Revisiting the haircut question - YouLookFab Forum

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Revisiting the haircut question

Astrid

Veteran

I know all of you really liked the shorter hair on me, but I have a hard time with it. It's not very manageable, I'm washing my hair way more often than I used to because it's often a mess and I'm not good with my rescuing efforts. When I went short, I basically went from over the shoulder length to a short mess, due to the botched cut. I'm wondering whether some length in between might be a good compromise between chic and easy to care for. I agree that the long hair was dragging me down and I don't want to go really long again, but I thought about growing it out to a long bob (just over the shoulder) with some layers and some shorter strands to frame my face. I don't think I actually had this cut before, so no pictures of me looking like this. But I added a picture of myself with longer layered hair, so you get an idea what it might look like. Picture #2 is to give you an idea what length I'm thinking of.

What do you think? Any alternatives?

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37 replies

Latest reply was from Gigi

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

I'm not good with suggesting new hairstyles, but I would say grow it out a bit longer to see how that would feel. Slightly different length makes a lot of difference when it comes to care and styling.

The length and style Liv Tyler is wearing is beautiful. I think you have a lot of options though, not just keeping it all at one length all round - you may try shorter at the back, longer around the face - or the opposite. Check Aida's recent hairstyle change and follow her because she often comments on styling her curly hair.

unfrumped

Veteran

Not much specific advice except to see if you can get in with a stylist who knows hair! It's very true that you may need length in one area or another to give the weight needed for curls to behave. Sometimes layers help and sometimes not. Can you let it grow a bit and budget for a good consultation? Do you have some friends who've found a great hair stylist?

harmonica

Veteran

First, I'm not good with hair, so take this with a grain of salt

I like the length of Liv Tyler and I think it is worth a try to grow
it out a bit to see if you can reduce bad hair days and make hair caring
more easy. You have a lovely face, so I think you have many options.
Keep us updated!

I agree that a great hair stylist should be able to undo the mess. I found mine some years ago and she is absolutely amazing - never though it could do so much difference to my hair (it's always been straight and flat). (She's totally dedicated to hair, has won prices and been one of the best backstage hair stylists on Trinny and Suzannah's make-over shows). Maybe some of your friends have someone to recommend?

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I like your inspiration photo, but LT has very different texture of hair from you. I agree that layers would probably be the best way to give your hair shape and manageability. My hair texture was more like yours when I was younger, and I struggled with it when it was all one length or even only slightly layered -- it tended to bush out in a tentlike shape, and I kind of felt like Alice from the Dilbert comic strip.

A really good stylist who knows how to work with curly and wavy hair will be your best friend! I wonder if a very layered cut and styling that encourages the curl might actually work really well for you -- I'm thinking a longer version of what Aida is doing.

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

I think a bit longer with layers is a good idea. Can you find some wavy/curly examples though?

I like Janet's suggestion that more layers might actually work better, provided you can find a stylist who is used to cutting curly/wavy hair. Some of them prefer to cut the hair dry and I personally think this is not a bad idea. It's the only true way to know how the hair is going to fall and where the bulk is going to be.

rachylou

Veteran

I can't predict anything about hair, how it will behave and look after cutting. So not my forte. But I think more layers might work better too. You don't want them to all start halfway down your head...

Thistle

Veteran

Hmmm, I know zilch about hair. However, the woman in the photo looks to have very different hair than you do. Almost as if hers is straight with curl added. I would think getting that look with curly hair would be almost impossible. But I have never had curls, so I am not sure.

I am loving Aida's curls though. Perhaps she can chime in on how she gets to be so fab. I am betting it has to do with the cut and product.

Runcarla

Veteran

Why not try a small change-up, like a side part?

E

Veteran

If it's not manageable, definitely time for a change! Do you prefer to wear your hair down all of the time? Perhaps you could master a couple fast & easy updos/half updos for days when it just won't cooperate. Especially if you're growing it out a bit longer anyway.

