I've been doing a little research lately. Every time I go out to eat in a restaurant, grab groceries, or even see a movie I will look around and observe the different types of hair styles that are out there. It has been quite the experience to actually notice the evolution of a person’s hair.

After collecting my own hypothesis, as well as drawing outside opinions from friends and family, I have come up with my conclusion.

The overall theme I have noticed is that while throughout your lifetime you may experiment with many different hair cuts and styles, most people ultimately start and end with the same style of hair.

I broke it down like this.

When you are a toddler, your parents generally cut your hair into a lob. You may even get the straight across bangs if you are super lucky.

As you get older, people start to grow their hair out and let it get long. This is generally the hair style for the 10-20 age group.

Once you enter your early adult life, it is more acceptable and professional to cut your hair short again.

This doesn't mean that you have to chop it all off, but you can generally find someone’s hair to be a medium length of about 2-3 inches below the shoulders.

The next major hairstyle change comes when you are middle aged.

This style is often referred to as the “mom-do”, because you can find about 90% of mothers sporting this haircut. It is shoulder-length, or even a couple inches shorter. It is also typical to have some side-swept bangs and maybe a couple of highlights thrown in there as well.

The main reason for the ever- decreasing length of hair is because as you get older, your target audience is changing as well. Professional workplaces, lack of time, and taking care of children all have effects on the length of your hair. For example, you wouldn't want to be walking around with super long hair as a mom, because kids would pull on it and you would have to spend a ton of time in the morning drying/styling it.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, your hairstyle usually begins and ends in the same way.

If you take the time to notice some of the older women in your life, you might notice that they almost always have a lob or bob style of haircut. It is short and styled to perfection, even after numerous hours spent hosting a family gathering.

It was such a fun little experiment to be able to see how a person evolves with their hair over a lifetime. Even the youngest and oldest of people can have the same style of hair, and I think it just shows how after many years of experimenting and trying different things, we somehow always tend to go back our roots. It also was a great way to see the different ways we use our hair— whether it be to attract someone, attain a job, express yourself, etc.

I never realized just how important our hairstyles are to us, and what they can say about the various stages throughout our lives.

The hairstyles mentioned above are obviously not the case for every individual, but rather are based on my observations of these age groups as a whole.