The people you have seen with short hair obviously had the WRONG hair cuts. After years of wearing my hair long last year I cut it short...and then even shorter ending in a pixie cut. Since then I have let it grow to various lengths though I still keep it short. More often then not I end up looking younger (in fact just before one hair cut I bemoaned the fact that I looked 5 to my mother...lol.) I will be a mom in the next few weeks and do not consider my short hair to be "mom hair" at all. All I ever did with my long hair was wear it in a ponytail (unless I was going out and then it was a lot of work...) Now I can get out the door with super cute hair in under 30 minutes...can't beat that.

Funny, ever since I cut my hair really short (about 2 inches long), I frequently get told I look MUCH younger than I am, and that the short hair looks chic and fun, while my long hair made me look frumpy and old. And I certainly don't have "a lithe dancer's body."

Perhaps the key is to have a hair style that suits the person, and not assume that a given length or style is going to look a certain way on every person...

That was an incredibly offensive comment. (not to mention extremely generalized) I wouldn't tell you that I think (hypothetically) your hair makes you look frumpy. Also, hair pulled into a tight ponytail shows a face to an advantage or disadvantage the exact same way as a very short haircut. So, where is the difference, in your mind. And a sloppy ponytail, is just that, which is just not my style.

I've had both, and with my baby fine hair, I prefer it short. In fact, my husband finds it sexy, access to my neck and all that! I have a stylish do that I can either do elaborately, or finger comb some gel through and go, and I look younger and completely pulled together.

I think the frumpiness has less to do with the hair and more to do with the whole package and the way a woman carries herself.

Yea, because wearing your hair in a ponytail everyday doesn't look frumpy at all. Geez lady, a cute short haircut beats a ragged looking ponytail any day of the week. Katie looks good either way- with short or long hair.

Katie looks stylish and sophisticated, something a "woman" who is past 22 never looks in a ponytail. It is very difficult to pull off short hair, I cut 12 inches off my hair to do the "posh" cut and it is the best thing I ever did! Not only do I have a style now I am no longer a mom trying to look like my daughters with a style-less child's ponytail! So it's better to look like a mom if you are one than a wanna be teenager if you're not. So do whats best for you and be bold enough to try something new...it's only hair and it grows back!

You HATE short hair but you think wearing long hair in a ponytail "day, after day, after day" looks GOOD? I think you've been fooling yourself. Chronic ponytail styling does NOT look good....mom or no mom.

How does a pony tail look any different than extremely short hair? If your hair is pulled back against your head or cut short against your head it basically looks the same way. I love the way Halle Berri looked with her super short cut. Think Mia Farrow, Twiggy, Charlize Theron...........
You are right that bone structure helps a lot. But let's face it, everything looks good on a pretty face. As women get older and have children they can look sloppy or worse, desperate if they try to retain the hairstyle that worked in their teens. Not many of us look like Heidi Klum or Christie Brinkly. The rest of us can benefit from a good haircut.

Since when did short hair equate to frumpy-older mom-chic-less? To the contrary, some of the sharpest women I've known have short gorgeously styled short hair. And it's the over 30 crowd with the 80s glasses, gray-streaked long hair pulled tightly into a ponytail who look the worse. Long hair can make a women look like she's fighting to stay young and that's unattractive.

As for myself, I hop between just below shoulder length to a bob and always get the most compliments when it's shorter!

And I think Katie's cut is adorable and in no way resembles a "mom cut", (whatever THAT is!

I am 53 and my hair is cut much like Halle Berry's very short doo. Everyone says they love it! They tell me it looks sexy. Even my husband. So, your comment doesn't always hold true.

Katie Holmes looks fabulous no matter what she does with her hair!

If having short hair is "frumpy" no matter the style (unless you have good bone structure and a dancer's body) then what does a pony tail day after day look like?

Oh I remember...Because that's what I always did. I have always had very long hair my entire life and the day I decided to go b***s out and cut it off was the best day (fashion-wise) I've ever had! I thought I'd never be able to pull off a bob (something like Katie's last cut, without the bangs. Its called an A-Line with the front being longer than the back). For the very first time in my life, I LIKE my hair. In fact, I love it most days. Don't have to worry about blow drying, straightening kinks and THEN curling in order to style, just to watch the curls fall out in a half hour, tops. Or the headaches (quite literally) of wearing it down. Or it constantly tangling, weighing down any chance of volume, raggy split ends, using 2 boxes of hair dye...the list goes on and on for the negatives of my long hair. I have 2 toddlers of my own and it cut down so much time! But, if I want to spend the time on it to get all "done up", I have enough body and style now that I can do something fancy if I wanted to. I absolutely love it.

While I agree that not any face or body shape or AGE, even, can pull it off (and of course I look nothing like Katie Holmes), it's worth trying something new. Short hair has a different effect on everyone.

So you think wearing your hair in a ponytail makes you look younger and better? I always wore my hair in a ponytail and finally cut it into a very cute short do. I love it and everybody always compliments me on it. It is so easy to fix and has such great style, much more than my long hair in a ponytail. Trust me, if even a little boy in your carpool is asking why you always where it up in a ponytail, you might want to either start fixing it or change your style. There are a lot of women who went from the nothing but ponytail look, and like myself, swear they won't ever go back to having long hair.

Not everyone has a dancer's body, nor does my style make me look frumpie!!!!!!!! I can not pull of long hair nor would I want to. I HATE long hair, it gets everywhere, in my clothes, stuck on the towels, in the brushes and generally falls out everywhere. So I will stick with my short hair and continue to be worry free about having to spend hours styling my hair or in your case throwing it in a ponytail day after day after day....

I was the same way, I rode the pony-tail train and I hated it! Then my stylist talked me into a "classic shag cut". To hear the word "shag" was not appealing to me but I did it and I love it! I also bought a brush style curling iron(2 sizes), it takes seconds to heat up and about 3 minutes to do my hair! You can style it so many different ways and it still looks cute in a pony because of all the layers. But it is a simple cut and you keep your length(I have long hair). You might try that cut if you are sick of riding the pony-tail train.

Chick you suck. How dare you say that a short hairstyle is less feminine. Just because some man told you that it was less feminine, you believe it. I tell you what, a woman's femininity has nothing to do with the length of her hair and has everything to do with her confidence and self esteem.

I'm 59 years old and just cut my hair because I wanted to look like Victoria Beckham's grandmother. I don't. But short and sophisticated does not seem like a "Mom" hairstyle to me.,
Hair, hastily pulled back into a ponytail, spells frumpy Mom. You do have a healthy self-esteem though.

Katie's hair is adorable! Very flattering, looks much more sophisticated than her long "little girl" look before. Short hair is not an indication of age...who made you the fashion police? Why have long hair if you just let it hang there doing nothing or put it in a stupid, lazy ass pony tail? Not every woman looks good in long hair or has attractive hair! If it looks bad, cut it off.

If you have time to read this junk and follow Katie Holme's do's and dont's....you have time to do your own hair!

Keep being a good person and mom, good for you, it's not like it's easy! Ponytails are chic. God bless the good parents of the world.