40 year olds long hair does very little to change your apparent age.
Sorted
I would agree with all of that.
My own hair is thick and dark, with few noticable greys. Because of my skin condition, I have to bath in oils every day, followed by moisturiser all over. The result is that I have very smooth, soft skin. As my girlfriend is 21 - three years younger than myself - I tend to hang out with a lot of people her age.
They never cease to be chocked when we play the age guessing game. I have had estimates everywhere from 18 to 23, but usually down the lower end of the range.
On the flip side, when I was working in set construction, all the guys were in theeir late twenties and I was only 19. They all guessed I was about 25 at the time.
I guess when you hang out with people of a certain age, they forget you are younger or older, and see you as the same as them, especially if you have the same mentality or sense of humour.
wolfeyes
Short hair makes me looking a litter older than 20. Mediumish hair makes me looking like a teenager, Long hair makes me look like I'm 23 or 24
It can make the younger look younger and the older look older, it can make the younger look older and the older look younger.
Since there are so many other factors about a person's looks that contribute to their perceived age hair alone usually does not do it all by itself.
Then of course there is the length of the hair that you may be talking about.
Most, if not all, the current makeover shows on tv will cut a man's hair short, if it was long, and always say something like "Now you look so much younger!" I don't always see it though. Yes, sometimes it can make someone look younger. I think most of the time it just is a different appearance, not younger or older, just different. It's funny (Luckskind, I think you're on to something) that these shows equate short hair with youthfullness. I necessarily do not.
I think long hair softens the face. The very nature of the shapes long hair creates as it frames the face softens it, therefore giving a younger look.
RM.
I believe anyone in their mid teens to early 20's, long hair makes them look older and more mature in most cases. From early 20's to early 30's, long hair makes the person look the same age, and from early 30's to 50's, younger. I also do believe that it does random things to anyone over that age.
If a guy in his 40s, 50s, etc. has GRAY hair, then maybe
he will look more like an older Wise Man!
Younger guys would experience a wider range of age-effects
from their long hair.
I think that older guys with long hair do look younger, and i got many comments when i had long hair last time ,people were asking me if i was 17 or 18, when i was really 14 years old! crazy! it mighta just been my goatee.
It tends to pull your look towards the late teens or early 20s. If you are younger than that and have height and/or facial hair, they will think you are a bit older. If you are older and you don't have any greys, you look younger.
When I shaved my beard for the summer, I got carded for alcohol for the first time in years (FWIW, I don't drink but I sometimes go out places where they check everybody). I'm 36 and the beard has some grey.
Exception: If you are old enough to have any grey, you are perceive as an "aging hippy from the 60s" even if you are young enough to have thought the guerillas in Vietnam were apes with guns when you heard about them.
