Is there anything better than getting your hair cut and/or colored, leaving the salon and feeling like a supermodel? No, we don’t think there is. But because of the current climate, seeing your hairstylist might not be as easy and getting your split ends cut off or your roots done might just be a quick in-and-out appointment without all the fun. That’s one reason why we’re so obsessed with actors and influencers who switch up their look on a dime. We’re jealous, sure, but it’s also aspirational AF. So, we’re rounding up the best celebrity hair makeovers of 2021 as they come so you can drool with us.

Though, it’s not just about drooling over these looks. Saving this page and referring back to it at the hair salon can help you decide if curtain bangs or a bob is right for you. Hairstylists actually love when you show them photos because they can get a real feel of the vibe you’re looking for and can adjust the look into something that suits your wants and needs. This goes for color, too. Did you ask for balayage when you really meant a shadow root? It’s easier to just give examples of what you want.

Some of these celebrity looks aren’t permanent. Stars love to play around with wigs, extensions and faux bangs. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Real or faux, we’re taking inspo from our favorites to figure out our next look for 2021 and beyond.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Source: Instagram

Selena Gomez

In an Instagram photo promoting her beauty brand, Rare Beauty, in April 2021, Gomez showed off her newly dyed blonde hair. The picture saw the former Disney Channel star light blonde tresses and dark roots. She most recently dyed her hair blonde in 2017 in a color dubbed by her hairstylist Nikki Lee as “Nirvana Blonde.” Gomez’s 2021 color was also done by Lee and Riawna Capri. “We’ve been doing Selena’s color for over a decade now. She typically keeps it pretty natural, but this time she went for a big change. This blonde is unique to her as we had to make sure there was an equal balance of cool and warm for her skin tone. It’s an edgier look and perfect for summer,” the hairstylists said in a statement.

https://twitter.com/eolsenarchive/status/1372591228886396930

Elizabeth Olsen

At the virtual launch of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier miniseries, Olsen debuted a totally different look from her usual copper-blonde hair. The bangs! The darker color! So chic.

Source: Instagram

Chrissy Teigen

We love how Teigen is playing around with wigs lately and experimenting with hair color. Although she only kept the silver shade for a day, we hope she brings it back. It looks amazing on her.

Source: Instagram

Kristen Bell

It seems like Bell is dressed up in character to film a TV show or movie but we’re loving these piecey bangs on her and we hope she keeps them up IRL.

Source: Instagram

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

While filling us in on the Covid-19 relief package, AOC showed off her adorable new haircut. When followers commented saying they loved the chop, she replied, “Let’s not start another national crisis over it, right?”

Source: Instagram

Gigi Hadid

The model mom returned to the runway, walking in the Versace fall 2021 show. Hairstylist Panos Papandrianos wrote “Ginger for Gigi” on Instagram, making us believe he really did dye the model’s hair this gorgeous red shade for the occasion.

Source: Instagram

Olivia Rodrigo

The ‘Drivers License’ singer jumped on the curtain bang trend thanks to hairstylist Clayton Hawkins. They’re subtle but make a big difference in her look. One interesting note: Sabrina Carpenter has them too.

Source: Instagram

Lana Condor

The actress looks so great in this pastel pink wig, maybe she’s considering doing it IRL? “Get ‘Anyone Else But You; to 5 mil streams and I’ll keep it,” she wrote on Instagram. Though, she told STYLECASTER last year, “I don’t know that I’d ever dye dye my hair. I think my mom would kill me, you’d know?”

Source: Instagram

Ashley Graham

The model had everyone thinking maybe she got a pixie cut but her hair is actually the result of new growth post hair loss. “Postpartum baby hairs come through!” she wrote on Instagram.

