Making Short Hair More Interesting
[ 29 May 2007 ]
“I had my hair cut short for the first time a few months ago, and I love it. Not having to worry about bad hair days is marvellous. But I’m getting bored with it looking the same all the time! Since you’ve got short hair, too, I wondered if you’ve got any tips for making it look more interesting?”
I have, indeed, had short hair for years. In fact, it hasn’t been longer than my shoulder since about 2000. Now, some of these things will depend on the length of your hair at present, but here are some different ways to wear a short hairstyle.
Change the colour
This is probably the most drastic way to change your hair. You don’t need to do the whole thing if your work/school prefers you to look conservative or you’re just afraid to commit! You can always do a big streak across the front or put in some extensions. When I was 15 & had a blue-black bob (I was totally channelling Amy Blue in The Doom Generation), I would get extensions put in the front of it, hanging down on either side of my fringe (bangs to you Americans). They were the same length as the rest of my hair but provided a nice frame. The royal blue ones looked the best. Most hairdressers can put extensions in your hair for very little & it’s a quick, easy way to change your look. If you DO want to go blue, purple, bright red or neon yellow, read this first!
Wear hair accessories
They are your greatest ally. I have a drawer full of things to put in my hair: purple butterfly-shaped clips, turquoise feathers, small pink roses, tiaras & hairclips with all manner of things stuck on them, from glittery cupcakes to small ballerinas to Hello Kitty heads. Remember that it is incredibly easy to make your own hair accessories, usually all you need is a hot glue gun, a plain hairclip & stuff to stick onto it. Another option is to go slightly crazy & eke your way over to decora, a Japanese street style which involves wearing hundreds of little plastic toys all over yourself.
Cut yourself a fringe (bangs) or sweep them across
You might want to look at How To Choose A Flattering Haircut before you do this, because some face shapes don’t suit a fringe (bangs). If you sweep them across & they won’t stay, use a hairclip — try a diamante barrette. Sometimes keeping a fringe sitting flat is tough — some people swear by blow-drying it & curling it under with a brush, some use pomade & others use a combination of spit & crossed fingers. If you can pull it off though, a fringe is VERY cute.
Tease or spike it up
The bigger the better, baby! Teasing your hair is easy — grab a big clump, brush it towards the sky & then brush it back down towards your head. Repeatedly. Coat with hairspray (or talcum powder, I like Lush’s Candy Fluff for this purpose) & go out looking wild. Spiking it up is usually achieved with the aid of hair product, like KMS. You can try a little faux-hawk or just create a peak on the highest point of your skull.
Change the parting
Switch it up, from middle to either side or, if you’re handy with a comb, try one of those strange zig-zag partings.
Pin some of it up
My hair’s getting longer so I’m doing this quite a lot at the moment. I tease the hell out of it & then pin some of it behind my head. It somehow gives the appearance that I have far more hair than I do, which is always a good thing. To me, it looks like a weird mix between hobocore & elegance, & overall I’m pretty happy with the effect!
Put it into little pigtails
Self-explanatory, innit?! Use ribbons or lace for super plus plus cute effect.
Shave it!
Shave the side, or a pattern into the side, or shave your hairline back. All of these things have worked for me!
Wear a headscarf
Ahhh, yes. My trusty fallback position. When all else fails, when it is windy or raining, when your hair won’t behave or you have 5cm of regrowth (like me), just tie a scarf over your head. How To Wear A Scarf may be of some assistance, & so might How To Tie A Turban.
Love letters & feather headdresses,
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I have the boring short hair problem at the moment.A lil curly bob.Curls make it harder I think.I had a look around and am rather tempted to go pink, cotton candy pink.But I have to wait till I leave my office job first.But I’ve got a rats tail thats about 30cm( I’ve had it for about 2 years) and I think I’ll dye that first.(and maybe my hairs below just for fun).
Hair clips are the safest though.And cute little hats.
This makes having short hair seem like so much fun! I have boring long-ish hair, but I’m scared to cut it all off because it is extremely thick and wavy/curly and I am worried about looking like a curly mop. Do you have any suggestions for us gals who want short hair but are scared?
Eileen — Yup… Just do it! ;D It’s only hair, it’ll grow back!
I love this article, as always! I have an asymmetrical haircut—bobbed on one side and cut very short like a boy’s on the other. The haircut in itself is a statement, but I like mixing it up with colorful hair extensions, headbands, and barettes. :-D
Ha, yes! I just had hair down to the small of my back, but summer is well on its way. So, hack hack, and now some little child with cancer will get a lovely wig. Eileen, just do it! I know it’s scary, but Gala is right, it does grow back.
