Hair … there, everywhere

I have good and bad news for you about your midlife hair. The good news is not having to shave legs and underarms or endure bikini waxes as frequently as your younger self did. Hurrah! The bad news is … hair is not always your friend after 40. 

If your mop of 20-something hair is less luxuriant now, you’re not alone. Midlife is a challenge for the luxurious mane you were hoping to maintain.

In direct contrast to my midlife ass … my midlife hair has thinned out. Essentially, hair has three stages — anagen (growing phase), catagen (resting phase), and telogen, where the hair falls out and is replaced with new growth. In midlife, hair production slows down and spends longer in the resting phase, with less hair being replaced. Exactly how much your hair will thin out depends on hormones, diet, genetics and how treated your hair actually is.

The lady ‘stache

It was my eyebrow waxer who broke the news to me about hair on my top lip. I believe his words were pretty much, ‘We need to do your top lip today … it’s time’. Until then, I was blissfully unaware of my lady ‘stache. 

These days my top lip channels that of a blonde teenager, with bum-fluff.  I now spend more time than my husband on moustache maintenance. The occasional dark hair still comes as a surprise, but I wander the house with a hair remover slathered on my top lip regularly. I am winning this particular battle, for the moment at least. HA — in your face hormones!

Raising eyebrows

My younger eyebrows had the potential to rage uncontrolled, but even they are more subdued in midlife. I just thank fuck I never subscribed to the thin brow fashions of earlier years. 

I have a lot of girlfriends who rue the day they decided to go for a thin brow to pencil in at will. Decades down the track they are still pencilling up a storm or tattooing wispy ‘hair’ onto their brows. The fun of this fashion has definitely worn itself thin! 

In terms of the greying hair, I embrace the silvers. I know not everyone does, but I like ‘em. I like how they establish my place on the totem, as someone who is not 25.