More older women ignoring the short-hair convention

Decades ago, when beauty experts thought teasing your hair to sculpt it high as a smokestack was the epitome of chic, somebody somewhere decreed that women over 40 should not have long hair.

Of course, that was before Botox and step aerobics and antioxidant face creams. It was before hair weaves and hair extensions and extra-hold mousse.

And it was definitely before country music queen Loretta Lynn sailed into her 70s with black hair falling decidedly below her strong shoulders, and author Toni Morrison accepted the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature (at age 62) with a wreath of silver dreadlocks gently gathered at the nape of her neck.

In other words, sometime between then and now, the long-hair rule was conclusively broken, and today women are boldly allowing their midlife manes to grow with the flow.

I always thought I'd chop it off, said Lisette Shirdan-Harris, past president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women, whose hair skims her shoulder blades.