So, this is me. No, my eyebrow is not perpetually raised (my boyfriend was making a dirty comment about me taking pictures of myself).
Anyway, that picture is current (since I just took it). I am 32. I am short and fat (5’2" and about 220 pounds) though I’m working on the fat. Too bad I can’t change the short.
Nearly my entire life, I have had long, straight, one-length haircuts. Every once in a while I get daring and go to shoulder length, straight, one-length haircuts.
About 4 months ago I got daring and decided to chop it all off. My friend the stylist refused to go completely drastic because she has known me since we were 8 and she knows how I am. She cut to just above shoulder length, straight, and added some layers and some of whatever that is they do with the razor. She said that if I hadn’t decided I hated it and her in a few months, she’d agree to go more drastic.
Well, I want it shorter dammit!! I want crazy layers!! I want wispy pieces and non wispy pieces!! I want my damn natural highlights to show through for once (seriously, I have a whitish-blond streak at the base of my neck that even I’ve never seen). I don’t think I’m ready for a perm yet and I have no intention of ever coloring it, not even when it starts to go white.
I am lazy and I want something that I can wash and air dry quickly. I’m sick of going to bed with wet hair and waking up 8 hours later with wet hair. I want to maybe put some gel in it and scrunch it a bit and leave it at that. I don’t use rollers or curling irons or flat irons or hair dryers and I never will.
So, these are some hairstyles that I love. I want them all. But, I am so not stylish, I will go out in grey sweatpants from one college, a blue zip-up hoodie from another college, and an an orange t-shirt, with my purple gardening boots. My own boyfriend made fun of me last week and said my blue gym pants and purple gardening boots made me look like a super hero. So, I have no clue what looks good on me or anyone else. I don’t know what fits my body or my face. I don’t know what looks good with glasses. I don’t know what’s easy to take care of.
What I want from you guys is your opinion on these pictures and ideas of other styles you think would look good on me. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep taking suggestions before I make my move, it all depends on what you say. I am eager to hear your opinions!!
You have fine hair. Most of the cuts you’ve posted are on women with thick hair. You need to work with what you have. I think this or this or any number of variations of these would work well with your hair and look good with your face shape. However, there are very few cuts that you could get where you won’t have to do some work on it- at least blowdrying with a round brush. It’s really not that much work, once you’ve been taught the proper method, and it can really make your hair look great.
IANAS. to me, except for Cut 3, they all have the perfectly messy look. the kind that seems to take a lot of work to get it to look just right. i have no hair sense btw.
Now this is something that confuses me. What exactly is fine hair? Is fine hair not the same thing as thin hair? Is it possible to have thick fine hair? I have got a hell of a lot of hair but I have a bitch of a time getting it to stay in a ponytail because it just slips right out unless I put it in a knot.
Unfortunately I’m not a fan of either of the styles you linked to. I’ll have to look for some of the variations you mentioned.
My issue with blowdrying is that it takes so damn long. Even with my hair the length it is now it still takes over half an hour to blow dry it. If I get it drastically thinned out I might consider blowdrying but if it’s going to take me more than 10 minutes, it’s highly unlikely I’ll do it for anything more than a wedding or funeral.
Oh, ok. Now I learn to read first then ask questions. Fine is a texture thing and since fine hair lacks body - hell yes I have fine hair. It says fine hair looks good with lots of layers, a graduated cut, and short to medium lengths. It also mentions velcro rollers because they don’t damage thin fragile locks (believe me - fragile my hair ain’t). Are they talking about rollers you sleep in? I’d actually consider that as long as it doesn’t give me headaches.
Fine hair is not the same as thin-ning hair. People with fine hair actually have more hair than people with thick hair, because there are more hairs per inch. Fine hairs just have less of a diameter. Fine hair loses a lot of natural body and bounce if it’s kept long- my hair looks like a stringy, greasy mess if it gets below my shoulders, but with the right short cut, it looks so healthy and bouncy and fabulous. As for blow-drying, you don’t even have to start until it’s almost air-dried. It really doesn’t have to take that long. Ask your hairdresser to show you how to do it. For a long time, I didn’t think I could do mine, and every time I’d complain to my hairdresser that, while she could do it to my hair and make it look awesome, I was just not able to do it myself at home and make it look like she did, she would say it was psychological and that I certainly could do it the way she did. Then I watched her, and I practiced, and now I can do it as good as she does, and it takes literally like two minutes.
