The best face-lifting hairstyles for every mature hair length, says Joanna Lumley’s hairdresser

What makes a great haircut on mature women? Regardless of your hair's length and specific style, there’s one common denominator: a flattering, youthful interaction with the light.

That’s the verdict from award-winning salon owner and celebrity hairdresser Edward James, who works with everyone from royalty to A-listers like Joanna Lumley. He believes that the best mature haircuts are the ones that create a lifting, luminising effect through the way they allow light to fall on the face.

This, he says, is the opposite to haircuts that kill the light dead, visually dragging the face down and ageing your look. And while you might assume that face-lifting haircuts are the preserve of long, floaty tresses, he assures Good Housekeeping that this ‘trick of the light’ approach is one that works across all hair lengths.

How can hair visually drag the face down?

Hair has a huge effect on how light and shadow fall across the face, he tells us. ‘If the hair is very heavy, flat or solid around the face, it can create shadow around the cheeks, jawline and eyes and visually drag everything down.’

A great starting point is to build softness and texture into your style. ‘Sweeping layers around the face create movement and allow more light onto the skin. You can then enhance that with softer colour, using lighter pieces around the hairline. This can create almost a halo effect, which brightens and opens the face.’

Which cuts can be too harsh for an older face?

Edward advises being careful with very severe, blunt, one-length haircuts, ‘particularly if they hang heavily around the face. They can look quite hard and emphasise the jaw rather than opening up the cheekbones.’

As well as being harsh in themselves, he feels they can be especially unforgiving if the hair is becoming finer or losing density. ‘A solid one-length cut can actually expose where the hair is thinner, whereas clever layering and movement can make the hair appear fuller and softer,’ he says.

How can the right haircut lift the face?

It’s about creating width and movement in the right places, he says. ‘I like to open up the cheekbone area with sweeping layers and movement away from the face, which immediately draws the eye upwards.’

‘I’m also very conscious of what happens around the jaw and neck. As we get older, most of us become a little more conscious of that area, so rather than having a haircut that stops abruptly and exposes it, I like hair that softly hugs or skims the neck. It’s like contouring with your hair – opening up the areas you want to emphasise and softening the areas you don’t.’

Best face-lifting styles for shorter hair

Edward says: ‘With shorter hair, I’d avoid anything too boxy, blunt or solid because it can very quickly look harsh. Texture is really important, so adding softness around the hairline, movement through the top and a little volume can completely change the effect.’

‘Colour is equally important. Even with grey or white hair, you can introduce subtle differences in tone and depth to emphasise texture and make the haircut look thicker and more dimensional rather than one solid block of colour.’

'Sharon Stone is a great example. Her shorter hair tends to have texture, movement and lift rather than being overly ‘done’, and the variation in her blonde gives the cut much more dimension.’

For a slightly longer option, Charlize Theron is another great reference, as is a soft, bixie a la Helen Mirren.

Best face-lifting styles for mid-length hair

Edward says: ‘For mid-length hair, I love a collarbone-length cut with soft, almost invisible layers and shorter pieces beginning around the cheekbones. You keep the feeling of longer hair but remove that heavy curtain around the face.’

Nigella Lawson would be great example of this sort of style, as she combines midi hair with nicely-integrated layers that add lift, interest and volume. Or for a flattering mid-length cut that falls to shoulder-skimming level, Hannah Waddingham’s bouncy style is versatile and beautifully light-catching.

Best face-lifting styles for longer hair

Edward says: ‘I really dislike this idea that women have to cut their hair short as they get older. Long hair can look incredibly chic and youthful; however it just needs shape. Very long, flat, one-length hair can pull everything down, so I’d introduce long layers and movement, particularly around the cheekbones and front of the face.’

‘Julianne Moore is a great reference for longer hair. The combination of beautiful condition, movement and that rich, dimensional colour keeps it looking sophisticated rather than heavy. The important thing is that the hair moves and it shouldn’t just hang or sit flat.’

‘Nicole Kidman is another good example because she often wears softness and movement around the face rather than a heavy, solid shape. Curtain pieces or sweeping layers around the cheekbones open the face beautifully and give that sense of lift.’

How can colour create a face-lifting effect?

Colour can almost work like make-up contouring, explains Edward. ‘Face-framing highlights, balayage and very fine lighter pieces around the hairline create the illusion of light hitting the face, which immediately makes it look brighter and more open.’

But it isn’t just about going lighter. Adding slightly deeper tones underneath or through finer areas creates contrast and can give the illusion of thicker, denser hair. It’s really about strategically placing light and shade, so you want light where you want to lift and draw attention, and depth where you want to create dimension.’

Halle Berry’s face-framing lights are like highlighter in hair form, while Jennifer Aniston remains an all-time great for bending the light.