I cut my hair short and tend to spike it up now in a sort of faux-hawk style. If I still lived in New York City it wouldn't cause many heads to turn, but now that I'm in the midwest and looking to break out of the blah fashion sense that seems to permeate the whole area I'm getting a lot of negative reactions to the new 'do. Younger people don't seem to mind it; older people don't know what to make of it. It's led me to wonder:  is there an age gap for fashionable hair? 

Usually older women tend to cut their hair short so that it is easier to manage and due to the fact that hair often becomes less styleable with age. We know this. And when I went to get this cut I worried that I would look like one of these women. I told the stylist specifically that this would need to be avoided. She showed me how to spike it in a couple different styles. I loved it the first week or two.

(pic: spiked hair, although it's hard to see in the dark room)

Then I went home for Thanksgiving and my mother, several aunts, and a grandma-type figure all asked if I had purposely done my hair this way or if I had just fallen out of bed that way. Someone asked if I actually applied product to my hair to make it stand like that. When I shot her a look as if to say 'please, stop joking' she just asked 'well, did you?' UGH. 

On the other hand, out with my younger cousins during break I got a number of compliments on it from the younger crowd. It was edgy but fun and not too crazy.

One day I even flattened it out and let it lay flat. I looked like the image of the women who doesn't care about her hair anymore that I was trying to avoid. The older set loved it. My 13-year-old cousin told me I looked old. Great, just what I want at 25!

The thing is that I like it when it's funky and hate it when it's flat. But as I am interviewing people for jobs, and for articles I began to wonder if the cut will turn off the older set from talking openly with me, or considering me for a position.

The cut I had between the long hair of high school/college years and the short spiked thing now was liked generally by most people but I was getting tired of the Beckham look. (beckham look long on one side short on other side and in the back)

I'm going to start growing it out now - I think. Although when I had my hair long and curly years ago it wasn't anything exciting.  (old hair do - I'm the blonde)

Any insights about the hairdos and how to be fun, funky and unique without having some people think you look old and other people thinking you appear unkept? Has anyone else run into this problem?