Pastels really don't seem to do most people any favors. I'm another person who looks like death in them.
My mom was mostly on me about my hair. I've had a variety of styles and for a while in my teen years, I wore it long and straight and down most of the time. Ugh, how I hated hearing "why don't you do something with your hair? It's just hanging."
I also had some bad haircuts. I had a pixie because I was going for a bob and the hairdresser cut the sides really short when my mom specifically told her not to do so. On top of that, she cut them uneven so by the time it was done it was really short. I was in 3rd grade and got comments about looking like a boy from other kids. In 7th grade I had permed hair and needed my bangs trimmed. I specifically told my dad I want them to fall at my eyebrows and emphasized that I didn't want them too short. Well, he cuts them really short and they curl up because of the perm so I look ridiculous. From that point on, I went to professionals for cuts or trimmed my own bangs.
My mom complained I did not dress nice enough for certain activities. Granted, I wasn't dressed nice, but these activities included a job that often resulted in ruined clothes and outside sweaty activities. My mom and I have different tastes in clothing now, she is drawn towards neutrals and fairly conservative while I like jewel tones, bright colors, and fun and girly prints. I have an older cousin who dressed youthful, but not too young in her 40's and my dad would remark and how she should dress closer to her age. The clothes were nice and suited her in my opinion, but I think my dad might feel that women over 40 have to adopt a matronly style. I am 36, so I'll be expecting the same remarks in a few years. I don't try to dress or pass myself off as 20, but I like to dress in fitted fun clothes.