When I look in the mirror, I see my entire history staring back at me. It’s all there in my long hair — the same style I’ve been wearing for more than 60 years.
So I was horrified last week to learn that TV presenter Davina McCall is coming under pressure to chop off her gorgeous, shiny brown hair.
Mother-of-three Davina says that, at 45, her grandmother thinks she’s too old to have long hair.
What’s more, according to Granny, no woman over 30 should have long hair because it makes her look ‘slutty’. And the awful truth is that hers is an opinion shared by many misguided women.
Well, I am 71 and always keep my hair below my shoulders — sometimes up in a French pleat or bun, sometimes loose.
And I defy anyone to say I look slutty. I love my long hair and I have absolutely no intention of ever changing my look. Why on Earth should I?
Of course, I understand where the root of the problem lies — if you will pardon the pun.
Long, loose hair is traditionally associated with vitality and fertility.
So having long hair can be regarded as unseemly in an older woman who is past her childbearing years.
It’s akin to wearing sexy leather trousers or thigh-high boots. Or that’s what other women are inclined to think.
I’ve been told that older women shouldn’t wear their hair long because when they turn around and people see an old face, it rather comes as a shock. Nonsense!
Our prim Victorian grandmothers wore their hair long, often in an elegant bun. So did Roman matrons.
The idea that once a woman hits 30 she should cut her hair is a silly, modern notion, and utterly ludicrous.
Other critics seem to believe another myth: that long hair is ageing. I couldn’t disagree more.
Aged 42, I was banned from seeing an X-rated film because the cinema manager didn’t believe I was over 18.
And when, aged 60, I went to collect my bus pass, I was turned down. The clerk wouldn’t even believe me when I showed him a letter confirming I was receiving a state pension.
‘You could have stolen it,’ he said. I had to return with my birth certificate.
At the risk of sounding cynical, it suits hairdressers to peddle the idea that women over a certain age should chop off their hair. It’s good for business, isn’t it?
I know many women complain that they become invisible when they hit their 50s. No wonder if they insist on looking the same as everyone else.
Look at any group of 50- something women and all you’ll see is a sea of wishy-washy, champagne-coloured heads all permed and layered identically.
The one rule you have to follow if you keep your hair long as you grow older is that you have to keep it groomed.
I have my ends trimmed every six weeks and have low-lights put in three times a year (luckily, I haven’t gone completely grey). My annual bill is about £300.
Long hair is also incredibly versatile and I have never been bored with it.
My hair defines me, and just one look in the mirror can send me back down memory lane.
I can see myself walking along the Cornish coast with my late husband Jacques, my hair blowing in the wind. I can see my daughter Mina as a little girl brushing my hair.
If I cut my hair, I wouldn’t just lose my identity, I would lose my history, as these pictures show.
age 71.psd