Absolutely random question

[pandora114]

Ok, I have ALWAYS wondered, why, a great deal of elderly women, get perms. I mean why? The old lady afro. It looks so...I dunno I feel bad for them. I have only seen ONE long haired silver sister IRL..and she was my midwife when I was pregnant with my DS.

[LaFlor]

I go to a church with a lot of elderly women and most of them do this... I just try to think of it as a trend for their age group. My mom does it as well (80 yr old) and it makes her feel good. I don't love the look, but I also don't love a lot of the trends of my own age group.

[Amber_Maiden]

I'm guessing they do it for volume.

[Madora]

Perhaps because for one reason or another, they cannot, or don't want to, deal with longer hair. Pain issues can sure be offputting!

Also, consider that most of the population hasn't a clue about how to arrange longer hair.

[heidi w.]

A lot of elderly folks have fairly thin hair, and they may also have less ability to handle their hair on a physical level. So this kind of short hair, especially if they're living in an assisted living facility, makes it really easy for them to handle their hair. They go for a set once-a-week, and they hardly even fuss with it otherwise. This kind of volume can kind of cover up exposed scalp skin, for example. Hair when we're 80 is not the same hair at 50 and 35 and 25. Hair changes throughout our life. So be careful of assuming too much. There's a lot about their hair you may not know; or their physical ability. I've met women who can barely reach their head, or have trouble lifting their arms, even. Age happens. It will happen to you too, and you have almost no choice over it. You can take really good care of yourself and one situation can blow you out of the water. My Grandfather was a very healthy, physically capable man, until he had an accident skiing down a mogul slope, and he fell and broke his shoulder and wrenched his back. His back hurt him for the rest of his life. He was still skiing at about 80 yrs of age. (He was very good.) I myself faced a recent spell of not having enough food for about 6 months, and it's really taken a toll on me. I am hoping to get stronger, but it's work to get there.

heidi w.

[pepperminttea]

My great aunt is in her early nineties, and her hair has thinned quite a bit on top. She has it permed (I think, I'm not sure what her natural texture is), and it's 'set' once a week with as much volume as possible, to try to hide the thinning. When I was a child and the light would catch her in a certain way, I thought it looked exactly like a halo.

Not everyone gets one though; my grandmother (her younger sister) has a steel-coloured bob. I would lay bets her hair is thicker than mine, and she turns ninety this year. For her she just likes something easy to wash and comb, since her mobility is an issue and getting her arms and hands high enough to style her hair is particularly painful. (And her hair is naturally quite straight, so it really is a 'wash and go' style for her.)

[RitaCeleste]

Oh, old ladies with perms is nothing. Wait til my generation goes full on gray and finds out they don't have to bleach and fight brassiness to manic panic their hair. You are gonna see Grandma sporting colors like, midnight blue, passion purple, and whatever else they can find. :D

[door72067]

I think it has a lot to do with *habit*

in the 40's, 50's and early 60's, that was The Way to do your hair...you permed if you didn't have body and then roller set your hair...it was the *in* styles of the time

as these ladies aged, they kept their old styles

[HairStickler]

I only have one elderly friend who does this, and she does it because her shoulders are so stiff and painful that she cannot even brush her hair. :(

[LornaDoone]

Oh, old ladies with perms is nothing. Wait til my generation goes full on gray and finds out they don't have to bleach and fight brassiness to manic panic their hair. You are gonna see Grandma sporting colors like, midnight blue, passion purple, and whatever else they can find. :D

My grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday by dying her hair hot pink!

[torrilin]

Yep, my mom has worn her hair in one variation or another of a perm bubble my whole life. I don't really like the look on her, but it's her hair and it makes her happy.

Several years ago she broke her right shoulder badly, so she lost a lot of use of her dominant hand. She's at what doctors consider around 90-100% of "normal" function, tho 70-80% is about all that is realistic without pushing very hard. When my partner had a similar bad break, he went in to physical therapy with more range of motion than mom. So it definitely doesn't make sense to push my mom to wear a hairstyle that would challenge her new physical abilities.

[sometimesginger]

My best friend has an aunt with super long silver hair, and I think it looks so awesome! My grandma on my mom's side has shoulder length straight red hair, and I think she would look better with her natural greys, but the length is great.

I guess they do it for volume... maybe...? I know when I'm old, I'm going to keep my greys AND keep it super long :D

[Henrietta]

I see a lot of old ladies in church with light violet hair, as an addition to perm. There must me some rinse that causes it. My grandma uses blue shampoo to make her white hair look better but it doesn't show as blue, just the white is nicer.

In general I don't see anything bad in having a perm, but the mistake is to comb it to afro. My grandma (83 years old and just a few silver hairs near her temples, wow!) has perm but she doesn't comb it so it looks like curls, not afro ;)

[Rufflebutt]

My grandmother gets her hair permed because it's easier to take care of, especially since now that she's older she doesn't have the time or energy to focus a lot on her hair.

[MintChocChip]

I put it mostly down to the fact that hair thins as you get older, so women in their 80s and 90s perm their hair to add a bit of volume. I don't see why not, my nan loves her perm! :D

[IvanaGil]

This reminded me of Sophia Petrillo! lol I think it looks cute on some old ladies, but I have no idea why they would do it.

[Ice Fox]

I think Door72067 is right - it is a matter of habit because this was the style which was in when they were young. Random comment: I still remember when I was a teenager overhearing two elderly ladies with short curly perms discussing the various merits of blue rinses versus pink rinses! Anyone remember those?