Thank You,

29.05.2025, 22:46 allure.com

When she was about 45, my mom cut her chest-length hair into a pixie. Long hair, she told me at the time, was unseemly on "women of a certain age." I'm not sure if she truly believed that rule or just felt like it wasn't her place to question it, but it didn't matter—inches and inches of hair wound up on the floor anyway. This moment—and plenty of others, I’m sure—put an idea in my little elementary-age mind that stuck with me through adulthood: That when I hit middle age, a malevolent force will drag me to the salon and lop off my own long hair. But unexpectedly, And Just Like That… was the thing to finally free me from that outdated mentality.

Now that the show is in its third season, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte York-Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis) are in their mid-to-late 50s. That’s well into “woman of a certain age” territory, and I’m delighted to report they haven’t fallen victim to the same cliché my mother did (which to her credit she later reneged; she’s since grown her hair back long).

When I talk about Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte, chances are you picture the late-30s versions of themselves from the original Sex and the City, which ended in 2004. At the time, Carrie wore her blonde hair past her shoulders, perpetually in a middle part; Charlotte always side-parted her medium-length brunette hair; redheaded Miranda was a bixie cut devotee. After more than 20 years, one might expect these characters to have transitioned to something more “age-appropriate” but these days, Carrie still has that long blonde hair, Charlotte still parts her sculpted waves to the side, and Miranda maintains her red bixie, switching among various shades as she did in her 30s.

Though they've been through some changes along the way—Carrie traded her natural ringlets for barrel iron waves, and Miranda grew out her naturally gray hair before dyeing it back to red—the gals have more or less landed at the same place they began. There’s been no “aging up” of their hairstyles (or the rest of their looks, for that matter). Meanwhile, the series’ new players, including Seema Patel and Lisa Todd Wexley, wear styles like sexy old-Hollywood waves and artsy blunt bobs with straight-across bangs.

When And Just Like That… premiered a couple of years ago, fans were shocked to learn that its iconic crop of characters had reached the same age as the primary trio from the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, who contrary to commonly held perceptions were only in their early-to-mid fifties at the start of the series. That’s probably because Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy wore their hair short and permed, and in Dorothy’s case, proudly gray. Their hair wasn’t just a sign of the times but a reflection of the way older women were—and still are, depending on who you ask—expected to appear. I can’t look at their curl helmets and not think of my grandma, who had a similar look, or my mother’s perimenopausal pixie cut.

The shows’ respective hairstyling differences are like night and day, but the plotlines on The Golden Girls weren’t so different from the ones happening now on And Just Like That… Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy fought with one another, started new careers, and entered and exited serious relationships fast enough to make viewers’ heads spin. They might have had that “little old lady” look, but they didn’t act hampered by their age. Just like their 1980s counterparts, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte continue to defy expectations of how an older woman should act. They take it a step further by defying expectations of how an older woman should look, too, which might be the most comforting thing about watching the show for me.

The beauty landscape of And Just Like That… also makes a strong case for developing a signature look and sticking to it without fear of outdating yourself. There’s something quietly radical about letting these middle-aged women live in the characteristic beauty looks they honed over all those years pounding the NYC pavement in heels. Of course, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte look similar to their early-2000s selves in part because the show’s creators want to visually connect the new series to its predecessor. Parker, Nixon, and Davis likely have a wide degree of creative control of their respective characters’ looks as well, hence why said characters look rather similar—albeit more down to Earth—to all three actors IRL. Besides, Miranda simply wouldn’t be Miranda if she suddenly had a Golden Girls perm, nor would Charlotte feel like Charlotte if she decided to get a mom bob (at least not without a pros/cons list and a multiple-episode decision-making arc).

But aside from those practical audience-retention reasons, their hair serves as a reminder that these women, fictional as they may be, are rooted in deep senses of self—the kind I can only hope for my generation when we’re all nearing 60. The women of And Just Like That… might stumble, but they know who they are. And who they are is not determined by how old they are—nor is their hair.

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