They say, “70 is the new 50!” But women over 70 know that doesn’t magically turn back the clock for your hair. While it’s true that you’re as young as you feel, it’s a fact of life that our hair changes as we get older. The most flattering hairstyles for women over 70 are created to “boost volume for naturally thinning hair, fit your everyday routine, lifestyle, and fashion sense,” says Lupita Ornelas, a licensed hairstylist from Frisco, TX. As a hairdresser myself, I couldn’t agree more! But we hairstylists aren’t mind readers. You have to know what you want to at least to some extent. I put together this guide and gallery of hairstyles for women over 70. When you’re done reading, talking effectively with your hairstylist to get the perfect haircut will be easy.
Choosing the Right Hairstyle for Your Features
I’ve worked with several women over 70 in my decade of salon experience. And I always tell them one crucial and often surprising—fact. Trendy haircuts you usually see on younger folks aren’t a great option here. Going that route can further age your appearance. Instead, you’ll want a cut customized to camouflage wrinkles. Your hairstyle should also draw attention to your favorite features. With this in mind, here are my tips for achieving whatever your goals may be:
- You’re hiding wrinkles and lines around your eyes or forehead: You’ll want soft facial framing and bangs. This creates movement, which draws the eye away from focusing on wrinkles. Subtle highlights will make this style even more effective.
- You’re reducing the signs of aging around your chin and jaw: Slightly longer styles and chin-length framing will mask these areas well. A shoulder-grazing lob or chin-length bob would also do the trick. A sassy pixie cut will sharpen and lift all your features if you want to go very short. In terms of color, lighter shades will be most flattering and practical.
- You are highlighting your gorgeous eyes: Bangs that are eyebrow-length are perfect for this. Wispy fringe, side-swept bangs, and even blunt bangs are all great options. Are you interested in coloring your hair? A color that contrasts with your eye color will make you stand out.
- You are drawing attention to your fabulous cheekbones: The best way to accomplish this is with wispy layers or facial framing that graze your cheekbones. If you color your hair, highlighting these wispy pieces will make you look even more youthful.
Are Bangs Flattering for Women Over 70?
Yes, bangs are a fabulous choice for most women over 70. The great thing about bangs is how much they’ve evolved in the past decade. Once upon a time, the only real option for bangs was blunt, heavy, and eyebrow-length. But things have changed! Today, women customize bangs to suit their lifestyle, fashion sense, and facial features. The one thing to be aware of is upkeep. Even the most low-maintenance fringe will require trims at the salon every month or so. If you can tolerate that, I 100% recommend exploring bangs with your next haircut. Here are a few great options to consider (and you’ll find examples of these in the gallery below!):
- Blunt or straight bangs: If your hair is thick, this is a great choice. Blunt bangs will cover your forehead and any wrinkles in that area. They also make medium-to-thick hair look even thicker, which you almost definitely want from your hairstyle.
- Side-swept or swoopy bangs: This type of fringe is well-suited to any hair type or thickness. This option will draw attention to your eyes without covering your entire forehead. Side-swept bangs are perfect for women over 70 with smaller foreheads because they balance your facial proportions.
- Curtain bangs, aka bottleneck bangs: These bangs are perfect if you want to camouflage sagging or lines around your eyes. The shape draws the eye outwards when people look at you, reducing the appearance of wrinkles.
- Curly bangs: Consider curly bangs if you have a natural curl, get your hair permed, or set it in rollers. This creates softness and movement around your face, lifting all your features.
- Long fringe: A long fringe might be your new best friend if your hair is thicker. I suggest highlighting your fringe in what’s called a “money piece.” The brightness around your face will brighten your skin tone, giving you a youthful glow.
- Wispy or layered fringe: This relaxed, softer option is one of the best for women over 70. Wispy bangs give your hair an effortlessly stylish feel, making you look younger. The best part is layered bangs look fabulous even on fine or thin hair.
- Micro fringe, aka baby bangs: These uber-trendy bangs are best on women over 70 when paired with a pixie cut. The shorter pieces are chic and fun without making you look like you’re trying too hard. And the short length draws the eye upwards, which lifts your entire face.
The Most Flattering Hairstyles for Women Over 70
You’ve learned so much just by reading through this guide! With your newfound knowledge, you’re ready to scroll through the gallery below. Women over 70 truly can wear any length of hairstyle. Keep this in mind as you browse, and remember any haircut can be customized to suit your needs!
#1: Short Pixie Cut
A textured short pixie cut is one of the best hairstyles for women over 70 because it boosts volume and is easy to style. It’s the perfect go-to hairstyle for women with thin and fine tresses. You’ll quickly look impressive if you wear this kind of pure sassy, white hair.
