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View Full Version : Old ladies (over 40, lol) and long hair....



marikamt
October 6th, 2009, 10:56 PM
So I work with a geriatric population... one of my very favorite patients is 99 years old... she always wears her hair up in a bun, I have never seen it down... I went into her room today to give her meds and it had fallen out of her bun... she asked me if I could help... I combed and braided her BSL length silver hair..... it was really pretty.
Who says anyone over 40 can't wear long hair??? :)

little_acorn
October 6th, 2009, 11:27 PM
Ahh sounds lovely hair :D

friskybiznus
October 6th, 2009, 11:32 PM
My husband's grandmother (in her 90's) had tbl silver hair when she died. It was gorgeous!

Linda K
October 7th, 2009, 12:53 AM
I was 4 when my Gram on Dad's side died. I still remember her braid on top the white sheet (nursing home) somewhere down by her knees. It was still very dark w/ just a few wisps of silver at the temples. I did not inherit much of that from dad!

When I worked at a nursing home, one lady in particular just amazed me. She'd lost all her dark hair (meds). When it came back it was the most beautiful, thick,snowy white - down to her waist! Just gorgeous! Some thought she was a little vain about it. If she was, I think she earned the right to be! Come to think of it - she didn't shed much either during comb outs in the morning ... :D

ETA: She definitely looked great too! I couldn't picture her with short hair anymore than I could picture Lucille Ball anything but red!

Pumpkin
October 7th, 2009, 05:52 AM
First of all, thank you for all your work you do with your patients. They are very special people and deserve dignity and respect that you show them. :)

Silver & Gold
October 7th, 2009, 06:32 AM
My great-grandmother (my mother's paternal grandmother) had very long silver hair when she died. I'm not certain how long it was because I was very young when she died. All I remember was meeting a lady with long, silver hair cascading over her pillow. I was about 4 years old and visiting her in the hospital.

My mother stayed with her a lot when she was a little girl. She said that her grandmother always wore her hair up in a bun but at night she would take her hair down to brush it and when she leaned over her hair touched the floor. My mother said that she was always mesmerized by the sight of her grandmother's long, silver hair and she looked forward to watching her brush it out at night.

embee
October 7th, 2009, 07:03 AM
I hope they don't pressure your old lady to cut "because it's easier". The grooming of the long hair can be a great comfort to a person who is isolated in a "old folk's home".

It's nice that you knew how to put hair into a bun, many young women nowadays wouldn't have a clue! :)

Unzadi
October 7th, 2009, 07:09 AM
When my aunt spent some time in a rehab facility before she passed, I was surprised to find on one of my daily visits that someone had not only washed and combed out her waist length black hair (with only a few silver threads) but put it in a bee butt bun with hair friendly scrunchie to hold. I've always wondered if there was an LHC member or lurker on staff.

spidermom
October 7th, 2009, 07:11 AM
Very nice that you knew how to help her with her hair. My grandma had hip-length, yellowish-white braids that she wrapped around her head and pinned with long U-shaped pins. She would comb her hair out every other morning or so and use the shed hairs to wrap around the end of the braids.

Peggy E.
October 7th, 2009, 07:30 AM
So I work with a geriatric population... one of my very favorite patients is 99 years old... she always wears her hair up in a bun, I have never seen it down... I went into her room today to give her meds and it had fallen out of her bun... she asked me if I could help... I combed and braided her BSL length silver hair..... it was really pretty.
Who says anyone over 40 can't wear long hair??? :)

Nobody *I* know (who wants to avoid a violent reaction, anyway!).

My great-grandmother had classic-length hair she brushed 100 strokes every night before putting it into her sleep-braid. It had never been cut and it was beautiful. During the day she wore it in a big twist across the nape of her neck with no decorative touches, held with plain combs and pins.

She was a very stern, unbending woman who came across as controlling and hard, the matriarch of the family with what I believe now must have been a lifetime of loss and disappointments, something my 6-year-old self would never have thought to question. But for a short, magical year, I lived next door to her and she opened a small portal into her heavily protected heart and let me in.

Funny, my hair is the same color today as was hers then. In fact, she was probably around my parents' age, though she seemed so ancient. People were "older" then - a 70-yo dressed in an antique manner considered suitable to their age; today a 70-yo is in jeans and t-shirt, the laws of age-based fashion having been smudged a bit.

Anyway, when my great-grandma was finally off to a nursing home in her 90's the first thing they did was to cut off all that beautiful hair. I wasn't there and lived far from her at that time, but I know her heart - so well hidden from the outside world for all those many years - must have finally been crushed with this final, complete loss of something she considered so precious and dear.

