As Pro Hairstylist Justin Hickox explains, it’s very easy to see a hairstyle in a magazine or on TV and think, “That is gorgeous — perfect for me.” It’s another thing to imagine that hairstyle suiting your specific hair needs. If your hair is thin or fine, some styles that look fabulous with the help of lots of product and pro hairstylist styling know-how may fail to translate once you get home, are in front of your bathroom mirror, and have no idea how to recreate that magic by yourself.
It’s not that you can’t get the following five haircuts if you have thin or fine hair, but Hickox wants you to understand there are some caveats that go along with each style.
Here are the five medium-length hairstyles Hickox says you should “never wear” if you have fine or thin hair.
1. No Front Layering
If you are starting to thin because of hormonal or genetic reasons, you may notice most of your thinning starts gradually around the front of your head and crown. Without any layering in this area, the thinness will be more apparent. But adding a few front layers can make these pieces appear “denser” and give your hair more of a boost.
2. Too Much Layering
There is a such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to layering. If you choose a medium-length haircut, the further you get from your neckline, the more difficult it is to pull off bottom layering. The same amount of layering that looked great with a bob can look stringy and thin with longer hair.
3. Long Bob
The one-length long bob, or lob, breaks somewhere around the collarbone. Because it’s on the longer side, it can drag thin or fine hair down. If you’re someone who appreciates the look of more volume and density, a sleek lob may feel and look too flat for you.
4. Overly Angled Bob
Going too dramatic with the angling on a bob gives you more length in the front of your hair, and this layer of hair can be too long if you have thin or fine hair. To really pull off an extreme angled bob and get that drama you’re craving, the hair requires some density.
5. Wolf Haircut
The wolf cut can be your enemy or best friend, Hickox says. This shag cut, with thin or fine hair, requires a lot of layering at the bottom — it’s supposed to look thin at the bottom. This might work fine for you because you won’t find yourself chasing volume. But the problem that Hickox points out comes when the bottom layers are too long. Too much length can make your hair look stringy, but cutting too much length off might not give you the wolf cut you are after.
This is one cut that you should discuss with a good stylist first. If any of the cuts on this list work just fine for you and your thin or fine hair, keep doing what you’re doing. But if you feel something is off about your cut, it could be that you need a different shape to suit your hair type.
