When your hair feels flat, lifeless, and dull, nothing perks it up faster than a great haircut or styling tricks. It doesn’t always take much to infuse your hair with volume and vitality, but it may require a strategic snip here and there, additional layers, or even a good bottle of dry shampoo to get roots in tip-top shape.
Ready to make a change that will bring body and fullness to your hair? Try one of these nine haircuts and hairstyling tips for an instant upgrade.
The Lob
The lob is a long bob, plain and simple. It’s the bob for anyone who isn’t ready for “short” hair yet, but feels their long hair is weighing them down and dragging down facial features. It’s cut to the collarbone and looks its fullest best when the ends are kept on the blunt side and a few layers are added to the crown and sides for movement.
Textured Pixie
Take the classic pixie with its short sides, short back, and longer layers on top, but add curls, waves, or spikes. Now you’ve got yourself a cool-as-can-be textured pixie that is playful and funky, and makes your hair look thicker.
Layered Bob
If a lob is too long for you and a textured pixie is too short, the layered bob will be just right. This cut ends around the chin, but can be customized so that it’s shorter or slightly longer. Its defining quality is lots and lots of layering that creates volume and puts the focus on your facial features.
Blunt Bob With Voluminous Roots
A choppy bob isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. If you prefer more polish and fewer layers, ask your stylist to keep the ends of your bob blunt, which can create a fuller and more streamlined look, but blowdry your roots with a round brush so that they are lifted and don’t fall flat. You can even try a few large hot rollers to increase the density of your hair strands.
Beachy Waves
Beachy waves are always in style. These looser, less defined waves can be created with salt spray and good old-fashioned hand scrunching while diffusing your hair. You can also invest in a set of heated waving rods or heatless curls that can be worn to bed.
Curly Shag
A shag haircut features lots of layers and great movement, with a nod to the retro 1970s. Keep the ends around shoulder height or shorter and add curls — whether natural or from curlers — to rev up the volume in your hair.
Side-Swept Bangs and Layers
You can’t put your finger on it, but your crown feels … flat. Have you considered bangs or side-swept bangs with face-framing layers? Few styles create an instant impact like bangs can, plus they’re easier than most other hairstyles to alter if you aren’t feeling them that day (there’s very little a pretty headband can’t fix).
Dry Shampoo
When all else fails and it’s early in the morning, you need to get out the door, but your hair won’t cooperate, grab a can of trusty dry shampoo. Dry shampoo effectively “cleans” your roots of surface oils and gives your hair an instant refresh. It provides lift and volume, as well. Just be sure to wash it out of your hair well — product build-up can lead to a dry scalp and dandruff.
Teased Roots and Backcombed Hair
An old-school volumizing trick: tease your roots with a teasing comb and then backcomb your hair to create lift. This styling method works really well with updos and half up, half down styles.