Source: Instagram

Emma Roberts

A new color and cut for the birthday girl! “Emma always looks and feels her best blonde,” said her hairstylist and Nine Zero One co-founder Nikki Lee. “We decided to keep her a warm blonde and went for a ’90s supermodel vibe. With a new baby and a big birthday, we went out with a bang! Lisa Satorn added extensions for length and fullness. I kept her haircut free and flowing with piecey layers around the face.” Lee keeps her client’s hair healthy with the In Common 3 Step Treatment System ($105 at In Common).

Source: Instagram

Katy Perry

Why not start with one of the biggest hair chameleons? Though she’s been ultra-blonde for a while, we can’t help but miss a brunette Katy Perry. It’s classically chic and fits her personality. So, when we saw these photos of backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live, we were so excited to see the long brown hair. But it seems it’s a wig and she’s already back to blonde.

If a mother-in-law has trust and faith in her son, it should give her the confidence to let go and let her son live his own life. She can learn to play a different role and find new interests to occupy her newfound time.

Life changes force us to play a different game with different rules. It can be fun if we are willing to play instead of lamenting the past and turning the game upside down.

Avoiding Daughter-in-Law Problems: Privacy Should Be Considered a Priority

It is important for the mother-in-law to take a step back and allow the couple privacy and space. A mother must consider and respect the fact that her son has a wife to consider. They are now forming their own household and their business is personal.

Probing into confidential affairs is unthinkable. Privacy should always be considered a priority and mothers-in-law should not interfere or ask their sons for information. Many mothers-in-law lament that their knowledge is completely ignored. Unfortunately, they must accept such occurrences as a part of life.

Build Up Your Daughter-in-Law’s Confidence

The lack of trust in the mother-in-law unintentionally hurts many mothers-in-law and sets the ground for disagreements. The wife perceives it as disloyal to her if her husband allows his mother’s influence to dominate the relationship. The mother is faulted if she encourages this behavior.

The best rule is to offer advice only when asked and only at the time one is asked. The son is committed to his wife. He has a place in his heart for both women but his life is continuing forward with a new woman by his side. Peace is achieved when this is respected. Daughters-in-law are insecure and find their confidence increases with less interference from the mother-in-law.

Who Sabotages the Relationship?

Parents on both sides, as well as siblings, can damage relationships by exuding pressure in the form of jealousy and competition. This can be accomplished when the mother of the bride exerts pressure on the daughter out of her jealousy of the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship.

Some mothers have convinced their daughters to refrain from becoming too close to this woman. The mother-in-law’s daughter can place pressure on the mother to keep her distance with the daughter-in-law. Sisters-in-law in all combinations can be guilty of jealousy.

My own mother did not want me to be friendly with my mother-in-law. She wanted to keep track of the hours and minutes I spent with my mother-in-law. I finally had to refrain from telling her when I went to see my mother-in-law to keep peace with her. In research for my new book The Princess and The Queen, available soon, this is still a key problem.

Friends are huge culprits because they agree with us without considering if we are right or wrong. They want to cheer us up at any cost. Gossip is started along with assumptions and judgments which are wrong most of the time. We are creating a monster in our minds.

It is wiser to accept the differences and play as fairly as possible without expectations. Having no expectations allows you to always be pleased and never disappointed.

The Mother-in-Law Loses the Most in a Failing Relationship

The mother-in-law does have to give in the most because she loses the most if the relationship falls apart. At an early point in the relationship, daughters-in-law don’t value a mother-in-law and they are willing to sacrifice the relationship.

Mothers-in-law see the whole picture clearly and don’t want to jeopardize losing their sons or grandkids. These two losses are the genuine fears of the mothers-in-law. Being older and with more experience, mothers-in-law have a greater understanding of the importance of peace to maintain bonds.

The good news is that if they are successful, the daughter-n-law values their support and recognizes their importance in the family. This brings the relationship full circle and on firmer ground.

Enjoy a new role and play a different game.

How did you build a positive relationship with your daughter-in-law? What tips would you share with other women in our community about creating and sustaining a strong relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law? How do you avoid daughter-in-law problems? Please share your experiences in the comments.

