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Young at Heart. And Hair Follicles.

By Amalah

Dear Amy,

I’m looking at spring fashion / style / hair / makeup / whatever trends, and I’m seeing lots of lovely pink hair. Pink streaks or pink-tipped lower layers, usually on blondes. There’s also some pale green, though that’s a harder color for most people to pull off. Hair colors not found in nature are not for everyone, obviously, but I love it. I want it!

My hair is dark brown, cut into a funky messy pixie, with one side longer than the other. I am considering getting a couple of lavender streaks in the long side, put into the underlayers so that they peek through the dark brown on top. I have a stylist who can handle lavender hair dye. My question is not whether or not it will look good. My question is whether or not I am too old for it.
I will be 33 next month. I have a child who will be 2 in a few weeks. I am a long, long, long way from the pert teenage models who are sporting pink streaks in the style pages. Am I too old for lavender streaks in my hair? I’m not afraid of looking quirky, but I am afraid of looking like mutton dressed as lamb.

Please advise.

Yours truly,
K

GO FOR IT! GO FOR IT! (clap clap clap clap) GO FOR IT!

Seriously, what else can I say? You like it, you want it, you think-slash-already-know it will look good. It sure sounds to me like it will look good, and if 32 is too old to be doing fun, crazy stuff with your hair, then SHOOT ME NOW, because the next few decades sound too boring to bear. You know, to this 32-year-old.

I did the pink hair a couple years ago, and my recent switch to red hair actually started with a discussion of adding in a few streaks of a punk red and then spiraled from there, with my stylist getting giddy at the chance to try a super-dramatic makeover.

I am a fan of dressing “age-appropriately,” though I absolutely could not tell you what that even means, definitively. It’s soooo different for everyone, and has just as much to do with ATTITUDE as it does the age on your driver’s license. A 40-something who is happy and confident and takes care of herself looks very different in a short skirt than one who is unhappy and desperate for attention/lost youth/love/whatever.

I’m 32. I wear skinny jeans and minidresses and trends and more than occasionally realize I am the oldest lady in the store, including everybody working there. And definitely the only with TWO CHILDREN in tow. And I do not take this as a cue to head out the door. I know my style and what looks cute on me and what doesn’t (I don’t do much tight-around-the-middle stuff or anything midriff-baring, oh my God) and…well, my husband likes it when I wear short skirts and high heels. And I don’t really give a crap about anyone else’s opinion — I left all that angst and worry behind in high school. And frankly, I’m just not ready for highwaisted pants and elastic waistbands and sensible sweater sets and a Mom Bob. And I don’t see why I should be.

You’re a mom. You’re also still a YOUNG WOMAN who knows what she likes and what she doesn’t. GO FOR IT.

(And then send us some pictures.)

Photo by seanomatopoeia

About the Author

Amy Corbett Storch

Amalah

Amalah is a pseudonym of Amy Corbett Storch. She is the author of the Advice Smackdown and Bounce Back. You can follow Amy’s daily mothering adventures at Ama...

Amalah is a pseudonym of Amy Corbett Storch. She is the author of the Advice Smackdown and Bounce Back. You can follow Amy’s daily mothering adventures at Amalah. Also, it’s pronounced AIM-ah-lah.

If there is a question you would like answered on the Advice Smackdown, please submit it to [email protected].

Amy also documented her second pregnancy (with Ezra) in our wildly popular Weekly Pregnancy Calendar, Zero to Forty.

Amy is mother to rising first-grader Noah, preschooler Ezra, and toddler Ike.

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