I can't offer much advice for the actual cut, because my hair is the opposite of yours. But I'd be looking for photos of celebrities with a similar hair texture, although I suspect that's easier said than done.

Runcarla

Veteran

There are folks who recommend strategic layers for curly hair, and others who suggest length to stretch out the curl.

From personal experience (and I believe my hair texture is similar to yours) the more layers I got, the curlier and fuller (bushier) my hair got. Sometimes it was better, because I could wash and air dry with a little leave in conditioner. Sometimes it was bad, especially if the top layers were too short. This would end up like 'poodle head' with a small defined crown, then volume out over the ears. I found that I could not style/straighten a heavily layered look into anything resembling a straight 'do.

All one length definitely leads to the Alice Triangle head that Janet references.

Long layers, cut into the bottom half to 1/3 of hair seem to give the most styling freedom. You can let hair air dry for romantic waves and curls, or blo.w dry straight (but expect volume!). A flat iron can take the volume out, but can dry hair and make it more frizzy. Save it for special occasions, and conditional and protect in between.

How long your overall length, and where the layers start will change the shape and how it frames your face. In your pic above, the layers start below your jaw, so that is where the volume or weight line is.

Maybe some face framing layers (but NOT bangs)?

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Astrid

Veteran

Thanks everyone for your input!

First off, I know that Liv Tyler has totally different hair, but you can't find inspiration pictures with my kind of hair anywhere, probably because most people with hair like mine straighten it. If you search for curly or wavy dos you get all the looks that are definitely done with an iron and I don't want to do that, neither for straightening nor for adding curls. I'm more or less looking for wash, airdry and go. And I love Aida's hair and her new do is fantastic, but I could never make something similar work because I have much less curl. Strictly speaking my hair isn't curly at all, just wavy.

And layering is problematic too, I haven't yet had a cut with layers I really loved. I definitely get the triangle head without layers (especially obvious with the bob), but adding some layers doesn't seem to work that well either. At the last appointment the stylist did give me some more layers than I had before, but when I have them at this length they just 'settle' on top of each other, know what I mean? They do nothing to define my curls or give me shape, they just make my triangle hair look more bushy. The pic below is old, but it's a good example. When I try do define single strands and make them fall more into each other it only lasts for half an hour before I look like this again.

I think the hair stylists I've been going to are alright, but of course there might be room for improvement. The problem is I don't know anyone I could ask for a recommendation, my friends all have straight uncomplicated hair - they just regularly get the ends cut at the barber around the corner for 5€, not something I want to try!

I always wear my hair down, I've never done an updo even when I had long hair. So I need something that looks good left on its own. Oh and the middle part is more or less a given, because I hate how a side part tugs at my scalp. I've had a middle part all my life...

ETA

Runcarla, I love your example pictures, but my hair would never look like this unless I use a curling iron.

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Scarlet

Veteran

I am so glad you are considering this and I think your idea is right on.

AJ

Veteran

Astrid, is your hair fine or thick?

I started to appreciate my frizz prone hair more when I started to use conditioner as a styling aid. After I wash my hair, while I'm still in the shower, I put a light layer of conditioner (sulfate free) on my hair, then wrap it in a clean cotton t-shirt (less frizz promoting). Don't rub your hair dry. Let the tee soak most of the moisture.

Then when I get out of the shower, I use the same tee and my bed to "plop" my hair:
http://m.wikihow.com/Plop-Your-Hair

I leave my hair in plop mode while I finish getting dressed, then take the tee off and arrange my hair for air drying. Don't leave your hair in the tee for too long, 10 minutes should do or else it will start to get frizzy. It should still be wet when you take the tee off.

Hope that helps!

Astrid

Veteran

Thanks Scarlet.

Thanks AJ! It is fine, but I have a lot of it. I did the plopping when I had longer hair, but I never left conditioner in. I might try that. Now that the hair is shorter plopping doesn't seem to do much for the hair, but I got used to wrapping the hair up for a few minutes to get most of the water out so I'm still doing that.

