I'm almost 47, with graying hair I just cut into a bob. I want to wear two barretts to

[applegrove]

hold my hair back. Am I too old for barretts?

[Staph]

1. I'm 58, with the beginnings of gray hair*.

I wear barrettes from time to time, though usually a side part and a single barrette. The biggest difficulty is finding adult ones. Avoid the little pink bows and you'll be fine.


* -- Genetics are a wonderful thing. I have almost as much gray hair as my grandmother, who passed away at 88.

[applegrove]

2. I started going grey in my twenties. Died my hair for a long time.

[Telly Savalas]

3. The world needs more bobs and barretts

I say go for it.

(Unless you've got a job interview or something. Barretts lack the gravitas required for such a setting.)

[OriginalGeek]

4. I'm 48 and have a few gray hairs too

I have a bald spot and a pony tail halfway down my back. I think barrettes are cute so I say you go for it but you should consider the fact that I am a 48 year old man with a pony-tail so I may not be the best source for fashion advice.

[Chan790]

5. No.

Just don't use the cheap plastic ones that you typically see on 8 year old girls because it does look funny. See if you can find something slightly more grown-up and sophisticated in terms of style.

[applegrove]

6. Oh not. These are dark, long and really classic. Not kid like at all.

[TorchTheWitch]

7. what does one's age have to do with pinning back one's hair?

Wear what the hell you like, and if someone doesn't like it tell them to bite your ass and mind their own business.

[a kennedy]

8. First off....it isn't gray hair, it's sterling......and barretts???

you're never to old for barretts.....just have to be the right ones. Shoot, not the RIGHT ones....LOL, just the correct ones.

[Duppers]

9. how long was your hair?

Just curious.

[applegrove]

10. 1/2 way down my back. It was actually easier to take care of when it was longer, just tie it up and

go.

[eShirl]

12. 48 here; gone back & forth between short & long all my life

soon to be short again

I've found that the thin headbands (sort of upside-down "U" shape) are both more comfortable and easier/quicker to whip on. If you've never put one on, just think of it like sunglasses that you put on normally then flip up to the top of your head.

[Phentex]

11. I'm growing my hair long. I want a long silver braid

that I can swat people with when I'm older.

[surrealAmerican]

13. This would depend on the barrettes.

Are they the plastic kind, with cartoon characters on them?

[dynasaw]

14. Darling, wear ANYTHING you like

and be hanged with what one should or shouldn't be doing at whatever age. BYTW glad you're sticking to grey. I love my silver head. Here are are a couple of my favorite silver tops.

Carmen del Orifice, age 80

[backwoodsbob]

17. love your hair

looks great

[sakabatou]

15. I knew a 14 year-old with graying hair

[backwoodsbob]

16. hell no

do what makes you feel good.

I'm 47 and would make most 20 year olds look bad bodywise to hell with the youngsters

what the hell

a 47 year old

[HopeHoops]

18. Not if it's raspberry and you're masturbating behind a magazine.

- Paraphrasing the artist formerly known as Prince who subsequently changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and later changed it back to Prince because the IRS didn't know what the fuck to do with his tax returns.

[LiberalEsto]

19. Why not gel and spike it?

Just kidding.
Plain barrettes, no problem,
Little plastic pink and yellow ones, no way.

[kcass1954]

29. That's what I did. It couldn't be easier to manage.

Five years ago, mine was halfway down to my waist. I was tired of dealing with it, and went very short over a 2 year period. I have a great hairdresser who re-spikes it every 6 weeks. I put a little Hard Up on it after I wash it, and I'm good for 4 or 5 days - I don't even comb it. Hell, I don't own a brush or a hairdryer any more.

I'm 57 and half gray, mostly in the front. I've chosen the color route. Every 4 or 5 weeks, my and my girlfriend Lady Clairol go into the bathroom and have a come to Jesus with my roots. I've been blonde for the last 9 years or so, except for last summer when I let the color grow out - never again!

[nolabear]

20. You can find some stunning artsy barretts that look fabulous against silver.

I've been grey since my 30s and quit dying in my 40s. I usually keep a long bob and have found some gorgeous jeweled and enameled hair thingies tht I weat when I want to go for it.

