It seems like these days, everywhere you look another celebrity has lopped off her hair and opted for the lob. While it’s a stylish and super trendy look that A-listers like Khloé Kardashian, Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington and Jessica Alba sport, one of the main reasons why everyone is going short is because you can actually do so much more with a lob than you can many other haircuts. “The lob is a great way to totally change your look while still feeling like you have some length to your hair,” says Fekkai 5th Avenue stylist Sandra Bruno.
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It’s a custom cut.
First off, you can totally customize the cut. Whether you want your hair to be blunt or layered or all one length and hit just at your collarbone, you can do whatever works for your hair type. “For fine hair, keep it a little more blunt,” says Bruno. “If your hair is thick, add in some layers.” For more of a piecey look, ask your stylist to cut into your hair, which creates texture, with a few pieces of shorter layers.
You’ll save so much time.
Long hair can take a long time to style. But when your hair is cut short, it can take mere minutes to style it so that it looks good. “The cut also looks great when it’s undone. A lot of people just rock their natural texture and put some waves in with a curling iron,” says Bruno.
Your hair looks thicker.
The longer your hair is, the more visible dead, split and stringy ends are. When hair is short and healthy, you don’t see any of that damage so it creates the illusion of fuller, thicker hair from root to tip. “The length, angles and layers of the cuts will provide volume to the straightest blowout so that the hair looks thicker,” says Ali Ozel, senior stylist and colorist at Pierre Michel Salon.
You can wear it any way you please.
Ozel says long hair tends to be limited to curls, updos and repetitive styling. “Short hair is always best worn in a precision cut. However, the lob provides the best of both worlds because you get the clean precision cut with the styling options of length.” You can also wear your hair parted to the side or down the middle, or wavy, straight or curly. Bruno says that you’ll still have ample length to play around with to wear a multitude of styles. “The shorter to mid-length cuts look great worn sleek and smooth or wavy and textured. You can look cool and beachy or classic. And, there’s still enough length so you can pull your hair into a ponytail or top knot,” she says.
It works for every face.
No matter what your face shape—long, square, round or heart, the lob works with just about every shape and can be cut to varying lengths to best suit your face, which is yet another reason why it’s so popular.
