I need haircut help.... wavy RATE hair - YouLookFab Forum

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I need haircut help.... wavy RATE hair

qfbrenda

Veteran

My wavy hair seems to insist on being RATE and I don't have time to straighten it daily. I'm not liking my haircut at the moment. The layers are so short that I have to blow dry the bangs and front or it dries in ski jumps off the side of my head, which makes it frizz. I really need a haircut I can let dry naturally as much as possible.

I'm considering a long bob with swept aside bangs. It would take a while to grow out some of the layers, but I'm ok with that. I *might* be able to get away with shoulder length, but can't go shorter. My husband has series issues with short hair on women.

Does that sound like a decent plan? Or do you have a better suggestion?

As an aside, I'm hoping the Seattle meet up group might have ideas for me when we meet in person.

I included a pic of my current hair cut, though from a bit of a distance.

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17 replies

Latest reply was from qfbrenda

catgirl

Veteran

I have no suggestions for curly hair but if you can wait till the meet-up I bet you'll get some fantastic suggestions!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

From my own experience, short layers can wreak havoc on curls and waves. I'd grow them out best as you can no matter what length hairstyle you ultimately decide on. I have a few 'face framing' layers myself that I am trying to patiently grow out into the rest of my 'do. They like to flip and curl in the worst way. Argh.

qfbrenda

Veteran

What about bangs? I thought bangs were a "requirement" for the nearly 40 woman. But I'm reading that bangs work better on straight hair. I don't want to be tempted to use clips to hold my hair out of my face again as I feel they are too "little girl" for me. Bangs help keep my hair from being in my face all the time.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

If you want me to I can post pics of bangs, no bangs, more layers, less layers. I have bangs most of the time now but they often get swept to the side. I think it's face shape more than age that decides the bang factor. All that said, bangs can often be pretty well controlled with either a minute blow drying or a curling or flat iron. It's the other peripheral layers that are trouble, for me anyway.

soobee

Veteran

I find that with my curly/wavy/frizzy hair that I need to have it all one length, no layering. I have a fringe (bangs) which I straighten with an iron every morning, it takes less than two minutes. I was also considering going shorter than shoulder length, but hubs really dislikes short hair on ladies too, so I'm going to stay at shoulder length. This length weighs my hair down and keeps the frizz/curl under control. I don't think that a fringe (bangs) has anything to do with age either, I thought that if you had the right face shape and not *too many* wrinkles on the forehead, you could go without? I like to have one because of our climate and it keeps the hair out of my eyes.

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

I had dry-and-go hair for a while. You can see it in the attached. The key for me was to grow it out to below my shoulders and keep the layers long. I had bangs, and if you keep a fring (even a long side swept one) you will likely still need to style those to keep it from flipping/frizzing out since you have curly hair.

http://www.naturallycurly.com/hair-types

Check out this website for how to care for your hair to make it look good without blowdrying. Eventually the texture of my hair changed (it might have been the shampoo I changed) and now it won't curl as nicely as it did...so I chopped it off.

I would recommend growing your hair out so it doesn't frizz and learning how to manage it so it curls nicely.

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Vicki

(website)

Veteran

I agree with Una, because I have straight, fine, flat hair. If you can wait for the meet-up, you'll have YLF power in our back pocket and women power is everything! I think your idea of a shorter bob with side swept bangs would look really nice on you. Let's see what others have to save.

Jonesy

Veteran

My hair is curly/wavy but very, very thick, so I need some light layers in it so it doesn't look like a huge block of hair! I also have some side-swept bang action, but I think that's a matter of personal preference (I've never heard anyone talk about it as a mandate for certain ages!). I never blow dry my hair or do anything with it really; just put in some leave-in conditioner and let it air dry. Do you like the look of yourself with bangs? I like your idea of a shoulder-length bob with fewer layers.

qfbrenda

Veteran

I read the "bangs are needed" in the book, "How Not to Look Old." I know that's not the be-all and end-all book on style, but it struck a chord with me. When I read it, I was using a clip to hold my bangs out of my face and had been wearing my hair in a braid down my back for years. I needed to move on from that and the book encouraged me to do so. Now to figure out where I'm going next.

I wouldn't mind going bang-less if it would stay behind my ears so it's not in my face. But my hair is too thick to all fit behind my ears.

