Dear Maggie,

I recently dressed up for a Halloween party, and as part of my costume, I wore long hair extensions that matched my natural color. No, really. It is my natural color. Okay, so everyone at the party thought I was a knock out, but most of them didn’t know me. But then, afterward, I got the pictures back and all the people who do know me raved about how great I looked with the longer hair. Even my best women friends, said I was born for it. And you know, I liked it too. I loved the way I looked with those long locks. So I got to thinking, maybe I should do something about it. My hair never grows much longer than shoulder length no matter what I do. But I could get real extensions put in.

The thing is I’m approaching what some insist on calling middle age, and I’m afraid there are a lot of people who would say I’m “too old” to be getting extensions or wearing my hair long. Lots of people think women of a “certain age” should be going shorter, not longer. And some would see this as silly and ridiculous.

What do you think?