E

Veteran

Are there any products you can could add just out of the shower that would let it air dry but be a bit better behaved/easier to manage? If you prefer natural products, what about a bit of coconut or argan oil?

Have you tried washing it at night, then braiding/twisting it or putting it up in a few little buns/twists, sleeping on it, and seeing what it looks like in the morning? It really only takes a couple of minutes and might make you happier. (When I do this, it lasts longer with a bit of gel added to the wet hair.)

A quick google search pulled up this article, which says that layers should be in the 'interior' of the hair. Has your stylist ever cut layers like that or just on the outer layer? Maybe you'd have better luck with interior layers?

(And I completely understand your frustration at trying to find inspiration pics! My hair is quite thin, and with all of the extensions and clip-ins and other things celebrities use these days, I can't use many of them for reference any more.)

Aida

Veteran

I have to run but wanted to chime in quickly to say that the layering in the last photo that Runcarla posted would work very well with your hair for this length. It will thin out some of the volume at the ends and give you lighter body. A light curl mousse or crme could also be beneficial to getting your curls to be more pronounced and behaved.

Runcarla

Veteran

Astrid, do you BRUSH your hair? Finger combing or using an Afro pick to distribute product prior to air drying, or to 'break up' the curls will encourage the curly look. Brushing smoothes things out, but with fine thick hair, you will get volume and waves (and frizz!).

I usually give my hair a good brush through before I wash it. It is a disaster to brush at any other time! If I'm not working out too much, I can go 3 days without brushing or combing.

Astrid

Veteran

Thanks for the link to the article, Eva! I honestly have no idea whether I had interior or only exterior layers cut. I'm going to ask the next time. And yes, I can imagine it being just as difficult with thin hair!

Thanks Aida! That last pic looks great. But I wouldn't be able to guess the cut based on this styled picture... How would you describe it? Long layers with the longest at collarbone length, and shorter strands around the face? The last time I took a pic like this to the hair stylist I ended up with that horrible cut I had - though it wasn't where I'm going now.

Runcarla, no I don't brush my hair (besides before washing like you mentioned). Brushing was the biggest mistake I made when my hair texture changed in my teens, when I didn't know better. Trust me, you don't want to see what my hair looked like then. But I haven't done that for years. Now I use a wide toothed comb if I need to and otherwise just my fingers.

Vix

Veteran

Hi Astrid --

I hear you on wavy hair being a bit tricky! I also know you hate product and fussing with it (I've reluctantly embraced being a 1-product +/- a few drops of oil type but am still a "conditioner-wash"-and-go type most of the time.)

I've also embraced lots of tips for enhancing and pushing my waves and found stylists who cut for curl, but have accepted that my hair will never be *curly* (unless it *maybe* has a crapton of products in it...no one's ever styled it so it curled more than the blue dress shot below and that was just an average wash/go summer day). Mine is a true "S" wave--with parts that have more curl--but generally it "settles into itself" as you say about yours.

So I hear you on the inspiration photos needing to dial back the curl a bit...I tend to get overambitious (cough envious cough) about what my hair will do when I see our curlier YLFers!

Re photos to show your stylist -- Naturallycurly.com has done a much-needed overhaul to their gallery so it's a bit easier to find celebs or real people.

Here's the type 2 hair starting point:

http://www.naturallycurly.com/.....e2#type-2b

Also re stylist -- local beauty schools? Expensive salons that have "junior" or "trainee" stylists with reduced rates? [I find younger stylists are getting a lot more training re working with texture these days.]

I'm terrible at remembering the technical parts about cuts so am not much help. What I *will* say is that my cuts are shorter in the front to frame the face then longer in the back. Then the back's top pieces are shorter than the layers underneath...but not drastically shorter. I need frequent (2-3 months) cuts to keep the bushiness down and all the "wavy/curly" stylists I've had remove a lot of "bulk."

Where your front pieces end really relates to how your wave behaves and your pretty heart-shaped face.

/probably useless!