I won't be doing anything to it until after the meet-up so I'll be able to get opinions in person.

I'm open to more suggestions!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Here is with my bangs growing out, but not quite unbangs, look that I had when I last had a haircut I actually liked. Just for the record, this was after I turned 40 By contrast, second shot is with bangs on the day I turned 40. Not sure bangs are more youthful, honestly! Note though, that the shorter layers really make the hair spring up more in general. Hope this helps

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mrseccentric

(website)

Veteran

oy, brenda, curly hair can be really hard! not because of the hair, just the lack of info and especially lack of knowledgeable hairstylists. first, if you can find a stylist who does curly hair that makes a big difference. ask people you see who have great curly hair for recs. Jenava's rec of the website is great - getting curly hair to dry naturally and look great is pretty straightforward with a good cut and the right products and knowledge. and keeping your hands out of your hair! (don't follow my bad example in picture #2!!!)

i wore my hair long-ish with longer layers for years. It was a real pain for me to do bangs, i'd have to trim them about every 2-3 weeks or else they'd grow out and 'into' the rest of my hair. i never thought they looked great enough to keep it up! But here's a pic with long layers and bangs, the whole air dried.

With longer layers around my face (not bangs) i kept it out of my face this way: i'd use a strongish gel in the area and 'set' the shape i wanted with hair clips, duck clips, bobby pins, or roller pins (super-sized bobby pins). When it dried it would stay out of my face, as long as i didn't fiddle with it (a bad habit of mine). You want to keep the natural tendency of your hair's curl, just kind of 'guide' it away from your face.

Best of luck! And do research curly hair care - if you want to have it air dry and look great you need to develop some different habits to increase the moisture in your hair. But don't worry, it works! steph

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velvetychocolate

Veteran

I recently bought the book, "Parisian Chic" by Ines de la Fressange as suggested by YLF's new book club. I have to say, I *wish* I had dark, wavy hair.

I think something like this (pic 1 and 2) would look amazing on you qfbrenda.

What do you think?

You have beautiful skin and lovely dark, wavy hair. This kind of hairstyle might be perfect for you.

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qfbrenda

Veteran

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate every one's thoughts so far.

velvetychocolate, I was looking at those exact pics today. I don't think hubby would like me to go that short, but I might be able to pull off something similar.

velvetychocolate

Veteran

Does your hair grow fairly fast? I went from very long straight hair to 'trying' bangs - and my husband didn't think he'd like them, but it turned out he loved them. Most recently, I went from "long-ish" hair to just above collarbone - my husband didn't think he'd like that either, but he really likes it. When I talked to my hairstylist about chopping off another few inches, she said she thought it would grow back to it's previous length "by winter". This was in mid-September, and I thought she meant a year...but no, she meant that my hair would likely grow back to it's bottom-of-shoulder blades length by the beginning of *this* winter, if I didn't like the "just above collarbone" cut. The reason she suggested this is because my bangs grow so quickly that I have to get them trimmed every three weeks or so. I think she must have been right, because my last cut was Oct 28th, and it's half-way to the bottom of my shoulder blades again, and I'm shoving my bangs out of the way (missed my 3-4 week "in between cuts" free bang trim as well).

This is my long-winded way of saying that if you have the kind of bangs that grow out super-fast, and you're always pushing them out of your face, if you went for something like the photos above, and didn't like it - it would grow back fairly quickly, I think. Just a thought.

eta: I have bone-straight hair, so I definitely don't know anything about what works/doesn't work for curly hair - I just thought that the hair cut in the pics of above is lovely, and would look great on you.

It'd look gorgeous on you too Aida. It's a nice-looking cut, isn't it?

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I've found that long layers work best on my wavy hair -- blunt cuts are miserable, I get that block of hair effect Jonesy was tailing about. My hair is not as thick as it used to be, so it's easier to manage now, but when I was younger i discovered that layers were absolutely necessary to thin it out some and make it easier to control the wave and prevent frizz.

Aida

Veteran

Brenda, I'm considering a cut really similar to the one VC posted as well! But my curly hair is thin and fine so it's a pretty different ball game :\ I'm sure there'll be some good ideas for you at the meetup.

qfbrenda

Veteran

VC, my hair does grow really fast. I have to color it every 3-4 weeks to avoid major roots showing. That's a good point.