This article has been updated since its initial publish date to include more expert insight.
When heading to the salon for a fresh new ‘do this summer, it’s great to bring a celebrity reference photo with you to show your stylist. If your goal is to rock a youthful-esque style that highlights your best features (and doesn’t inadvertently age you), it’s also important to know what best suits your face shape and hair texture.
With that said, we reached out to professional hair stylists to learn more about two popular, celeb-fave hairstyles that might add years to your look, and also what to ask your stylist for instead! Read on for tips, suggestions and insight from Dani Everson, professional hair stylist and owner of Clementine’s Salon and Ghanima Abdullah, hair expert and cosmetologist at The Right Hairstyles.
#1. Blunt Fringe with Chin-Length Bob
The first hairstyle to skip if your goal is to look younger is a blunt, chin-length bob with equally blunt fringe, Abdullah says. Although this look highlights Taylor Swift's features well, Abdullah warns that adding this kind of bangs to a chin-length bob (or slightly longer lob) can also highlight the effects of aging without enhancing your best features.
Thick, blunt bangs that "come past the eyebrows on a blunt lob emphasize every sign of age in the face, as they don't frame the face well,” she explains. “Rather, they push all the attention to the eyes, with all their lines.”
This, she says, is seen as a very classic chic look, but it can make you look older if not cut with voluminous ayers to frame your face shape.
“That's because, like the lob with blunt bangs, the bob emphasizes the eye area, which might not look dewy. Then, it also emphasizes the jaw area, an area that many of us struggle with as we age,” she says.
Her alternate suggestion is also to ask for the ever-so-stylish curtain bangs, as seen above, since they “flatter just about any face at any age,” with any length, as well.
“They neatly frame the face while drawing attention away from serious aging signs,” she points out.
#2. Baby Bangs
While this classic cut can provide an oomph of edginess to any hairstyle, Everson says that it could draw attention to wrinkles or other signs of aging with its forehead-baring look.
Although baby bangs can work for those of us with an Audrey Hepburn-inspired style or Krysten Ritter (as seen above) or Lily Collins (below), Everson says that this cut, which ends before your eyebrows, might have a different effect on mature beauties.
“I love bangs and think everyone has their own special length that enhances their features,” she says, adding that “No two bangs are the same,” and if you are looking to get bangs, “opt for a long hairstyle that will help hide forehead wrinkles.”
This type of fringe, she says, can “overshare someone's wrinkle story,” drawing the eye to sagging skin rather than creating a look that has an upwards or lifting effect.
“The right length of bangs can help make someone's appearance youthful, but too short borders the line between baby-ish and also aging,” she concludes. Another solution to this style, Abdullah suggests, would also be curtain bangs (as seen on Dakota Johnson above), as they can be cut as long or as short as needed, with an ability to wear them parted or straight down. Noted!