Thank God your 99-yo lady is allowed to have her long hair! Not everyone is sensitive enough to realize just how important it is to a person's sense of self and confidence.

KnightsLady
October 7th, 2009, 07:41 AM
These stories bring wonderful pictures to mind. Lovely!

elianne
October 7th, 2009, 08:05 AM
Thank God your 99-yo lady is allowed to have her long hair! Not everyone is sensitive enough to realize just how important it is to a person's sense of self and confidence.

You said it! My mother has beautiful tailbone length hair (and is 64) and I know she would be crushed if it were ever cut. (Also she would probably have no idea what to do with it if it were short, since she's worn it in a bun pretty much every day for the past 30 years.)

Also, Peggy, your avi picture is gorgeous!! I love silvery hair :)

going gray
October 7th, 2009, 08:51 AM
I have nothing to add, just wanted to say I enjoyed this thread VERY much. Beautiful stories

marikamt
October 7th, 2009, 08:56 AM
The only sad part (for me) was I could tell it did not get combed as much as it should... while it was very clean and not tangled, the ends were a little mixed up and lots of sheds.......
She kept apologizing to me and telling me she felt bad for taking my time.... I really didn't mind!
I wish the aides had more time in the mornings to help with that type of thing....

DMARTINEZ
October 7th, 2009, 09:05 AM
So I work with a geriatric population... one of my very favorite patients is 99 years old... she always wears her hair up in a bun, I have never seen it down... I went into her room today to give her meds and it had fallen out of her bun... she asked me if I could help... I combed and braided her BSL length silver hair..... it was really pretty.
Who says anyone over 40 can't wear long hair??? :)

Aww what a sweet thing! We need more people like you in the homes for the elderly these days!!!! Bless you!


Deb

Shiva
October 7th, 2009, 09:27 AM
Old ladies (over 40, lol) and long hair....
I'm 43 and I don't feel like an "old lady."

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l226/NorthernXposure/emoticons/182771-scratchhead.gif

marikamt
October 7th, 2009, 11:16 AM
I'm 43 and I don't feel like an "old lady."

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l226/NorthernXposure/emoticons/182771-scratchhead.gif


I am over 40 and don't feel like an old lady either... that was tongue-in-cheek to all the "once you are over 40 you should cut your hair cause you are too old" things out there........ hence the LOL in the title..... especially since the lady in question is a few months from 100.... :)

Amara
October 7th, 2009, 01:12 PM
Wonderful stories in this thread. :)


My grandmother has always dyed her white hair blonde and worn a hair piece to fill it out and lots of spray to hold it. It was always in the "poodle" perm cut I've heard mentioned here a lot.

Well, a couple of years ago she went through some serious medical issues, and went from working almost full time to being home-bound (she lives with my mom now). Because of money and time and effort, she now has her natural hair color (the snowiest white I've ever seen), and it's naturally softly curly and soft and silky. It curls gently around her ears and neck. She's keeping it short but it's SOOO much more beautiful now. :)

MemSahib
October 7th, 2009, 01:36 PM
Peggy, your great-grandmother's experience is what I secretly fear. Unless something changes drastically, I cannot see either of my daughters being able to care for me in very old age, and at this point in time that could possibly mean institutional care. "Care" where they don't care about things like an old lady's pride and crowning glory. I am nowhere near needing a nursing home and God willing, that won't actually happen, but I do think about it.

Isa-belle
October 7th, 2009, 01:36 PM
My grandma had wonderful long, soft snow-white hair when she died at 99. She always wore it in the classiest bun, with combs at the front to soften the look. It wasn't very long (probably not longer than waist or BSL) when she were in her eighties or nineties, but I know she used to have them very long when she was younger. The women in her family/background (modest farmers) simply didn't cut their hair.

