I put my shorter hair up so that it sits just above my shoulder, and my stylist tells me that I’m officially going from a bob to a lob. For the past couple of years I’ve oscillated between these two comically named hair lengths and had (apparently) every length in between so I thought I might share some experience on the subject: namely, how to grow your hair through it’s difficult middle phase. When it no longer hugs the jaw and looks cool and edgy, but it’s still not long enough or heavy enough to hang nicely.
The Lord Farquaad Stage. The Triangular Age. When the hair seems to only want to grow outwards and not downwards and becomes more and more wedge-shaped as it grows longer. It’s hair purgatory: you’re left waiting for an indeterminate amount of time, wondering what the hell you can do to prevent yourself from looking like a Brownie Leader from the eighties.
Here’s the thing – and all credit goes to my hairdresser and hairstylist Cassie* for these cutting tips:
1 – Keep it trimmed. Don’t think that by ignoring the cut as it grows, you can speed up the process: it will just look uglier for longer. I’ve found that it’s even more important to stay on top of the cut, because in that nowhere land that is ‘between the jaw and the shoulder’ the imperfection is much more apparent. The ends of the hair hang there, as if showing. So keep cutting it regularly and:
2 – Ask to take some of the weight off the back if you have thick hair or lots of fine hair. I just cut the back (no layers) to take some of the weight off and I find that my hair is neater and doesn’t blow up behind me like a medieval lute’s hair.
3 – Also talk to your stylist about the A-line cut. This is when the hair is cut slightly longer in the front, gradually getting shorter as we reach the back. We’re talking subtle amounts of difference here, not the full works of Vidal Sassoon – it just seems to make the shape look more purposeful. Rather apologetic. It’s a lot more modern too – I have my shorter bobs in an A-line cut too, it’s a great little trick.
So by taking some weight off the back and keeping the lovely A-line cut I get when it’s shorter, I feel like I mostly manage to avoid Lord Farquaad’s dreaded triangle. The one (big) benefit to growing it out, though, is that it’s finally long enough to tie off, so if there’s ever a really bad triangle head day, I can just make it a (still very weak and flimsy) one. very little) bun.
In fact that’s really why I’m growing it back to the shoulder or just above it. As much as I love the messy bob for its instant coolness and ability to look great with very little styling, I really miss being able to scrape it back into a bun or ponytail.
Exhibit C (the bun):
Let’s all guess how long it will be before I get tired of always pulling it back into a ponytail and want to cut it all off again…
By the way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having any length of hair between the jaw and the shoulder – my hairdresser actually likes the length I have now more than she likes any other haircut she has done – it’s just a popular hair “danger zone”. because it’s the length where a lot of people come off. They’re starting to grow shorter hair, but they’re not cutting it back and shaping it, and – well – we talked about what’s going on. Medieval lutes unite.
*I get my hair cut and colored at The Suite in Bath and have for years. I am a full paying customer and go to Cassie or Mathilde, you can find their website here.
