Have you become oh so bored with your long layered hair?
Is it time for a major mane change?
Have you gotten swept up in the romance of short hair and think a cropped style might be just what you need?
Still there may be a bit of hesitation holding you back from allowing your stylist to pull out the scissors and have at your longer mane.
For one there’s a chance if you go too short you risk mistakenly being referred to as ‘sir’ which isn’t fun. (Let’s hope that’s not the case.)
The second and more likely concern might be fear of being locked into a “practical” cut, which like practical shoes, may not be quite hot or enticing enough for Friday nights out.
Which is to say while a shorter ‘do may be “beyond easy to style,” and can seem full of possibilities at first, it also comes with its own baggage in the form of styling myths and misconceptions like not being hot enough.
So let’s see if we can’t eliminate unwanted surprises which can sap your short hair confidence leaving you wasting the pretty on styling ideas that don’t matter.
So if you are ready to bust these myths and break out of your short hair styling rut so am I.
Styling Myths for Short Hair Exposed
MYTH: You get lift with short hair like any other length – with a blow dryer.
Little Known Truth: We love our hot styling tools, don’t we? But this point is only half true. Problem is shorter hair doesn’t love to be blow dried dry. It is much better to stop when things are half way there and let it air dry the rest of the way. This will result natural lift.
A good trick for added volume is to run your favorite hair serum, many rave about BioSilk, through your hair before drying. Taking maybe an amount a little less than the size of a quarter and rubbing it between your palms before applying it to your strands. Stay far away from the roots shooting for mid strand on down to the ends.
Next address your roots with a mousse which may be preferred over gels as they can be too heavy end up weighing your hair down. Thoroughly apply the product making sure you get good coverage.
Now you’re ready to start blow drying the sides after you have taken the hair at the crown and clipped it up and away. Using your round brush you want to pull you hair up and out keeping some tension on it with the brush best you can while hitting it with high heat for maximum smoothing.
MYTH: Short hair is easy care hair.
Little Known Truth: This easy care stuff is only partially true. Common sense would tell you that shorter styles will require more frequent visits to the salon to keep the cut looking neat and fresh. So while your mane may require les style time, fail to show up for an appointment for a style reviving trim and you may find yourself unwittingly witnessing a shag taking shape on your head as your hair grows out. Problem being shorter hair can all too quickly lose its shape, become bulky, or take on mushroom like dimensions. None of which would be confused with sassy, cool-girl hair anytime soon.
MYTH: Short and slick go hand in hand.
Little Known Truth: Yes, this can be true as long as you don’t get too slick. Which is to say there’s a fine line between chic swagger and excessive use of gel rivaling the amount Bela Lugosi would have used to get his Count Dracula on. The other Dracula-like mistake too many make is to slick things down all over. The trick is height on the top while keeping the sides good and tight.
MYTH: Bangs can work with most shorter cuts.
Little Known Truth: Again this is also mostly true. But not when they get to the point you are having a running battle with them. Generally you want the sides of your sporty cut to be shorter than the hair on the crown making you a perfect candidate in many ways for sideswept bangs. Yet you don’t want to have to be constantly pinning your bangs over to the side or tucking them behind your ear. Either get them trimmed to work with your cut, or throw in the towel on maintaining them and grow them out.
MYTH: Short styles are bullet proof styles.
Little Known Truth: Well they may be until you use too many products, too much unprotected heat, or just try too hard. Then it’s next to impossible to fix the helmet hair that results because there just isn’t much to work with to hide the sins. So you may be better off remembering less is more than trying to find the fixes you get into because you didn’t keep that in mind. Failing that maybe these styling tips for short hair from Marie Clare might come in handy.
How to Style Tousled Short Hair
If you want to add a bit of texture to bring added lift to your locks, go for a slightly untamed look with tousled waves. As this video demonstrates you simply create them by wrapping small sections of hair around your one inch curling iron. That is after you have done the right thing and protected your crowning glory with your favorite heat protectant.
Terrific’s Take:
This is an easy to get, yet oh so cute style. Even better there are no rules with this one. Except to again remind you that shorter hair ALWAYS requires heat protectant if you are going to even think about using hot styling tools on it. Since there is less hair, if you damage it, the results will not be pretty. Unless you describe it as pretty bad.
It’s also great option because you use a minimal amount of heat and then can often go two or three days before washing again. Which is always good regardless of length and especially good if you have shorter hair. With the caveat: thinner hair or hair that doesn’t hold a curl as well might only allow you to go two days between shampooings.
None-the-less this unstructured look is just the start of the versatility possible when it comes to styling short hair. You can also rock a retro bump, braid up a killer fishtail braid, yes you don’t need long locks to do one, or easily unleash some sultry curls. Nor is a quick updo for short hair out of the question either – although this carefree approach may not apply to the more structured bob hairstyles. As you can see, just because you have short hair doesn’t mean you don’t have options that will work with your cropped, short, chic hair style.
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