I've just returned from 8 days on the "road" which has had me spending hours sitting in airports.  I always enjoy people watching at the airport.  The time of day and day of the week that I travel seems to determine the type of travelers I see.  On this trip I saw lots of business travelers for 3 legs of the trip and vacationers for the last leg.  I am definately seeing ladies with longer hair, particularly on the more "mature" business woman.  I'm still not seeing a lot of women wearing their hair in buns, but instead, they are wearing it down.  

At the Minneapolis airport on a Sunday morning, I observed 4 women, I would guess them to be in their late 40's early 50's, with hair longer than their shoulders, worn straight down.  They were all in business attire.  When I got to Phoenix, I again observed several business women with hair at least to their shoulders.

On Thursday, sitting in the Albuquerque NM, I saw many young, women in their 20's - 30's with mid-back length hair.  I also saw many airport employees with waist to classic length hair (worn in a braid or ponytail).  These women were appeared to be American Indians and Hispanics.  (Oh, how I envy their long, strong, thick, dark hair!).

Today, again in Phoenix, I observed both business and vacationers, many with mid back length hair - but typically dark hair.  The fair-haired women seemed to all have the short spikey hair styles, that are so popular now.

My general conclusions are that more women, particularly "older" women, are letting their hair grow longer, even when they work in a professional field.  Hopefully this means, that more will also soon feel comfortable letting their natural color shine thru.

That sounds great unfortuantley in England its looked down on for a women over fifty to have long hair and what is looked down upon more than that especailly in the proffessional field is someone with grey long hair.

I have never seen a proffessional women with grey hair longer than her chin i am afraid to say.

Even in the US, long hair on older women has been frowned upon, especially if there was grey in it.  But I think I am seeing a trend in there being more acceptance of long hair on older women.  We can hope and do our part to encourage that type of change in public attitude!  :D

I am afraid that it will be a while before we long gray hair ladies are not frowned upon.  Fortunately, there are still plenty of us who simply don't care about what other people think.  If I am happy with me, what does it matter what others think?

I say that, then remember an incident this past week.  My husband and I were dining at an upscale restaurant in town.  There was a very well dressed, apparently well to do couple there.  We were dressed in our probably Walmart purchased clothing, albeit clean and pressed.  As we were leaving I felt and saw the woman look at us, then turn to her husband and roll her eyes disgustingly.  I am not sure if it was our clothing, my long gray hair, or our being overweight which offended.  But it did hurt.

So I can say that what others think doesn't matter, but to a certain extent it does.  Am I going to change and go out and buy designer clothes?  I already own some, but seldom wear them unless I am vacationing. Am I going to lose that extra 25 lbs?  I wish, I've tried, but hey I'm nearly 60 and I will never weigh what I did at 30!  Am I going to cut my hair?  Never!  Go ahead and roll those eyes, I like myself the way I am!

I'm with ya Kathy!  

I agree, that while we might say we don't care what others think/say, it can still hurt if we are disapproved of (and on the flip side - we LOVE to hear a compliment  :D).  But if we are comfortable with ourselves, we can live with the occasional comment or rolled-eyes.

I too, will probably never again see the weight I was at when I was 25 or 30 (but not because I haven't tried ::) ).  But I am healthy and happy.  I will wear the clothes that I like, and wear my hair as I like and if others don't like, well too bad for them.

In Finland long, natural hair on older women is still rare. Poodle perms rule here at countryside and in the city, the norm is elaborate cut and color. Sometimes the hair can have a little length (not much longer than to shoulders though), but it's still far from natural. Also, claw clips and cheap beak clips aside, it's very rare to see a woman wearing hair accessories.

oldkathy, I'm sorry to hear of that. However, people who are rude enough to behave like that broadcast to the world only their own shallowness and lack of manners. It's obvious that THEY spend a great deal of time thinking of what strangers think about their appearance- whereas you probably have found a comfortable style that suits you and frees your time and energy for more productive purposes.

Well whatever society thinks i am not going to let them force me to cut and perm my hair when i get a few greys.

I will still have long hair and hopefully 100% natural unless i opt for a few highlights in bright white or platinum blonde.

I while back I saw two Dutch ladies shopping and chatting together, both with long white hair done in French twists, and both with a little separately done top-curl to top the twist off (but each lady with a slightly different do). They looked so elegant, without being in anyway out of place that I stopped and complimented them, thus probably totally destroying their relaxing morning. :P