Be you, m'dear.

[marzipanni]

21. My mom was a brunette who had beautiful 'salt and pepper' hair in her 50s

and it gradually turned silver. For many years, until she died at age 95, she wore it like the woman in Dynasaw's middle photo (reply #14), except with a thin "tortoise shell" barrette that was like a longish, flat bobby pin, so the side wouldn't fall forward. These were made in France and came in a little tube- once I sent her some because she only had one or two left, and couldn't find them in the store any more. I thought it was so much better looking than the permed style that many older women get.
I have my dad's blond gene, so my hair has the same colors as sand under a magnifying glass- white, gray, tan, and copper (used to be red-blond).

[livetohike]

22. I will be 60 this year and have hair to my waist

If I could find barrettes for thick hair, I would wear them. I have one really good one that I use to put my hair in an upsweep and a couple of wooden ones that work for me.

Nice barrettes are hard to find. Here is a link. My husband purchased a couple for me here:

http://www.blueheronwoods.com/Barrettes-c-6.html

[pipi_k]

23. Too old?

Hell no!

Like others said, though...make them the more adult kind. I like tortoise shell...black... barrettes with tastefully small crystals, etc.

Oh, and I'm 59 and growing my hair, which is almost waist length.

Sometimes I pull back the sides and use a small hairpiece clip that looks like a ponytail while the rest of it falls free beneath it.

And sometimes I pull it all up into a bun and clip on a long curly ponytail just for something different or to make it look thicker.

I have a whole wardrobe full of fake hair

Now that my hair isn't as oily as it was in my younger days, it's easier to care for, not needing shampooing every day.

[Evasporque]

24. if the barettes are pink, puffy with rainbow glitter and unicorns on them....maybe so...nt

[rrneck]

25. Kinda heavy

But you can take all the time you want in the take out line.

[geardaddy]

26. You're almost 47?

Me too. When's your b-day?

[applegrove]

27. Don't want to say on line. Happy early birthday to you geardaddy. 47 is a great age no?

[geardaddy]

28. Well, I'm not quite there yet.

I will be in April, but it's gearing up to be a good one!

Happy b-day to you!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. I started to "go natural" a couple of years ago when I realized that if I continued

to dye my hair, soon my hair and face wouldn't match.

But I defy the conventional wisdom that says that older women should have short hair. I hate short hair and don't feel like myself when I wear it. Right now, it's halfway down my back, and I usually wear it up (bun or braid) or held back in a clip.

[pipi_k]

33. I stopped too

For years I frosted my own hair, but now that it's getting white hairs scattered among the ash blonde/light brown, I don't have to do that anymore.

I also occasionally use one of those shampoos for gray/white hair to brighten the grays. Takes the brassiness out of the rest of my hair as well and makes it look real pretty.

[pitohui]

31. i don't see what age has to do with it

barrettes won't stay in my hair so i gave up on them, but they wouldn't stay in my hair when i was 8 either

over 30 i think the barrettes should be made of real silver or real wood, not cheap cheesy plastic, i had a wonderful southwestern silver comb that someone gave me but i finally had to sell it on since it wouldn't stay in my wimpy hair

nothing to do w. age though, it's about the texture and if the barrettes don't slip out, why not?

[JI7]

32. Barretts come in many styles for every age group

[AsahinaKimi]

34. Someone once told me I was told old to wear pigtails...

My answer was.. why? Its my hair.. I can shave it off my head if I want to. Who says I can't wear pigtails?

[trof]

35. Well, you could wear Elizabeth Barrett (Browning)...

Who would the other Barrett be?

barrettes
yer welcome

[RedCloud]

36. MSM is the brunette's friend!

Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)

I started taking this just to have sulfur. To my amazement my Santa Claus beard is already 50% back to its youthful splendor in under a year!

Don't know about the barretts.

[csziggy]

37. You don't have to be old to wear purple - or barretts! Practice now

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph

[csziggy]

38. Oh - take a look at Etsy - some fabulous barretts on there

The Steampunk Dragonfly Barrette is pretty cool.


http://www.etsy.com/listing/84952768/steampunk-dragonfly-barrette