4 Medium-Length Hairstyles That Drag Down Your Features And Add Years To Your Face—And What To Ask Your Stylist For Instead

1. One-Length Cut With Straight Hair

Pulling off a one-length medium cut with straight hair and no layering can be done, but often requires medium-to-thick hair texture so that it doesn’t fall flat. Even with a denser hair type, this may not be the most exciting or youthful cut because it doesn’t frame the face and call attention to your facial features.

A better plan may be to add layering, especially face-framing layers. These give your hair bounce and volume, and can make thin hair look thicker.

2. Heavy, Blunt Overgrown Bob

Blunt bobs can look chic. But if your bob is starting to grow out and is past the chin or thereabouts, its blunt shape can look excessively heavy at the bottom, and this can give you hair a more square shape that isn’t always flattering.

If you love your blunt bob, just be sure to schedule regular haircut appointments so that it maintains the ideal bob length. A grown-out bob can benefit from a few well-placed layers to give it movement.

3. Shoulder Length With Heavy Flat Bangs

Heavy flat bangs on shoulder-length hair give your overall hair a square shape that can be look severe. If you have thin hair, pulling too much hair from the back to create a thick blunt bang also means making the rest of your hair look thinner. A better solution may be to go for a choppier, lighter fringe in front, similar to Jane Birkin bangs. Or, if you’re open to skipping short bangs altogether, curtain bangs that are shorter in front and gradually grow longer to frame the face continue to be trendy.

4. Dark Hair With No Dimension

Sometimes the problem with your haircut that you can’t place your finger on isn’t about the cut at all — it’s about the color. Too-dark hair, especially if you are over 40 and looking for ways to brighten your complexion, can highlight imperfections in skin, and it can even drag the face down. Balayage, highlights, or a lighter base color with a few face-framing highlights can perk up your skin, draw attention to your cheekbones and other facial features, and make your medium haircut pop.