Competence Was Never Guaranteed in the Prophecies

While a long hair had always remained a feature of historical fiction, the 1960s were just beginning to come out of a time when it was considered extremely juvenile and not really stylish or appropriate for adult women. Especially in the early 1960s, the idea of women having long hair much past age 20 was more counterculture than mainstream (although that would change as the decade passed and moved into the 1970s). I remember my grandmother, who was born in 1926, chiding my mother and older sister for continuing to wear their hair long well into adulthood

It almost feels like it's both situating her firmly in the past and the realm of what had come to be considered frumpy, grandmotherly styles- contrasted with Theo's hair, which is long enough to be put up but clearly about shoulder length and fashionably layered when it's down -and suggesting an immaturity and innocence to her despite the fact that she's 32 years old