Gala- is it possible to tease hair of my length (down to my chin) a la your third suggestion? I don’t know if it will all turn into a floppy mess…
vintagebluesuitcase — That sounds amazing! Pictures?!
Beth — Absolutely! You’ve seen how short my hair is, right? Just tease it a lot. If it goes floppy, tease it some more. Hang your head upside down & hairspray your hair, then tease it some more. It will work! I like to leave the front of my hair flat/normal, & I sweep it across, just so I don’t resemble Frankenstein’s wife… not to say that that isn’t a good look!
Ooo, I’m going to have to look into getting colored hair extensions. Hmm. And I’ve been collecting pictures of short hair cuts with nice bangs, although a lot of the ones that I like have a wavy/scrunchy/piece-y/tousled thing going on, and I don’t know whether it’s possible to and how you would style very thick, straight Asian hair to that.
Yay this post is really helpful! I’ve been looking for ways to spice up my pixie cut. I usually just cut my hair shorter when I’m bored with it (I have a short hair attention span), but if I went any shorter now I’d be bald. And something tells me that’s not a good look for me. I think I’ll try teasing it a bit more and maybe dye it. I’ve also been planning to buy a whole bunch of colored hair clips and stick them all over my head.
Yay~! Super helpful, ‘specially since I just got my hair cut again today! :D I hadn’t thought about teasing my hair – I used to do that a few years ago (when I was going through a Manic Street Preachers phase, haha) but I might start again now.
I just got my haircut into what my hairdresser calls a ‘shattered bob’ – I love it!!
And Eileen, and any others with long hair (wavy/thick etc…) wanting to go short but are slightly scared…. GHDs are the answer to all life’s hair troubles. Honest they really do live up to the hype! Great Hair Days all round!! Worth every cent.
yayyyuh! head scarves rule my life now, thank you gala! especially 80’s-type ones you can wrap around your head and tie in a big fat bow to the side. i have short hair and that never fails me and always looks good, especially with teased up hair like you suggested. ace.
i cut my hair short at the end of last summer & i don’t think i ever made a better decision. usually i just let it stay all curly and messy, but these suggestions are great. xx
Fantastic! I’m glad people are finding solace in their short haircuts! I get so bored when I go out at night & every girl has long straight hair — don’t get me wrong, done well it looks fantastic, but sometimes it’s just so dull… I love a little variety & I adore girls who are brave enough to go for the chop!
You can also buy clip in extentions for those who don’t want to bother with glue.
Glue extentions hurt and you have to be careful while washing them- if you can wash your hair at all with them.I had a full set of extentions and I couldn’t wash my hair and it hurt to take out (lots of olive oil- which is great for your hair).
I am currently sporting a short, platinum blonde, with pink bangs kind of do. I’m in the blob phase of growing it out, though. So I can redo extentions.
Hi!
As my site says (www.short-hair-fan.com), I’m a big fan of short hairdos. I am sure that you can make your short hair look different every single day if you put your imagination on work. Don’t be afraid to cut your long hair and use hair accesorries at the begining. Hair need time to get used to the new haircut.
Good luck!
This was a PERFECT article! I’ve been wondering the same thing lately, as I chopped off almost a foot of hair recently and it is now in an a-line cut at my chin, shorter in the back. Usually I’ve had to get used to new haircuts and convince myself to like them, but I think I’ve discovered my perfect length because within half a second of seeing my new short hair, I fell in love. I guess I’m a short hair kinda girl!
On that note, I haven’t had short hair since I got an awful grandma bob (cute on some, dreadful on others) in the sixth grade, so I’ve had no idea what to do with it.
Now I’M lusting after some glittery cupcake barettes!
Great ideas! One of these days I want to cut my hair really short again, but I’ve been so scared that it might end up looking like an old lady hair cut.
My hair was down to nearly my elbows, front and back, for years.
and one day i got so sick of it i chopped it all up, cutting lots of layers of the top, and not many on the bottom. If that makes since. I have a lot of hair, and i teased it, so it was huge on top and got thinner toward the bottom.
then i cut 9 inches off and its about a centimeter above my shoulder.
i liked it at first, but with naturally very straight hair, its boring.
I like to tossed almost wave look, but i need a very easy(seeing that i’m lazy) way to do it.
suggestions?