If I were you, I’d splurge just once on a high-end salon (around here it would be Gadabout), and get a consultation and a great cut from there. Once you find that great cut and learn how to style it at home, a regular hairdresser can maintain it for you.
I can tell just by looking at the top- it’s very close to your head, and I can tell that that’s not because it’s greasy or flattened somehow- it’s just fine hair.
Have you ever had your hair cut with a razor? It will thin out your hair and give you soft layers, as opposed to the blunt-ended layers you get with scissors.
If you get side-swept bangs, you should use a little hair spray or gel to keep them in place, or else you’ll constantly be pushing them out of your face. I use aloe vera gel because hair products make me break out.
I get mine razor-cut, and it’s awesome. I wish you lived near here, so I could direct you to my girl. When I get rich, I’m going to put her up in my guesthouse, so she can always be there to do my hair. Love her.
congodwarf, none of the cuts you’ve posted will look anything like that without a hair dryer, styling product, and time. If you’re dead-set on a hairstyle you don’t need to do anything to, I’d suggest keeping it longer, perhaps with some layers, and going for a ‘bedhead’ look. All that requires you to do is dampen your hair before bed, possibly add some styling cream/conditioner if you’re prone to getting frizzies, and sleeping with a braid over each shoulder. They’ll be mostly dry by morning. (Trust me. I have way more hair than you, and I live about two miles from the ocean. They’ll be dry enough.) You pull them out, finger-comb through, and go about your day, happily ignoring your nice, wavy, fun and trendy hair. It’ll work with your current length, if you want to give it a shot.
All the haircuts you see with chunky razor layers that are super-straight and stick out at quirky angles require a lot of work. Usually a blow dryer or a flat iron or both, plus gel and/or hairspray. Technically, you can get hair “permed” stick-straight, but it costs hundreds of dollars, involves particularly nasty, life-threatening chemicals, and doesn’t really work very well. The “no-work” hairstyle for someone with fine, mostly-straight-with-a-curl-at-the-end hair is the one your stylist has already given you.
If you’re willing to work with a blow dryer, just not for very long, have you considered going pixie-short? You use the dryer (and maybe some of the scrunch-gel) to create volume on the top the same way as the longer styles, but with very short hair it only takes a few minutes.
Cool, now I know so much more about what to look for. I don’t know what counts as a high-end salon in my area but I do know that the salon my friend works for is repeatedly voted the best in the city it’s in. I’ve been seeing her work for years so I’m happy going to her. She did say she’d show me how to style my hair, if I did ever get something needing styling. Thanks for all the info Alice. I’d ask my family but my middle sister has thin and brittle hair that never seems to grow and my oldest sister’s natural hair is a dark blond version of mine (thick, fine, strong, and healthy) but she dyes it strange colors and gets strange perms. She also weighs about 110 pounds less than me so what looks good on her doesn’t look good on me.
Aurelia There was some razoring involved in my most recent cut, the one that went from all one length to 15" shorter and long layers. But, it was mostly done with scissors. My friend really wanted to make sure I was ready before going too drastic and I think she was worried that a huge thinning would cause me to freak out (she was right). But now that I’m used to shorter hair and the layers are growing out, I’m ready for her to go all out.
Oh, I just remembered. I did get a huge razoring once. It was in 1990 and happened after a massive attack of sleepover party lice. I got it so bad that I was out of school for a month. They cut off nearly all my hair (I looked like a boy for a year until I suddenly went from flat to a b-cup) and they used a razor to take off over half my thickness because it was the only way the Rid could get at all of the infestation. My hair never even gained back it’s entire thickness after that. So yes, I have had a lot of razoring done to my hair but to that extent I think I’ll avoid for the time being.
Arabella Now that I have an F-cup and there’s no doubt that I’m not a man, I have considered a pixie cut but I have no idea if it’d look good on my face or body. I love them and think they look good on so many people but on me?? My only experience with hair anywhere near that short was the above mentioned lice experience and it wasn’t a pleasant one, mentally or physically. But, I’d consider doing it on purpose if enough people convinced me I could pull it off.
