First of all, if we’re going to talk about how to style medium length hair and mistakes that happen with it that are robbing youthful appearance, you first need to understand what I mean by medium length hair.
I’m talking about any length from say a bob shape to roughly the collarbone. And when I say youthful, what I mean is not trying to make ourselves look young, but instead trying to look the best that we can at whatever age we are.
Table of Contents
Bob
The very first mistake deals with bob shapes.
Let’s be honest, bob’s are like the most popular medium-length haircut ever.
One of the biggest mistakes that I see when it comes to bob shapes is having the line parallel to the floor.
When we look at each other, we look at each other from a profile to some extent. We don’t look at each other face on.
When we’re turning our head to that profile, that line actually being parallel to the floor doesn’t follow our bone structure and therefore it’ll actually make it appear as though that length is dragging a bit in the back.
When that happens, it has a tendency to bring the eye down and that can make us look more tired.
Typically trying to do when we’re talking about looking more youthful is we’re trying to lift the eye up and not drag ourselves down. Having that length parallel to the floor will actually tend to work against us.
I realize it’s actually a very popular thing right now – the one length blunt very basic bob. It is a big deal.
If it’s something that you can rock and you feel good in, I say go for it, but understand the potential that it can have if it is parallel to the floor.
What I would recommend instead is having that line follow basically the face structure. When it follows that line it has a tendency to lift the eye up, to swing and flow nicer, and overall will potentially look a bit more youthful.
Flipping Out
This next tip is a little bit of an opinion, but it’s definitely something that you want to pay attention to.
When you start talking about medium length hair, we’re talking about a length range that’s really sitting around the shoulders or the traps.
The concern about this is when your hair sits at that length, it’s very easy for it to break on your shoulders and start to flip out and then depending on how long it is, it could flip out quite a bit.
It’s not that this is a bad look and it’s not that you shouldn’t do it. The reason I say that this is a potential mistake is not paying attention to what that’s going to do for the overall shape.
If you’re trying to create a shape where you add a little bit more volume up towards the temples or the top and maybe take out or taper in a little bit of that volume to the sides, but then it starts to flip out or break out, it could add more volume to the bottom and therefore creates the illusion there’s less volume on top and work against what you’re trying to achieve, which is more volume up in the temple area to accentuate more cheek structure and lift the eye up.
It’s not to say that you shouldn’t do it, it’s just to say that you want to pay attention to what that kick can do.
The other possible concern with having it flip out is if it flips out too much, it can be a little bit dating in just the overall look and that may be a larger concern.
But this is probably the only tip that’s actually more of an opinion than anything else. But nonetheless you should pay attention to it.
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Not Styling
The next mistake is not styling your hair.
Really what I mean by this or what happens is many times people when they start moving into a medium length, they don’t recognize the time that it’s going to take to actually style it.
More than likely, medium length hair is going to have some sort of layering and if you’re used to longer hair, where maybe you didn’t have quite as much layering or you pulled it back a lot and just aren’t really used to taking the time to manage those layers.
Or you had short hair in the past and the shape was truly just cut into the hair and you just wake up and shower and go.
When you get into medium shapes, you’re going to likely be dealing with layers and it’s going to likely require more maintenance.
The concern is if you don’t take the time to style it, you’re not going to get the appropriate shape that’s going to help accentuate what you want to accentuate about your overall face shape.
This is going to be what’s going to help you look more youthful.
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Not Layering
The next big mistake is not layering your hair.
I get it, you don’t want to layer it because at a medium length it might be hard to get it pulled back, especially if you’ve had shorter hair in the past or even if you’ve had longer hair in the past, it’s likely that you want to be able to pull your hair back off your face when you can.
The thing is medium length hair, if you don’t add some sort of layering, is going to get exceptionally full, because it’s not long enough to weigh itself down, and it’s not short enough to have that volume removed.
It’s a scenario where if you do leave it one length to get it pulled back in a ponytail, if you ever plan on wearing it down, it’s going to get very triangular.
That’s when we have a problem with it adding too much fullness, bringing the eye down. I would argue that in these scenarios, at a medium length, you want to have some layering.
Just understand that when you go to pull your hair back, you still should be able to get your hair back, you may have some pieces that fall out, that you tuck behind the ears. Or you may have to use a couple bobby pins behind the ear to get it back off of your face.
But to me that’s a small price to pay for the benefit that you get.
Too Long Layering
The next tip is layering that’s too long.
The problem with this is when you have layers that are too long, especially when you’re dealing with a, medium length, you’re going to find that you’ll get all of the detriments of having layers with none of the real benefits.
It’ll actually lighten your hair up just a little bit, you’ll find that you’ll get more volume in the bottom, which ends up giving it more of the triangular shape and actually bringing the eye down even more.
In this scenario you’re not quite taking the layers short enough to create true volume on top and to alleviate the bulk out of the sides.
You find that you actually accentuate all of the things that you’re trying to walk away from.
You want to layer it short enough to get the actual benefits of having layers.
Samantha is a hairstylist with over 12 years of color and stylist experience. She enjoys using her knowledge to create what her clients really want when they sit down in her chair. Her passion is creating unique looks that her clients feel great in.