I recently chopped my hair off… I had it a little below my shoulders, and i was getting annoyed with it, which come to think of it, happens a lot, considering i have curly/frizzy hair, but seeing as i live in a high altitude, it goes wavy or straight, so i cut it off to just at my chin line and then right up high at the top of my neck…i use barrettes and clips practically every day, i am astonished though, that i can actually get it into a half pony, which is totally wicked. But short hair is really fun!!!! ‘cause you can actually do a lot with it…i’m thinking of dyeing my fringe on the left purple or blue….but i am a pale blonde, and i’m not sure how it would look.
what do you think?
Wow, your site is perfect. I LOVE it and your pink hair! This article really helps me, my hair is at the bottom of my ears and it’s kind of hard to style sometimes. It’s black right now. I’m working my way to blonde again, but that’s of course a slow slow slow process.
I came here to find things to do with my hair, and I sure did find it!!!!!
waah
i’ve recently cut my hair and it turned into a bob (-_____-)...i wanted it to look like Rihanna’s recent hairstyle but oh well…
so i’ve searched on google for sites to make short hair interesting and ur’s is the best so far =D
i’ve been wondering… is the hairstyle in the pic of you above the navigation bar teased? cos i really want a style like that…
btw. can you use ANY talcum powder to tease your hair?
good idea….coz i like have diffrent hair…
I have short hair to my shoulders and bangs but it looks like a mess!! I cant get it to look nice at all!! and it is very wavy and i dont know what to do with it??
I just cut my hair about the shortest it’s ever been (three days ago), and in a “oh god what the hell did I do” moment, I desperately went and googled ways to make really choppy, layered hair that’s about earlobe-length look alright…
I’ve been doing the headscarf thing since I was about fifteen and had super long hair (I dunno if the hippie-style ones I’ve got will work now, but oh well) and your whole article just gave me that happy “I’m not alone” feeling! yes, there are other women with short hair who are not necessarily in the military or something.
I think I’m actually ok with it now and not missing that weight about my shoulders that long hair has.
Thanks for all the great ideas. I recently shaved my head (absolute freedom! Every girl should do it!) for a breast cancer benefit and now that it’s starting to grow out I need ideas!
This is perfect.
My annoyingly short was starting to get annoying but with these tips and your school uniform ones
I’m starting to look way cooler in and out of school!
Thanks so much
I love your site
it ROCKS
xx
will i look like a boy like when i was a 3 year old
i have short hair and i can say that is very sexy for the other persones around me , so ….is very fine, but we must remeber that nat everyone can have a short hair!
My sister has short hair and I have excellent scissors. We’ve cut some cool angles into her hair to make it more interesting. It’s worked well. www.myhairstylingtools.com/kam…
ok right i find it hard not to have a bad hair day im in high school but i dont straighten it because it makes it week and brittle and i dont want split ends that would make my life worse so i just put it up and waitin for it to grow long again but that will be crimbo 08 so i just put it up straighten my fringe and accsesorise that makes me unique and stand out from my group so thats what i would do x
Omnomnom.
I had long(ish) hair on one side, boyish at the side and back but then this lad from Toni&Guy was offering free hair cuts (he was a trainee) so i went SHORTTTTTT.
Lovin’ it at the moment. You can muss it up to its bed head or where it smooooooth.
Fave accessories? Mine has to be RIBBONS. Saw a picture of agyness deyn with a ribbon tied round her head so I spent about £3 on LOADS, aquamarine, orange, blue with green edges, tartan, navy blue, leapord print. Also I made these Hama bead rainbows, which i clip in.
Think I might go platinum as well, im blonde atm with about an inch of dark blonde regrowth. I’ll wait a while cos it looks pretty cool at the back cos’ its so short, like a TIGEERRR 0__o
xxx
i recently got 12 inches cut off and its now about to my chin. at first i loved it but now im starting to get really annoyed cuz i cant do anything with it. but after reading this article, im so psyched to go and try some of these idea to spice up my hair! thanks a bunch!
I cut my long hair off because I wanted one of those cute “scene” girl haircuts. A short one. A TOTAL MISTAKE. Gals, guys, whoever, whatever, do NOT cut off your beautiful long hair! Get it layered all around, or dye it, or get bangs, but DON’T cut it to the nap of your neck! I totally regret getting mine cut. Short hair is just..boring. I’ve tried teasing, pinning it up, straightening, etc and just don’t feel attractive at all anymore because of it.
Note of advice: think long and hard before cutting the mane.