Hair with Maggie Ryan
June 12, 2011
Maggie Ryan is a Sr. Stylist at Bumble and Bumble hair salon in Manhattan. She has been doing hair for over 25 years and she is going to periodically give us information on the trials and tribulations of dealing with ‘aging hair’ in women and men. I met with her (after she gave me another one of her great haircuts) and asked her some questions about this month’s topics: shampoos and flattering hairstyles.
1) What do you think you should do to counteract the affects of aging on hair?
MR: Well if you are covering gray you are coloring your hair. Generally the rule is not to go really dark because it is aging. Try to keep some softness and light around the face. So if you do have brown hair and don’t want to get away from your natural color so much, put some soft highlights around the face to break it up and add light. All our features look nice with some light around them. Highlights are always nice. Stay away from over processing and over shampooing which this country is a little obsessed with. The sulfites in some shampoos are very drying and damaging to the hair. Buying a decent shampoo is the foundation for having healthy hair as we age.
2) Is there a type of shampoo you would recommend?
MR: Depending on your price range, you can go from the cheapest shampoos in the drugstores that boast of no sulfites and organic shampoos right up to Kerastase which is a high end designer shampoo. Shampoos for color treated and all sorts of things. You should avoid shampoos that contain silicon because they coat your hair and it builds up and it eventually looks like dolls hair, so you have to be careful with that.
3) What do you think some of the best styles are for older women and men? Well for men, it is short, but for women?
MR: For women I always say try to figure out what is your best feature and what is the feature you are trying to de-emphasize. For instance, if you don’t like your neck, it is best not to have a bob that cuts you off in the middle of your face. If you have pretty eyes, you want to open up your face or maybe wear bangs to emphasize them. What I point out to women as we age is to keep softness about your hair. Even if you wear your hair short, have a soft frame of it…a little peak out from behind or in front of the ears. The best haircut for most women is a medium/long cut. The hair is medium in length but with layers and movement….not bobs. Bobs are a classic look but they age you. You are either childlike looking in them or you look like your grandmother. I always use the example of Jane Fonda when she cut off her long hair. She went to a layered look which was very complimentary and most any woman would look good in it.
5) Now women don’t cut their hair short like men do.
MR: Yes I’m glad to see the trend for women is not to cut all their hair off, like our mothers and grandmothers did. It used to be when you hit forty you cut your hair short because it was expected; they no longer had vanity about it and it was easy. Now women are trying to keep the softness, youth and sexiness alive.
6) So you should probably stay away from severe looks that you might have gotten away with in your 20s but don’t look that good as you age?
MR: That could be a rule of thumb but some people are exceptions to the rule. If you are petite and you have fine features and your hair calls out for something short and sharp, you can stand out in the crowd and look great; however, that’s not for everybody. Listen to your instincts really….and your friends! If they tell you it doesn’t look that good…believe them.
7) Anything else or other words of wisdom for us middle aged folks?
MR: Yes, hydration and aging gracefully. This means accepting yourself as you are and doing it in a beautiful way. Don’t try to be too young but don’t accept that you have to do what our mothers did.
Next month, Maggie will tell us about what to do for your hair in the summer.