Some photo if they help -- 1-2 are Berenice Bejo since that's more or less what I'm talking about/aim for re the front...others are me at different lengths to try to show the general "roundness or ovalness" the cuts have in the back.

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Suz

(website)

Veteran

Astrid, I have "type 2A" hair like Vix links to. A bit of layer can bring out more wave, but it never truly curls. (I think it is less curly than yours -- but it is similar in thickness and texture.)

So...my "solution" if you can call it that, is a pixie. I know you do not want to go short right now and respect that. But in terms of ease and what works best WITH my hair's texture and allows me to live virtually "wash and go" -- that is the only cut that does it for me. The thickness becomes a distinct virtue, allowing my stylist to do different things with it, depending on how I want to tweak the cut. It DOES need constant thinning -- and I mean every haircut. So the stylist needs to understand this, and also she needs to pay attention to the direction of the natural wave and cut so as to prevent cowlicks, etc.

That is for what it is worth -- perhaps something to consider again in the future.

Aida

Veteran

Ok I've had some time to think on it, and I took a quick peek at the Type 2 curls over at Naturally Curly as well. Without product, your hair behaves somewhere in between 2a and 2b, but I think if you did put a little curl crème or mousse in you'd have the look of true 2b which might open up some different cut options for you. (FWIW, I'm a 3a but left alone my curls are waaay more relaxed.) If you're going to wear your hair lightly wavy as it is on its own without product, since your hair is thick it makes traditional wavy cuts trickier. As Eve mentioned, you really do need inside layering to thin out the bulk which will give you proper "ends" and no triangle head.

The last photo that Runcarla posted that I liked, you may want to save for a stylist that you know can handle your hair; with your thickness, if they don't understand how to layer your hair correctly you could end up with a semi-circle As for describing it, good question! The layering there is rather dramatic in the front but probably only that dramatic in the front. From head-on, you can see that the hair immediately framing the face is cheekbone length, with the next section of hair back at chin length, then it slopes gently downwards to collarbone length. In the back, the layering is likely also following the downward slope, with the highest layers only around chin length. It's pretty similar to the layering I have in my hair right now, actually, and since I AM going for a semi-circle shape my shorter back layers go much higher (from eye height at the shortest!). For me the appeal of this cut is that it really would highlight your hair's inherent qualities, but again I'd wait to find a stylist that understands your hair first.

Now the first photo that Vix posted, that's probably a much more manageable starting point and you can always cut the layers up higher if you want to! I like something like that over Liv's cut for you because the layers are a bit more dramatic which gives you more room to remove some of the bulk at the ends, whereas the other is straighter and you get more triangle head. The cut is similar, just less dramatic really. The face framing section is smaller and starts lower (just above the chin) and the second framing section is skipped so it goes right into the gentle layered slope.

dustt

Veteran

Astrid our hair is VERY similar - My key to keeping it shorter is BRUTAL thinning done by a very experienced stylist!! Ask yours how comfortable he/she is with thinning - it makes a shorter to mid length cut way for manageable for the extra thick wavy hair!!

I have experienced triangle head many times over the years, it's ultra important to find a stylist who is experienced with extra thick hair most are not!!

dustt

Veteran

I'm working towards this

albeit a curlier version.....

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Aida

Veteran

Dustt that's lovely! Similar to the cut I liked for Astrid above, with a high face framing layer then layers that gently slope to full length. This is more dramatic than the first photo Vix posted but less dramatic than the one Runcarla posted. Also a good option for you Astrid

EDIT: I didn't realize that your hair is much shorter than what you showed in the initial post! I thought perhaps it was getting closer to that length. All the cuts I was liking are definitely longer cuts, something to work towards. With this length, you can do that same type of layering as Dustt's inspiration photo but on a more condensed scale. Something like this photo below. It'll keep you the length while you grow it longer, but you may need to have a lot of interior layering done to keep the thickness under control.

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Peri

Veteran

Chiming in as another curly head, I think we all need to face reality. Those great looking celebrity look at my beautiful curls shots? Product, blow dryer, curling iron every single one of them. No one's hair just looks like that...either just out of bed, or tousle and go air-dried.