I want to have hair just like hers when my hair grows white. Good thing my hair genes come from her. :)

grldollies
October 7th, 2009, 02:38 PM
Well, I have a very different story, both my grandmothers had short hair and perms from Mi.. My mothers mother Eleanora b1917 d1973 (Beaubier/Bobier) was a feisty petite lady with natural auburn hair. Even in her high school pic she had short hair. Her nick name was Fritzie and I am not sure if the nickname was referring to her fuzzy perm or her personality. Her hair color stayed dark , but she died young, so I do not know when & how her hair color would have been as “older” lady.
My fathers mother Marion (Green) b1901, d 1970 She had permed snow white hair. I saw a bunch of black & white pictures of her once when she was a young women, she had short brown? hair & was wearing short pants /bloomers, holding a riffle in most of them!
My mother always had short hair – I can not remember any older aunts that didn’t – so I am starting a new trend – I plan to have long hair till the bitter end.
My sister has very curly medium length hair (if it was straight it might be almost as long as mine), so she is not doing the short thing either!
This is an encouragement to all of you from short hair families, you can do it be the first – embrace your hair – give it lots of pets & buck the trend! You can do it!

biggeorge
October 7th, 2009, 03:01 PM
I am over 40 and don't feel like an old lady either... that was tongue-in-cheek

I'm glad. The last time I used the term "old lady" to someone in their 40's I got walloped!

embee
October 7th, 2009, 05:22 PM
Peggy, your great-grandmother's experience is what I secretly fear. Unless something changes drastically, I cannot see either of my daughters being able to care for me in very old age, and at this point in time that could possibly mean institutional care. "Care" where they don't care about things like an old lady's pride and crowning glory. I am nowhere near needing a nursing home and God willing, that won't actually happen, but I do think about it.

I think about this also. My DD lives far away in another country, she'll never take care of me, heck I never see her.... it's so far and expensive to travel.

Should we longhairs do something for old ladies in homes - old ladies who need their hair combed? I have never worked with anybody else's hair, ever at all. And all my dolls got short hair really quickly because I was an absolute devil with scissors....

Peggy E.
October 7th, 2009, 06:40 PM
I think about this also. My DD lives far away in another country, she'll never take care of me, heck I never see her.... it's so far and expensive to travel.

Should we longhairs do something for old ladies in homes - old ladies who need their hair combed? I have never worked with anybody else's hair, ever at all. And all my dolls got short hair really quickly because I was an absolute devil with scissors....

Might not be a bad idea to have a Long-Haired Only home! I'm housebound and, happily, the move now is to keep people in their homes for as long as possible - but I do not see living with my daughter (only child) as a possibility at any point in my future. She's in the same state, approx. 7 hours away, I might see her next Easter? I never know. Won't be until late spring for sure. Her two children - my two grandchildren - don't know me at all and the little boy I've seen only once and he was scared to death of me.

My, isn't this a cheerful subject. Why do we have to be afraid of what awaits us? It's not right, is it?

Being on SSDI will mean I'll end up at the cheapest place they can send me. Oh, joy, what a treat this is going to be.... Having my hair cared for will be the least of my problems. :o(

I have a wonderful caseworker now who takes great care of me, making sure I have all the programs available and open to me. I am in so many ways a very, very lucky lady, but there is a hazy future out there for me, for many of us, I'm afraid....

Bunnyhare
October 7th, 2009, 07:14 PM
I actually always picture older "Grandma's" with long hair and i don't know when that idea of over 40 has to cut started( I really detest(the hair-do, not the ladies!) the helmet head on older ladies, it is so severe and almost looks painful, or the "high and tight..like they just got out of boot camp)..but I am so glad you could help her with her bun, give her love and respect and share that common bond with her...our geriatric population is so often not touched enough and i bet she LOVED having you fix her hair! I love little old ladies, they are silly and cute and love hugs!

marikamt
October 7th, 2009, 10:58 PM
I think about this also. My DD lives far away in another country, she'll never take care of me, heck I never see her.... it's so far and expensive to travel.

Should we longhairs do something for old ladies in homes - old ladies who need their hair combed? I have never worked with anybody else's hair, ever at all. And all my dolls got short hair really quickly because I was an absolute devil with scissors....

Honestly..... if someone wanted to volunteer and do old ladies hair, it would be amazing!!!!!!!!

marikamt
October 7th, 2009, 11:00 PM
Honestly..... if someone wanted to volunteer and do old ladies hair, it would be amazing!!!!!!!!

and yeah, they are SO FUN to work with..... some of them are a real hoot.... so many stories and so funny!!!!!! I feel blessed every day (well, okay.. most days.... :)) and really love what I do... I go home feeling so good every day! It is quite selfish... it feels so fulfilling....

oops- I didn't meant to quote myself, I meant to edit my last post in response to Bunnyhares post

fluffybunny
October 7th, 2009, 11:57 PM
I love these stories. I only just realized there were *no* long-haired women in my family at all, not aunts, grandmas, great grandmas, cousins, I can't think of a one. I was the longest haired by far with my BSL, until my mom grew hers out in her 40s after becoming Apostolic Pentecostal. Her terminal length was a bit shy of classic.