You probably already knew this, but chronic stress is bad for your health. It’s no thanks to the pandemic that many of us have given our trusty stress-management practices a backseat, replaced by even more of the cortisol-filled thoughts than before it started. That chronic stress we tried so hard to get rid of is back with a vengeance.

Being the health conscious folks that you are, you are likely already aware that chronic stress increases the risk of dementia. Like so many of us, you have seen friends and family succumb to it.

Not that many people know about the science behind the way in which stress causes damage to the brain. But once you do, it becomes easier to grasp the importance of making a conscious effort to reduce your stress levels, especially once you are over 50, pandemic or not.

So what is chronic stress? In essence, it’s when people are afraid, anxious, or angry all the time.

The Tiny Part of Your Brain that Packs a Big Punch

We now know a lot about how stress works in the brain. There’s a tiny little part of your brain, right on the inside, called the hypothalamus. It’s one fifth of an ounce of tissue, and I would say it’s a contender to be considered the most important fifth of an ounce in your body.

That’s because it is the part of the brain that controls your emotions. In addition to playing a role in various key things like our appetite and sex drive, it regulates anger and partly controls our fear response, two key aspects of that emotion we call stress. The hypothalamus funnels the stress response when something stressful happens to you.

But here’s the tricky thing about the hypothalamus: the fundamentals of how it conceives of and manages stress evolved thousands and thousands of years ago.

If you pick out any bunch of people at random from your neighbourhood or your country and ask them about which of their life experiences have been stressful, you’ll get a big variety of answers, but also a certain amount of overlap. What you won’t find is any of the things that made life stressful for our ancestors millions of years ago.

How Lions Changed Our Brain Chemistry for Millions of Years

Back then, what caused stress – even if people almost certainly didn’t use that word for it! – was a lion in the underbrush. The hypothalamus’s stress response evolved to send people in that situation a pretty important message: you’d better do something about this quickly, or else you’ll die.

The eyes saw the lion, the brain processed that information, the hypothalamus sent an urgent warning message to the body, and the human ran a mile.

The last two of those steps happen through the production of hormones. The hypothalamus produces a hormone called CRH, which causes the pituitary to produce ACTH, which makes the Adrenal gland produce cortisol, a hormone that helps you to shunt the blood supply to your legs so you can run away faster.

At the same time, though, cortisol shuts off blood supply to your digestion, and it suppresses your immune system. Trading faster legs for slower digestion and less vigilance against disease is fine if there’s mortal danger to be dodged right now.

Modern Day Stress Is Everywhere, All the Time

However, it’s bad news if your body is set to that mode permanently. And in the 21st century, the sorts of things that tend to trigger the stress response are much more constant presences in our lives.

If you don’t believe me, just go and look at the news feed on your favourite social network. Did you find anything that made you feel angry or afraid or stressed? Of course you did.

And that looming work deadline that you have, or that uncertainty over whether anyone is going to buy your house after it’s been on the market for nine months, or that weird mole on your arm that you swear wasn’t there before, or the question of how your kid is going to find a job when he finishes college: those and a million other 21st century things besides might be making you feel the same way.

If they are, then like your very distant, lion-fearing ancestor, you will first be releasing ACTH, and then cortisol. Because your ten-million-year-old hypothalamus still thinks that shunting blood to your legs is the best way to face these things that it is being told are dangers.

The Effects of a Constant Stress Response on the Body

Once your stress response is up and running, your immune and digestive systems are now suppressed. And because of the types of things that make you stressed, they’re not suppressed once every now and then, but regularly. That’s not good, and it’s especially not good for your brain.

It’s not just a question of the knock-on effects that, according to recent scientific studies, poor digestion and a malfunctioning immune system can have on mental health. On top of those, if cortisol keeps feeding back into your brain, it becomes toxic and kills neurons.

