Six non-cheesy hairstyles that make you look younger instantly

A few years ago, my best friend and I made a promise to each other: No matter how old we get, we will never go to salon and ask for the ubiquitous, short-in-the-back, curly-on-the-top older lady haircut. Somehow, as these things happen between friends, we had become obsessed with that hairstyle, we'd spot it on the street the way some people spotted "punch buggies" and even went as far as counting the amount of times we saw it in a day. I guess the reason was it just never made sense to us: Why did so many women over 50 choose a look that did not flatter them at all? How did one even get that haircut--what did you ask for when you went to the hairdresser?

Anyway, I was thinking about this promise recently during a a kind of drastic salon appointment. I've had long, almost-to-my-boobs hair for most of my life. But in the past year, it had begun to feel too long, almost age inappropriate (I'm 35) and kind of frumpy. I started to realize it was dragging my face down and I thought I could do better. So, I talked to my stylist about an update and we came up with a solution: Lots of layers, just below my shoulders, with side-swept bangs. I look about a 100 times better.

The point of that story is, yes, I think we do need to keep updating our look as we get older, but I don't think any of us needs to go with with that super-short, I-give-up 'do (which is so severe, it actually ages most faces). And, while I totally believe in aging gracefully and accepting the process, there are lots of styles and cutting tricks that will play up your features, disguise areas of the face you may be self-conscious about and generally make you look softer, lighter and, absolutely, younger.

Check out the slideshow above, let me know what you think.

Related:

Intense, color-preserving trick

Six ways to get shiny, healthy hair

How to take care of overprocessed hair