Daniel Craig has grown his hair long – here’s how older men can do it

There are various ways a former James Bond star can move on. He can throw himself into sensitive, brooding roles involving not a single stunt; refuse to be seen in a tux ever again; or he can grow out his hair into something long and shaggy, and distinctly un-007.

Daniel Craig has chosen the third route, taking himself on a glorious tonsorial journey that has culminated this weekend in his Venice Film Festival appearance sporting a long, ash blond hairstyle.

It’s neither Brad, Bowie nor Beckham, but something all his own, lending the British actor an ageing rock-star look, which he completed on this occasion with a plain white T-shirt and shades.

Photographed walking through the Italian city’s Marco Polo airport with his wife, the actress Rachel Weisz, 56-year-old Craig paired his (relatively) luscious chin-length hair with a modest helping of stubble ahead of next week’s premiere of his new movie, Queer.

In fact, his long hair has been in development for a while. In his recent Loewe campaign, straggly hair and knitted jumpers lent him the look of a pottery teacher living on the Isle of Mull – and led GQ magazine to celebrate his becoming “delightfully weird”.

At this summer’s Paris Olympics, he stuck with the same flowing locks, alongside a crop of stubble.

None of which is unfamiliar territory for the Bond actor. In the late 90s, during his pre-Bond, thespian days, true fans will recall he had long, vampiric blond hair.

Now he is filming the third Knives Out film, and shots from the set suggest that his enigmatic Detective Benoit Blanc is long of lock (and raffish of dress) this time.

Craig is not the only older male celebrity to choose such a look. Tom Cruise has proved it is not mission impossible to maintain tousled hair in midlife; Paul McCartney’s managed it for years; and Jeff Bridges’ hair still looks long and strong at 74.

But growing your hair out is a bold decision for a man of a certain age. Hair changes dramatically as we grow older, becoming weaker and sometimes drier. It may have once been a sign of masculinity and status for men (the Victorians changed that) but how do you do it with panache, and not look bedraggled? And in 2024, how long is too long?

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Our tips

Take stock of what you’re working with

“Start with taking care of your scalp and it will make everything much easier, no matter what your hair type,” says Adem Oygur, founder of Belgravia salon ADEM.

“Hair can begin to fall out or break through lack of care, and if your scalp follicles are clogged with product and not cleaned regularly, it can damage the hair. So start there; wash thoroughly with a tea tree shampoo and condition for a couple of minutes.” Two things tend to happen to hair as we age; grey hair grows tougher and more wiry, or it becomes wispy. Some preventative action will help wispy hair, alongside thickening shampoos and products. Otherwise longer hair can look rather lank and rat-tail like.

If you have wiry grey hair, keep the crop relatively short – jaw level is one option, says Oygur – and use natural oils to smooth it out.

How long should you go?

Gandalf’s waterfall of wizardy whites might have had a certain folkloric majesty, but it’s a tricky path to tread for mere mortals. Again, wiry hair will look unkempt if it’s too long, while thin hair that’s grown out will only serve to highlight your hair loss and can be incredibly ageing. By all means grow long and luxuriant if you have the thickness for it, but bear in mind that with longer hair comes more attention. Use a special shampoo and be mindful of black colours if your hairline is sitting on your shoulders. If in doubt, a sweep rather than a full cascade. See Mads Mikkelsen for details.

Be mindful of colour

A man of a certain age can look patrician and stately with longer white hair, but the pollutants of city-living can turn it a nicotine yellow – more twenty-Rothmans-a-day than regal. Oygur advises using a silver or blue-tinged shampoo to elevate the colour and bring out the right tones. Be mindful, too, that grey usually starts around the temples, so longer hair will likely be ashy on the sides and your original colour up top. Nothing wrong with that – it can look rather distinguished – but avoid if your greys are more frizzy as that section will stick out more.

Keep up the maintenance

Stick to the aforementioned shampoos if they’re necessary for your hair type, as well as the natural oils for dryer, more wiry hair. Firm gels or matte pastes are tricky, says Oygur, because they don’t tend to work on longer hair. Opt for a refreshing sea salt spray instead. Longer hair means more impetus to keep it clean, so shampoo daily. You’re going for Renaissance nobleman, rather than Stig of the Dump.