The Best Wigs for Older Women: Styles for Your 50s, 60s, 70s and Beyond

The best wigs for older women are light, comfortable and easy to look after: a monofilament or lace front cap so the parting and hairline look like your own, a low to medium density so the hair doesn’t look too thick for your face, and a pre-styled synthetic fibre so it looks the same every morning with a shake. Short and chin-length styles are the most popular with our customers over sixty because they’re the least work, but there’s no rule about length. Choose a colour with a little root or a soft blend rather than a solid block, whether that’s grey, blonde or brunette.

Hair naturally thins and finishes finer with age, and for many women the change speeds up after the menopause. Female pattern hair loss, which shows as a wider parting and less volume on top rather than bald patches, becomes more common in the fifties and sixties. Grey comes for most of us, and greying hair is often coarser and drier than it was. The scalp can become more sensitive too. None of this is a problem in itself, but it changes what a good wig looks like.

Thinner hair means density matters. A wig with a full, thick head of hair can look wrong above a face that has always had fine hair. Our customers over sixty almost always prefer lighter density, and Carol, who asked us about this in the comments, was right to.

A sensitive scalp means the cap matters. Soft, hand-tied or monofilament tops sit more gently than wefted caps. A liner underneath adds comfort.

Glasses and hearing aids mean the sides matter. Bulky sides push glasses out and rub on hearing aids. Styles with softer, closer sides, or a slightly longer cut that tucks, are easier to live with.

Dexterity matters. If your hands aren’t what they were, you want a wig that goes on with two hands and no fiddling: a good fit, adjustable straps you set once, and a style that doesn’t need a mirror and a comb every morning.

Warmth matters. A wig is warmer than your own hair. A lightweight, open-wefted or lace cap is noticeably cooler.

If hair loss has come on suddenly, or with other symptoms, it’s worth seeing your GP; the NHS has good guidance on when to ask. Age UK is a helpful starting point for wider questions about looking after yourself as you get older.

• A monofilament top or parting. The hair looks as if it grows from your scalp and you can change the parting. Our monofilament wigs are the ones we recommend most to customers over fifty.
• A lace front, or a fringe. Either gives you a natural hairline. Lace fronts are pre-cut and softer than they used to be; a fringe hides the hairline altogether. See our lace front wigs.
• Light to medium density. Ask us which styles are lighter; it isn’t always obvious from photographs. Ellen Wille, Raquel Welch and Gisela Mayer all make lighter-density styles across their ranges.
• The right cap size. Heads are often a little smaller in this age group and a petite cap can make the difference between a wig that sits and a wig that slips. Measure with our wig size guide and browse petite size wigs if you’re on the smaller side.
• Synthetic, unless you have a reason. Synthetic fibre holds its style between washes, dries quickly and costs a fraction of human hair. For most women it’s the right first choice. Our article on whether human hair wigs are worth the extra cost weighs it up.
• A colour with movement. Rooted, blended or highlighted shades look far more natural than a single flat colour, especially in grey. More on this below.
• A style that suits your life, not your age. If you’ve always had long hair, there’s no reason to stop. If you’d like the ease of a crop, have the crop. Our wig cap construction guide explains the options if you’d like to go deeper.

In your fifties you may be dealing with thinning and the first grey rather than full hair loss, and you’ll probably want a wig that looks like the hair you had, only better. Fuller styles with a rooted colour work well here because your face is used to volume.

The Carrie by Noriko is a customer favourite: shoulder-length with soft curl through the ends, a side-swept fringe and sixteen colours, several of them rooted. The Jackson, also by Noriko, is sleeker and shoulder-length with lift at the crown, and works beautifully over your own hair if you still have some. For blondes and brunettes who want colour rather than grey, the Sky has feathery layers and a range that runs from blonde through auburn.

This is the decade our customers most often tell us they want less fuss, and the chin-length bob and the soft crop come into their own. Both frame the face, both need no styling, and both take a grey beautifully.

The Tempo 100 Deluxe by Ellen Wille is a sleek bob with side layers that sits just above the shoulders, in four greys as well as blonde and brown. The May by Noriko is a lighter bob with a side-swept fringe that draws the eye away from the hairline and feathered sides that won’t fight your glasses. If you’d like a fringe and the most natural hairline available, the Flip Mono by Ellen Wille is both lace front and monofilament, with a brow-level fringe cut ready to wear.

Lightness is everything: a light cap, a light density, and a style you can put on without a mirror. Short crops are the most popular choice, and the best of them are anything but severe.

The Winner by Raquel Welch is the wig we sell most to customers over seventy, for good reason: it comes in petite, average and large caps, in a huge colour range including greys and reds, and it looks the same every morning with a shake. The Kyu from Sentoo’s Premium collection is a soft short style available in nine shades of grey, from dark with brown tones to near white, so there’s almost certainly one that matches yours. If you’d rather keep some length, the Beau from Noriko is the exception worth making. It’s a layered chin-length cut that tapers to a short nape, and the cap ticks most of our checklist: a lace front for a natural hairline, a hand-tied monofilament parting on the left so the parting looks like your own scalp, and open wefts through the back to keep it light and cool. Velcro tabs at the nape adjust by up to half an inch, so you can set the fit once and leave it. The greys run from Silverstone to Snow White. It only comes in an average cap, so measure first if you’re on the petite side.

The wigs that look most natural on older women share a few things. The colour has depth and a little grey or root. The density is light enough for the face. The hairline is either a lace front or covered by a fringe. The sides are soft and sit close. And the wig has been trimmed to the wearer: a hairdresser thinning the ends and shaping the fringe makes more difference than any other single step, and it’s included in our wig services. Our step-by-step guide to making a wig look natural covers the rest, and if you’re new to all this, 15 Best Wigs for Beginners is a gentle place to start.

Quite a few of the people who ring us are choosing on someone else’s behalf: a mother in her eighties, an aunt in a care home, a neighbour after a hospital stay. If that’s you, the priorities are a little different, and it helps to know them.

Comfort first. A soft cap, a light density and a size that fits without gripping. Ask about petite caps. A liner underneath protects a delicate scalp.

No styling. Choose a pre-styled synthetic crop or short bob that looks right straight from the box. The Winner and the Kyu above are both good choices.

Easy on and off. Adjustable straps set once, no clips or tape needed, and nothing that needs a mirror.

Her colour, not yours. Take a photo of her current hair, or a lock of it, and match to that. A wig that’s close to her own grey is the one she’ll wear.

Keep it simple to wash. Synthetic fibre washes in cool water and dries on a stand overnight. Two identical wigs, one on and one drying, is the easiest routine for a care setting.

If the wig is needed because of hair loss from illness or treatment, it may qualify for VAT relief, and our Wig Bank can help if cost is a difficulty. Ring us on 01484 844557 and we’ll talk it through; we’ve done this many times and there’s no such thing as a silly question.