More specifically, cortisol will kill neurons in the parts of the brain involved in learning and memory. And down that path lies cognitive decline, dementia and a plethora of other brain conditions that can make our final years an utter misery.

Simple Lifestyle Adjustments Can Make All the Difference

There’s a tempting way to respond to this alarming news about the damage stress causes to your brain: feeling yet more stress. But, please, take a deep breath and relax.

The good news is that cortisol wreaks this havoc very slowly. If you were able to enjoy reading this article, you still have time to learn to manage your stress and therefore keep your brain healthy. It’s just a question of embracing some simple lifestyle adjustments.

To help you track and manage your stress – plus various other habits that affect your brain health, including sleep, diet and physical exercise – you can check out the Synaptitude app. It won’t save you from lions, but it might just save you from cortisol.

Do you find yourself in constant stress these days? What do you usually worry about? Are you able to find respite from it? How? Please share with our community!

Is there anything better than getting your hair cut and/or colored, leaving the salon and feeling like a supermodel? No, we don’t think there is. But because of the current climate, seeing your hairstylist might not be as easy and getting your split ends cut off or your roots done might just be a quick in-and-out appointment without all the fun. That’s one reason why we’re so obsessed with actors and influencers who switch up their look on a dime. We’re jealous, sure, but it’s also aspirational AF. So, we’re rounding up the best celebrity hair makeovers of 2021 as they come so you can drool with us.

Though, it’s not just about drooling over these looks. Saving this page and referring back to it at the hair salon can help you decide if curtain bangs or a bob is right for you. Hairstylists actually love when you show them photos because they can get a real feel of the vibe you’re looking for and can adjust the look into something that suits your wants and needs. This goes for color, too. Did you ask for balayage when you really meant a shadow root? It’s easier to just give examples of what you want.

Some of these celebrity looks aren’t permanent. Stars love to play around with wigs, extensions and faux bangs. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Real or faux, we’re taking inspo from our favorites to figure out our next look for 2021 and beyond.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Source: Instagram

Selena Gomez

In an Instagram photo promoting her beauty brand, Rare Beauty, in April 2021, Gomez showed off her newly dyed blonde hair. The picture saw the former Disney Channel star light blonde tresses and dark roots. She most recently dyed her hair blonde in 2017 in a color dubbed by her hairstylist Nikki Lee as “Nirvana Blonde.” Gomez’s 2021 color was also done by Lee and Riawna Capri. “We’ve been doing Selena’s color for over a decade now. She typically keeps it pretty natural, but this time she went for a big change. This blonde is unique to her as we had to make sure there was an equal balance of cool and warm for her skin tone. It’s an edgier look and perfect for summer,” the hairstylists said in a statement.

https://twitter.com/eolsenarchive/status/1372591228886396930

Elizabeth Olsen

At the virtual launch of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier miniseries, Olsen debuted a totally different look from her usual copper-blonde hair. The bangs! The darker color! So chic.

Source: Instagram

Chrissy Teigen

We love how Teigen is playing around with wigs lately and experimenting with hair color. Although she only kept the silver shade for a day, we hope she brings it back. It looks amazing on her.

Source: Instagram

Kristen Bell

It seems like Bell is dressed up in character to film a TV show or movie but we’re loving these piecey bangs on her and we hope she keeps them up IRL.

Source: Instagram

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

While filling us in on the Covid-19 relief package, AOC showed off her adorable new haircut. When followers commented saying they loved the chop, she replied, “Let’s not start another national crisis over it, right?”

Source: Instagram

Gigi Hadid

The model mom returned to the runway, walking in the Versace fall 2021 show. Hairstylist Panos Papandrianos wrote “Ginger for Gigi” on Instagram, making us believe he really did dye the model’s hair this gorgeous red shade for the occasion.

Source: Instagram

Olivia Rodrigo

The ‘Drivers License’ singer jumped on the curtain bang trend thanks to hairstylist Clayton Hawkins. They’re subtle but make a big difference in her look. One interesting note: Sabrina Carpenter has them too.