As far as styling goes, I’m beginning to think that if I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with boring hair, I’m going to have to start doing something with it. I suppose I could make the effort. After all, it’s not like I have children to take care of or a massively hectic life. I have an aversion to curling irons and flat irons because I also have a knack for hurting myself in strange and creative ways. I’m not a fan of hairspray but the last time I had hairspray in my hair, it was when a foster sister used about half a can of Aquanet to try to give me big bangs. Alas, my hair wont even hold a tease but she refused to give up. If I get lung cancer I’ll blame it equally on the 10 years of smoking and that can of Aquanet. I’m fine with gel and mousse and other things that don’t spray little particles into my breathing space, I just don’t know how to use them.
To my eye, larger women look better with more hair, not less, to help balance out the head-to-body proportion. If you absolutely must go shorter, try to make sure you keep some volume going there by using gel and scrunching it while you dry it, the way Alice the Goon described. And hope it isn’t humid out.
So I’m getting ready for bed and on my way out of the bathroom I glanced in the mirror and had a full-on light bulb over the head revelation.
For the vast majority of my life, I have had hair that fell between my shoulders and my butt. I have longed to try a pixie cut but my fatness always stopped me (seriously, google fat woman with pixie cut. Either you wont find any or they’re totally unflattering).
However, though my hair has nearly always been long, I’ve also nearly always worn it in a simple ponytail or knot. In other words, from the front my hair looks like a slicked back pixie cut.
:smack:
I look good with my hair out of my face. Actually, I look very good with my hair out of my face. When I smile, which I frequently do, I have dimples and cheek bones. I have nice naturally shaped eyebrows even if you can’t see that in my picture.
My hair color, the healthiness of my hair, and my face are the only things about my body that I actually like. So dammit, I’m gonna show off my face!! I have nice ears too.
I can’t believe I spent so long thinking I’d look stupid with very little hair around my face. The world doesn’t have enough duh smilies.
I still have no idea what style to go with though.
Looking at some styles for a square face, this one is nice with bangs. I think bangs would soften your look considerably, but apparently you need to be careful with bangs with your face shape.
Go find a wig shop. Try on a pixie cut. Try on a lot of them! Try on an afro if you want. It’s helpful.
As for using styling products: If they come in a spray bottle, spritz them on your head. If they come as a gel, mousse, or cream, then you squirt some into your hands and work it through your hair like an after-shower conditioner. It’s kind of intimidating at first, but you get used to it. The directions on the bottle will tell you whether your hair is supposed to be damp or dry when you use them – a lot of things are fine both ways.
In terms of strength. styling cream or curl enhancer will give a light hold, comparable to how many people find that their hair is more cooperative a day or so after a shower, rather than when it’s freshly washed. It makes your hair sort of hold together more smoothly, and you have fewer wispy bits. Mousse is usually next; it comes out very foamy – hence the term mousse – and it looks like you have to use a lot, but I promise it’s not as bad as it seems. Really cheap mousse can leave your hair kind of plastic and crunchy, but just moving out of the ultra-cheap brands usually fixes that. It’s for helping your hair hold some sort of shape, like soft and poofy around a bun, or curly at the ends. Then you have gel, which is for sculpting, i.e., holding chunks of hair where you put them. Guys use this stuff to get the whole spiky deal, among other things. Hair spray can be had in any of the above strengths; there’s light spritzy fruity-smelling stuff, all the way up to Frizz-Ease super duper hold, which is second only to wood glue for getting wacky hair to stay in place for the entire Halloween party.
I don’t personally deal in blow dryers or flat irons. I have three feet of hair and it’s so time-consuming that I’ve only had them used on me in preparation for going on stage or in front of a camera. Curlers I can do, and there are some that are basically big squashy foam things that you wind hair around and then sleep on; it feels weird at first, but you get used to it quickly, especially with a forgiving pillow. Big round ones create big soft curls; the ones shaped like giant hair pins are for winding hair around in a figure-eight and you can get a temporary look close to a kinky perm with them. For little spiral curls like ringlets, you really need a curling iron.
I know far too much about all of this, so feel free to PM me if you want the really long-winded explanations of cosmetic chemistry and the material science of hair.
Cat The first one is much too long and I don’t care for it anyway. But the second one is one I have seen many times and have actually been liking a lot. It is definitely on my list of considerations. One of the reasons I wasn’t sure about it is because she may have a strong face but her body is nothing like mine and I wasn’t sure it’d look good. Arabella Thank you so much for all the information!! I don’t think there’s a wig shop in my town. I’ll have to find one because that’s a great idea. They don’t get mad at people trying on with no intention of buying, do they?