#2 Layers for Straight Long Hair for Women
Hairstyles for women over 70 aren’t limited to bobs and pixie cuts. Especially if you have a round face shape, longer hair can give you an elegant and youthful appearance. A long straight hairstyle like the one above is an excellent choice if you have thick hair. Plus, you have more hair to flaunt your natural grey hair color. Talk to your hairstylist about adding lowlights and highlights, as they’ll blend well if you’re still transitioning to fully grey.
#3: Soft Medium-Length Layered Side-Parted Hair
Try a medium-length hairstyle for a irresistible shape that will complement you. The gentle face frame and layering soften facial features and necklines.
#4: Stunning Side Part Inverted Bob
Hairstyles for women over 70 can be customized to suit your unique personality. Add a side part to your inverted bob for a classic look. A side parting can make your hair appear to have more volume. It can still be made to be versatile to part wherever you would like. Having the nape of your hair cropped shorter gives a fantastic shape and removes bulk from your thicker hair, making it easier to style.
#5: Jaw-Length White Hairstyle with a Side Part
Haircuts for women over 70 can really pop when paired with grey or white hair. Consider a jaw-length hairstyle if you have white hair like the woman in the photo. The length is classic and beautiful.
#6: Loosely Curled Bob
A loosely curled bob will bring volume and show off the highlights of your aging hair. Ask for round layers with detailing on the neckline and fringe.
#7: Youthful-Looking Short Pink Hair
Have some fun with your locks with youthful-looking short pink hair. Look ten years younger by cutting your hair to the perfect length and adding a pop of fun color. A shorter cut is excellent if you want to spend less time styling and still look trendy. If you already have white hair, putting a fashion color over it is a cinch.
#8: Beautifully Rounded Bob with Stacked Layers
Try a rounded bob with stacked layers if you want to add volume to your short hairstyle. This cut pairs exceptionally well with subtle highlights but also looks beautiful with your natural hair color.
#9: Short Feathered Cut for Wavy Hair with Glasses
Hairstyles for women over 70 need layers if you have curly or wavy hair. A short feathered cut is an excellent choice if you’re a woman with naturally wavy hair. The feathered layers help to remove bulk while adding shape and body. Short hair is incredibly flattering if you wear glasses because it creates a pretty face frame without crowding your features.
#10: Dirty Blonde Chin-Length Classic Bob Cut
Add some style to your shape with a chin-length bob. Ask your stylist for medium layers to give your bob more texture and movement than a one-length cut. Keep in mind that modern bobs are finished with less volume, so you’ll want to try to keep your roots flatter to your head. A bit of volume on the sides is recommended for balance if you have a narrow face shape.
#11: Bright Copper Red Hair with Wispy Bangs
Try copper red hair paired with wispy bangs if you want to show off your unique personality. A cute and sassy cut will make you feel and look fantastic. Warm red tones make you stand out in a crowd and are eye-catching, but be ready for serious maintenance.
#12: Timeless Short-Length Feathered Hair
A short-length feathered hairstyle is a timeless look that will never go out of style. If you want to try a shorter cut while keeping volume, ask for feathered layers on your next trip to your hair salon—style with a Revlon Blow Dry brush to create the full, blowout look.
#13: Modern Straight Shag Medium Hairstyle
Haircuts for women over 70 have to suit your hair’s natural texture. Consider a medium-length shag if you have straight hair and are looking for more movement and texture. Shorter layers throughout your hair help to create the illusion of fullness and volume. Adding bangs is a straightforward way to hide fine lines and wrinkles around your face and eyes while enhancing your cheekbones and face shape.
#14: Edgy Tapered Pixie with Layers
When paired with layers, a tapered pixie is a beautiful and edgy hairstyle.
#15: Easy-Maintenance Short & Messy Curly Hair
You’ll want to try short curly hairstyle if you are searching for an effortless style and you have messy natural waves. Ask your stylist for short layers throughout, leaving softness around your ears and nape. A loose perm could be the answer if you have straight hair and love this style. Apply some curl amplifier to your cut and air dry for a super easy finish.
#16: Flattering Highlighted Pixie Hair
Hairstyles for women over 70 look incredibly flattering with highlights or lowlights. Highlighted pixie hair creates a fun and youthful look and is perfect for mature women. Pixie haircuts can add volume to the crown area, which helps elongate your face. The highlights help to brighten and bring out the color in your eyes, too.
#17: Beautiful Blonde Concave Bob
You can rock a concave bob and feel stylish and beautiful. If you want healthy hair, cutting your length up will eliminate tired split ends and make your hair look amazing. Ask your stylist for long concave layers, and your hair will have soft movement.