Source: Instagram

Lana Condor

The actress looks so great in this pastel pink wig, maybe she’s considering doing it IRL? “Get ‘Anyone Else But You; to 5 mil streams and I’ll keep it,” she wrote on Instagram. Though, she told STYLECASTER last year, “I don’t know that I’d ever dye dye my hair. I think my mom would kill me, you’d know?”

Source: Instagram

Ashley Graham

The model had everyone thinking maybe she got a pixie cut but her hair is actually the result of new growth post hair loss. “Postpartum baby hairs come through!” she wrote on Instagram.

Source: Instagram

Emma Roberts

A new color and cut for the birthday girl! “Emma always looks and feels her best blonde,” said her hairstylist and Nine Zero One co-founder Nikki Lee. “We decided to keep her a warm blonde and went for a ’90s supermodel vibe. With a new baby and a big birthday, we went out with a bang! Lisa Satorn added extensions for length and fullness. I kept her haircut free and flowing with piecey layers around the face.” Lee keeps her client’s hair healthy with the In Common 3 Step Treatment System ($105 at In Common).

Source: Instagram

Katy Perry

Why not start with one of the biggest hair chameleons? Though she’s been ultra-blonde for a while, we can’t help but miss a brunette Katy Perry. It’s classically chic and fits her personality. So, when we saw these photos of backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live, we were so excited to see the long brown hair. But it seems it’s a wig and she’s already back to blonde.

As a grandparent, you are in a unique position to enrich, enhance, and positively influence your grandchildren’s lives. One way to do this is often overlooked or undersold – reading aloud with your grandchildren.

Books are convenient and relatively inexpensive – or free if you utilize the public library. They don’t break, require batteries, or need assembly. And reading can be done anywhere, anytime – including long distance.

Even if reading aloud is not in your comfort zone, I urge you to read on. I will provide techniques that make reading aloud simple for everyone and motivate you with some of the tremendous benefits to your grandchildren – and you.

Doubtful?

You might be having some of these doubts: “Books cannot compete with electronics.” “Kids think books are unexciting and old-fashioned.” “My grandchildren will never sit long enough to listen to a book.” I could refute all these excuses with professionally researched studies, but I promise you will get the proof you need if you give reading aloud a try.

Having Qualms?

As a children’s librarian, I loved story time. However, I know reading aloud does not come naturally to everyone. So, you trip over a few words – I still do. Make light of it, and your grandchildren will too. Seeing that even an adult is not a perfect reader will help your grandchildren feel more confident about their developing reading skills.

Feeling uncertain about creating various voices, goofy faces, or sound effects? I encourage you to let loose and give it a go. But if you would rather not, try enlisting your grandchildren. Participating in this fashion keeps them engaged.

It is important to note that using various voices, funny faces, and sound effects are not essential elements. Below are some remarkably simple tips anyone can use to make reading aloud a success!

Tips for Success

Here is an easy first step. Let your grandchildren select the books they want you to read. Or, if you know your grandchildren’s interests, pick books that relate to those topics.

Below are some other simple techniques that keep a child’s interest as you read aloud and make your interactions more impactful. Created by Dr. Grover Whitehurst, these techniques are called interactive reading.

Writer Jason Boog researched and wrote about interactive reading in his book Born Reading, which he wrote during his wife’s first pregnancy. Here are just some of the interactive reading tools he writes about, which anyone can use to make reading aloud fun and successful.

Interactive Reading Techniques

#1: Ask lots and lots of questions.

#2: Share details about the book.

#3: Discuss personal opinions about the book.

#4: Stop and talk about what happened.

#5: Guess what happens next.

#6: Compare the story to personal experiences.

#7: Encourage the child to recount the story.

What Is Success?

