"Your 30s are a turning point," says Fowler. "You're not a baby, but you're not super mature either. It's time to start thinking about enhancing your natural beauty." In case you haven't noticed, cotton candy pink is not exactly a hair color found in nature.
Crazy colors and extreme changes, like going from black to platinum blonde, can look cheap, says Fowler. Cheap is OK when you're 20, not so much when you're 30.
Image via Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images
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Do: Go for natural color
Fear not, you can still color your hair. You just "need to match your skin tone," Fowler says. Take Jessica Biel: Her sun-kissed highlights give her deep blonde hair a halo-like appearance.
Another reason to keep it natural: As you get older, your skin can look tired. A natural shade that works with your skin can make it look fresh and awake, Fowler says. Extreme shades will just make dull, tired skin look worse.
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Don't: Be so serious
Severe librarian buns are hard to pull off. When you're 20, it's cool to follow a trend like this, regardless of whether it's flattering. But when you're 30, it's all about looking your best — trends be damned. Be honest, doesn't Rooney Mara look way older than she actually is in this hairstyles?
Plus, pulling all of your hair back can make you look older, both because it's so severe and because all those fine lines you're starting to get (or are in denial you're getting) are on display. But there's no reason to be afraid of the updo — continue to the next slide for the solution.
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Do: Frame your face
Fowler says that face-framing updos like Alexa Chung's soften fine lines and are way more age-appropriate than slicked-back buns. She suggests using your fingers instead of a brush to pull back your hair whenever you put it up. This way it'll end up a little messier (in a good way) and less severe.
Image via Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images
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Don't: Get too braid-y
Braids and fishtails are tricky when you're in your 30s. If they're loose and messy, Fowler says they can work. But tight ones, like Sienna Miller's, look a little too young (especially in crown form).
When in doubt, skip the braid and try this next style, which is pretty much impossible to mess up.
Image via Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images
Your 30s can be weird. You've grown out of those wild, try anything, up all night times of your 20s (you have, right?), but you're not quite ready to sit at home with a PBS special and a mug of chamomile tea. What you're really after is something in the middle — a fun evening with friends with a dash of adventure, but without the mysterious "bar bruises" and a wicked hangover.
It's the same thing with your hair. In your 30s you need a hairstyle you can still have some fun with, but you can't get away with some of the, uh, experimental styles you had in your 20s.
Rest assured that you don't need to chop off all your hair into a "sensible" cut the moment the clock strikes midnight on your 30th birthday. Instead, try one of the fun, chic, and easy-to-wear hairstyles in this roundup and follow the advice we got from Mika Fowler, a stylist at the Gavert Atelier Salon in Beverly Hills, Calif. As long as you also steer clear of the major hair mistakes Fowler filled us in on as well, it'll be smooth sailing until your next milestone birthday. And don't worry, we have hair dos and don'ts for your 40s too.