#18: Very Short Graduated Pixie
A lot of women over 70 have a very short graduated pixie. A bold, no-fuss pixie is a great short cut with a wash-and-go style. If you’re like most senior citizens, you don’t want to be bothered with long styling time, so a short pixie is a way to go. Use some texture paste and be out the door.
#19: Sweet Curly Hairstyle on a Bob Cut
When it comes to haircuts, picking something to suit your natural texture makes styling easy. Try this cute curly bob cut. Cut dead weight off your strands and embrace your curls. A bob haircut is a perfect length for your curls to lift quickly and spring up.
#20: Layered Hairstyle with Bold Money Pieces
Haircuts are most flattering when paired with dimensional color. Try a layered cut with a money piece if you want a trendy style. A bright, bold money piece will make your skin tone appear brighter.
#21: Sassy Choppy Gray Pixie Bob
Try a choppy gray pixie haircut if you like a versatile look that can transition from bold and edgy to sleek and elegant. The choppy cut’s texture will help create an effortless, messy look to your hair. As a mature lady, your hair also becomes thinner, and a cropped cut helps to give the illusion of more volume and fullness. If you crave a more edgy look, try a longer side-swept bang for an asymmetric look to your style.
#22: Fabulous Long Pixie Cut for Fine Hair
If you’re an older woman with fine short hair, opt for a long pixie cut. Short haircuts are great for women with thinning hair. Cutting off your long strands will help give more body at the crown for a fuller appearance. 70-year-olds can style a pixie with ease and look fabulous. For a more voluminous style, use a small curling iron to give your locks a lift.
#23: Trendsetting Tousled Pixie Bob
Look nothing like a grandma with a tousled pixie bob. A pixie bob is trendy and effortless. With weightless layers and movement, your hair will style with little effort. Have your stylist use texturizing sheers around the edges for a more feminine touch.
#24: Short Feathered Crop with Dimensional Balayage
Hairstyles should always focus on adding more body, shape, and volume. Grey hair tends to be thinner and unruly, so ensure your haircut addresses these challenges. A short feathered crop cut defines fullness, texture, and dimension. Adding defined balayage highlights to your natural hair color will help the layers pop by giving a two-tone look that is very eye-catching.
#25: Bob with Side Bangs and Salt-and-Pepper Hair Color
The bob haircut with side bangs paired with a salt and pepper hair color is one of the best hairstyles for older women like you. It gives you a chic, stylish, modern finish. The side bang with a bob is a dream team, and it adds so much movement allowing your sparkling hair to shine and be the center of attention.
#26: Short Choppy Pixie Haircut with Disconnection
A short, razored choppy pixie is a chic and fun style if you’re a senior wanting an accessible yet youthful finish. Short, clean sides and a longer top will simplify your daily styling. Use a pomade to add texture by spiking and adding lift. Asking for a razor cut is essential if you’re looking for a soft texture, which is excellent for fine, light hair.
#27: Blunt Short Haircut with Bangs
A blunt chin-length bob paired with a fringe is a very sophisticated style. Older women tend to choose a bang to hide forehead wrinkles, giving them a chic finish to their look. Highlights, a bob, and a sleek straight finish shown in this picture are classic, go-to styles for women, as it’s just super simple for maintenance and styling.
#28: Gorgeous Long Hairstyle with Soft Waves
Show off your beautiful tresses with a long hairstyle combined with soft waves. Hair length has no age; when done correctly, it looks classy and timeless. Opt for soft layers instead of choppy so your hair will flow easily. Use a big barrel curling iron to get big gentle flowing waves.
#29: Younger-Looking Stacked Pixie Bob
A stacked pixie bob is an excellent choice if you want a low-maintenance style that holds volume well.
#30: Sophisticated Piece-y Bangs
Adding piece-y bangs to any hairstyle looks best when paired with shattered layers on a medium length. Using pomade or clay, you can emulsify the product into your hands and grab small pieces of your bangs to create the “piece-y” effect and mold your hair.
#31: Shorter Hair Style for Silver Hair
Women often look for a shorter hair style for their silver hair. A chin-length bob with long layers keeps the weight off your neck but allows for a fuller-looking style. This looks perfect if your hair is thinning as you age.
#32: No Fuss Cut for Short Hair
Ladies who come into my salon often tell me they want a no-fuss haircut for short hair. A short pixie is my go-to! It has shaved sides that taper into choppy layers adding height to your tresses.
Related: See more short choppy haircuts for ladies in their 70s.
#33: Edgy Hairstyle for Women with Personality
Edgy hairstyles are for women in their 70s with personality. If that’s you, try a short, bright red pixie with sharp lines.