Astrid, you would look gorgeous in any of those cuts, but if you want that look, accept the curling iron. It is easy and fast and really not that much trouble. Even celebrities who claim to have that hair naturally will admit in the fine print that they "help it" with a curling iron on the front and a few random pieces.

Astrid

Veteran

Thank you so much for all the input, Vix! I definitely can relate to getting a bit overambitious... Thanks for the link and the reminder of naturallycurly.com, I hadn't been on that website for some time. I agree with Aida that my hair is probably somewhere between a 2a and 2b, depending on hair care. I have no clue about local beauty schools or anything like that, but I'll try to do some research. I would be prepared to pay more than I do at the moment if that would mean ending up with a cut that really works. I love the pictures of Berenice Bejo btw, that was more what I was looking for when I searched for pictures.

Thanks Suz! You're right, it's not something I can see for myself right at the moment. And I liked my pixie when I had it, but it never felt like 'me'. Additionally I think going really short would need to be accompanied by a style shift to still feel fab. I don't think I would feel as fab in my current clothes with a pixie cut. And in my case a pixie is only easy to care for as long as it is really short! I remember that as soon as I got a bit more length I got strands of hair stubbornly sticking out and I hated that.

Thanks so much for dissecting this for me, Aida! Sorry I wasn't more clear about the first picture, I just thought it would be good to see how my hair really looks longer, for those that maybe wouldn't remember or know. I do like the last of Runcarla's pics and will definitely save it for future use. I agree that the pics Vix posted might be a good way to work up to that in the future. I think I'm going to do a hair pinterest board again to keep track of them. And I LOVE the last picture you posted - this is something that I might be able to do soon. I think first of all I'm going to try if it is possible to get rid of that damn middle part.

Thanks Dustt! Love your inspiration picture, I bet you will look fantastic. I think my problem is that I don't have an experienced stylist that really gets my kind of hair yet. I had people thinning out my hair before, but in the past it was mostly done in desperation and didn't make the cut any better IMO.

Thanks Peri! You're right of course, I don't expect to look my hair like that without work. I still don't think I want to use a curling iron though, my hair is very dry already and I don't want to add heat into the mix. The texture of my hair has gotten a lot better when I stopped blow drying regularly (even only using low heat) and using a curling iron regularly would be a step backwards.

E

Veteran

Astrid, if you have a stubborn middle part, instead of going to a straight side part, you could try drawing a diagonal line starting at the side at your hairline/forehead and ending at your crown in the middle. So there's less hair you're fighting with!

shiny

Veteran

Sigh, as another one with wavy /frizzy / dry hair, you have my sympathies. Mine is nowhere near as thick as yours - I envy that, because when I grow my hair out, it just thins out even more, and never comes close to gracing my shoulders, and just looks awful and straggly, not full like yours!!!

I am pretty much resigned to blow drying, flat ironing, and having frequent cuts -- to cut off the damaged ends. I tried all the curly strategies but they don't work for me at all. The secret to my hair looking good if air dried, seems to be going to the beach -- humidity and sea water helps -- or getting caught without an umbrella in a very gentle misty rain -- but even then, it's hit or miss.

Just the other day some woman stopped me to say she loved my hair, it was funny because I had been surreptitiously envying *her* hair, which was in this super adorable very short but curly/wavy cut. I wish I took a picture, it was so cute, and very different, and worked beautifully with her texture. Been wondering now if I might not be able to pull something off like that someday.

Jules

Veteran

This thread is therapeutic. Fellow S waver here with a few ringlets that may form around my face depending on weather and unknowable forces... And all-or-nothing personality type who admires stick straight or truly curly hair... Plus, very little time or patience for 'dos!
No advice Astrid... My hair is otherwise quite different from yours (I don't have the volume or thickness). Just commiseration as I'm having a "hair moment" myself after seeing a bunch of pictures taken on a recent holiday! Feel like I need to rethink the whole plan.

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