You may think that some of these scenarios mean you were not successful:

• You don’t finish the book.
• Your grandchildren want to read straight through to the end of the book without using the techniques above.
• Your grandchildren do not like the book – even if you and other children do.
• The book gets abandoned, and you end up on another journey with your grandchildren.

Then what is success? Success is spending time with your grandchildren.

Benefits of Reading Aloud to Your Grandchildren

Still not convinced you can and should read aloud with your grandchildren? Below are just some of the invaluable benefits of reading aloud to your grandchildren. (From an article by Chontelle Bonfiglio of Bilingaulkidspot, October 19, 2017.) These should help encourage you:

• Reading to young children sets them up to succeed. The more you read to children, the more knowledge they absorb, and knowledge is important in all aspects of life.
• Reading develops language skills.
• Reading enhances a child’s concentration.
• Reading develops a child’s imagination and creativity.
• Reading books with children helps to develop empathy (More about that in a future article from me on Sixty and Me.)
• Books are a form of entertainment.
• Reading helps create a bond.

How to Find Quality Books

Choosing quality books can be daunting. I will be writing articles for Sixty and Me, where you will find book recommendations and reviews. You can also check out my website, where I review and sell children’s books. In addition, I find salesclerks in the children’s section of independent bookstores and children’s librarians are great resources.

Recommended Titles

These are easy-to-share read-aloud books for birth – 12 years. You can choose to boogie, stretch, stomp, shake, and go crazy with your grandchildren. Or you can sit quietly, helping your grandchildren to learn about animals, acquire new vocabulary, explore the solar system, or travel the world.

Birth – 2 Years

Baby Play – Just read the pages, and you will “…dance, build, splash and laugh” with your grandchildren. Includes high-contrast photos depicting diverse babies and families.

Birth – 3 Years

Barefoot Books Baby’s First Words – A toddler and her two dads share over 100 nouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, and interjections. Words are grouped on pages by topics such as “It’s time to get dressed!” “How do you feel!” “Splish splash!” Pictures are cheerful and colorful. All you need to do is tell or ask your grandchildren what’s in the picture.

1 – 4 Years

Hidden Hippo – On every page, there are hippos hidden in the picture. Ask your grandchildren to find them. Children will learn colors and African animals. You can ask your grandchildren to count animals on the pages. Rich vocabulary such as – glided, graceful, relaxing.

2 – 4 Years

Mindful Tots Animal Antics – Each page explains how to pretend to be elephants, frogs, and cats. All you have to do is read the book and follow the instructions with your grandchildren. Pictures visually demonstrate the moves and positions, as well as portray each animal.

2 – 5 Years

I’m a Dirty Dinosaur and I’m a Hungry Dinosaur– These two books tell children exactly what to do to interact with the book. “Shake, shake, shake, shake about the place!” “Slide, slide, slide, slide, slide it like a snail!” “Chomp, chomp, chew, chew, maybe one more slice!” “Mix, mix, beat, beat, make another cake!”

3 – 7 Years

Animal Boogie and Dinosaur Rap with audio – The audio sings the text in the book, so you don’t even have to read! But you do have to dance like there is no tomorrow. I suggest you read Animal Boogie with your grandchildren before you play the audio because the pages contain hidden animals that they are challenged to identify.

6 – 12 Years

Barefoot Books World Atlas – “Find the countries featured in our global stories and discover the animals, architecture, and activities that make them special.” Colorful world atlas is laid out by geographic region. It “celebrates cultural diversity and highlights the ways different people care for this planet we all call home. Features a pull-out map and fold-out booklets and panels…”

8 – 12 Years

Barefoot Books Solar System – Explore the world and universe with your grandchildren. “A glow-in-the-dark, interactive guide to the Solar System, carefully crafted to make complex STEM concepts like astronomy, physics, and chemistry understandable for children aged 8 – 12.”

What books have you read to your grandchildren that were an instant success? What techniques have you used for reading aloud that worked well for you? Need book suggestions for a specific topic? I would be happy to include them in future articles.