Easy tips to keep your hairstyle fresh between cuts
Simple styling of your hair can give the illusion of freshly cut hair and extend the life of your hairstyle between visits to the barber.
Problem solved, USA TODAY
Kristen Gamboa considered buying a wig.
The 27-year-old cut her hair in January and wore it in a blunt, chin-length bob. She and her friend had promised not to cut it into a bob — but Gamboa’s hair fell about 10 inches to the ground.
“She stayed strong, and I didn’t,” says Gamboa, an executive assistant based in Tennessee. “I just regret it. It’s going to take years to recover from this.”
Gamboa, a self-proclaimed “victim of the bob trend,” still manages her short hair. She is one of the many women who have given in to Bob’s temptations and posted their regrets on social media. Dewy-eyed women with ruined bobs share their sadness and warnings about impulsive hair shaving.
Lauren Downing Peters, an associate professor of fashion at Columbia University Chicago, says of the bob theory, “There’s an element of ‘don’t make the same mistakes I did’.” “Women look out for other women.”
Bob is not as easy-going as we think
The bob trend is nothing new. In the 1920s, the flapper-cut style was popularized and marked a fundamental shift from Victorian-era femininity, Peters says. That sense of freedom that Bob evokes lives on, she says.
“It’s about what the bob symbolizes as this free, easy-going hairstyle,” says Peters. “Soft long waves have been very suffocating for the past decade. This is a trend cycle that moves into the next trend.”
However, Bob is not as easy-going as many people think. “There’s a desire to have one less thing to worry about by getting a haircut that looks easy, but in reality it’s often more difficult,” says Peters.
And if you don’t take care of Bob, you’ll run into perhaps the internet’s most feared risk. Peters says he resembles the villain Lord Farquaad from “Shrek.” She, too, admits to having been subjected to multiple “unhappy bobs” in recent years.
“There’s something about the ubiquity of this hairstyle, because of how many images we’re exposed to on a daily basis,” Peters says. “We tend to lose ourselves. Our phones are mirrors, and we’re always looking at other people’s photos. There’s an element of, ‘If I go get that bob haircut, I’ll transform into that person online.’ But at the end of the day, you’re the only one with a different haircut.”
And the internet can be painful if your style isn’t perfect, Gamboa says.
“Social media is the worst. People post pictures of themselves with bob hair, and people get mean in the comments. It can feel like it’s diminishing you as a woman,” she says. “It can affect your self-esteem.”
Why not try it with a bob?
It’s not all bad news. Gamboa pairs her short hair with chunky earrings and a baseball cap, and she likes how the cut feels “cute” and girly. Long hair is “elegant,” but a bob is “edgy,” so she enjoys styling her hair (after washing it much faster) with outfits that convey this feeling.
Whether you’re aligned with Lord Farquaad or just love the look, Gamboa says, “Own it while you can.”
“Embrace it,” she says. “It’s hair.”
If you’re interested in a bob right now, Peters suggests trying a modest cut first to see how you like the change and practicing styling your hair short. You can always take more off if the length feels right.
And Peters is trying out another chop idea. “I have intrusive Bob thoughts that are trying to push out. There’s definitely something in the air. I have that desire, but there’s also a part of me that’s trying to remember the recent past.”