#34: Sassy Short Hairstyle
A sassy short hairstyle is perfect for women looking for more volume, especially for thin hair. This style is very versatile and easy to shape.
#35: Lovely Shoulder-Length Bob Hairstyle
A lovely shoulder-length bob hairstyle creates a youthful look. With several layers, choppy and blended, you can keep your length while adding volume and height to your tresses. It helps create the illusion of a fuller look.
#36: Mature Textured Cut for Thick Hair
Textured cut for thick hair is heavily layered, decreasing the bulk that comes with having thick hair and adding gorgeous movement to your overall look. Face-framing layers can spice up your cut while adding length at the same time.
#37: Edgy Grey Pixie with Long Bangs
Your hairstyles don’t have to be run-of-the-mill or boring— you can go as punked out or edgy as you want. Try a bright grey pixie with long bangs. It’s an on-trend look, but it requires extra styling time.
#38: Casual Textured Short Bob
Consider a textured short bob for older ladies with grey-colored tresses. A razor cut’s movement and body are enough reasons to love it. Include some side bangs to finish your hair off with some flair.
#39: Youthful Short and Choppy Gray Hair
Bring your short haircut to life by making it a choppy cut. It’s perfect for grey hair, as it can show off the dimension of all of your natural shades of grey. Request choppy bangs and sweep them to a side to balance things out if you have a longer face.
#40 Popular Short Angled Bob with Bangs
A modern angled bob with bangs is a popular hairstyle. A short white bob works best for women with straight and medium-density hair. The angled length elongates the face making it a perfect style if you have a rounder face shape.
#41: Polished Feathered Pixie
A feathered blonde pixie cut is a short cut that will boost volume for women 70 and up with thin, straight hair. The fusion of root smudge and texture, plus the side-swept bangs, create an illusion of a fuller look. Include a subtle undercut for the summertime, and you’ll stay cooler.
#42: Short Bob with Bangs for Women with Glasses
A face-framing short bob with bangs is an ideal haircut for older women over 70 with glasses. Depending upon your face shape, adding bangs with glasses can bring more focus to your eyes and less focus to unflattering parts, such as double chins, wrinkles, long foreheads, etc.
#43: Dimensional Chin-Length A-Line Bob
What a perfect way to show off the dimension of your blonde locks! An inverted, chin-length bob needs only texture to carry out the depth and emphasis in a hairstyle for older women. A little side-swept fringe will let your youthful vibes out, too!
#44: Fun Short Layered Bob
A short layered bob is one of the most popular short hairstyles for women over 70. You could add bangs, a few shorter layers, or leave the front a little longer, and it will still have that great shape.
#45: Short Modern Shag for Women
A modern and shaggier short haircut is achieved through razoring and point-cutting techniques. The style is for older ladies over seventy who love to play with their hair and give it a messier finished look instead of a placed finish.
#46: Easy Layered Long Pixie for Ladies
A long pixie with subtly side-swept bangs is a flattering hairstyle for 70-year-old women. It’s sleek, polished, and ageless. A long pixie is easy to style.
#47: The Sassy Spiky Pixie Cut
A short, spiky cut is an ideal short haircut for women 70+ with fine hair and a sassy personality. This short style is still feminine because of details like angled sideburns.
#48: Short Stacked Bob on Natural Gray Hair
A short, stacked bob haircut works well for women over 70 with glasses. The shape has been exaggerated for visual appeal. Taking the fringe shorter and blunter opens up your face and creates more of an impact. This cut allows you to either wash and go or spend some time with your blowdryer to add volume and smoothness.
#49: Bright Short Wedge Cut
Choose a short wedge cut if you still have fuller hair but don’t want it too long or too short. With the right products, you can have plenty of volume and movement. For products, use a blow-drying mousse for volume and then fine-tune your desired look with a dry texture spray.
Related: See more wedge haircuts for ladies over 70-years-old.
#50: Extra Textured Short Cut for Thinning Hair
A heavily textured and tousled short cut is flattering if you’re a woman with thinning hair. The tousling helps hide blading spots, which makes your hair appear thicker.
#51: The Graduated Lob with Bangs
A graduated long bob works best for women with thick hair. This style removes the bulk of the hair around your face leaving you with a sleek, polished look. With a medium-length cut like this, you’ll want to give it an all-over color, like dark brown, to hide your greys.
#52: Cute Wavy Bob for Thin Hair
A wavy bob is another great hairstyle option for ladies with fine hair. Consider adding full highlights to give your hair a sandy blonde shade.
#53: Blonde French Bob with a Fringe
Try a French bob if you’re looking for one of the most modern hairstyles for women over 70. This haircut is for fashion-forward ladies. However, you’ll need thicker hair to pull this off.