3 Top Cuts & Hairstyles for Fine Hair

There’s no need to dunk your head into a barrel full of apples to enjoy a refreshing bob.

(Sidetrack moment: did you know that bobbing for apples began as a way to launch romantic partnerships? In this ancient game, maidens marked apples and tossed them into a harvest-time barrel. Next, they’d anxiously hope that their desired beaus would pluck the intended apples forth via teeth. The apples that young men nabbed were considered to be a determination for auspicious matches.)

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Bobs and fine hair are ideally suited. Choose this classic cut and plan on being smitten.

The backstory about bobs.

The bob first emerged in the 1890’s with Polaire, a tiny-waisted French actress who was at the forefront of fashion.

She used her short haircut as a means of rebellion against the expectations held for women. In New York, she was criticized for the hairstyle that earned her the reputation as “the ugliest woman in the world”. Nonetheless, she wore it with unusual beauty, and positioned the bob as a challenger of cultural norms.

It follows that the bob was the preferred hairstyle in the Roaring Twenties. Zelda Fitzgerald was one of the first ‘Flappers’ and wore this style with aplomb: we can look to her for inspiration.

Zelda was straight to the point with her words, “Excuse me for being so intellectual. I know you would prefer something nice and feminine and affectionate”.

She was creative and fearless in both actions and hairstyle...

The ear length, face-framing style was worn by gorgeous film stars in straight swinging dresses... This iconic look is captured in photographs, and again and on the silver screen.

The bob hairstyle was a symbol towards gender equality all through the twenties (now you’re talkin’!) until it lost momentum in the thirties.

Bobs returned to vogue in the 1960s, when it re-emerged on the scissors of Vidal Sassoon. The mod scene was startled away from uncomfortable curlers and embraced freedom with edgy lines and shapes.

In the 70s the modified bob became longer, and shaggier. The 1980s retreated to tighter shorter silhouettes.

Now let's jump again a few decades forward – all the way to 2021.

The bob is back! Halle Berry, J. Lo, Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman and Rihanna have all been photographed with various versions of the bob...

So if you’re considering turning to this hairdo, you’ll join the ranks of bob-a-licious bombshells!

You won’t need a tennis racquet to achieve the layered lob with a blunt fringe.

And neither did Cleopatra, who volleyed between Antony and Caesar on a court of intrigue.

Cleopatra embodied beauty and cunningness. She’ll be long remembered as the Queen of the Nile – and one of history’s most famed seductresses and assassins.

What’s even more impressive was her multilingualism (she spoke at least twelve languages), and intellectual prowess in math, philosophy, and astronomy.

Although Hollywood took creative liberty with her hairstyle in the 1963 film, she was nonetheless memorialized by Elizabeth Taylor in the film Cleopatra: she will be long associated with the mythical long bob and blunt goddess-fringe.

It’s not surprising that the minimal fringe survived the ages and cropped up repeatedly. Did you know if you lived in 16th Century England and had short bangs, you would have committed the mortal sin of vanity?

Later on Bettie Page was sexy and brazen with her blunt fringe and 1950’s pin ups. Her locks were longer but nonetheless, blunt bangs made waves once again.

Now that times have changed, it’s socially acceptable and encouraged to look your best. (Insert thunderous applause)

Shimmery powder is not required for the pixie cut to shine.

And shine it will, even over it’s dark history.

First appearing in the early 19th century, short haircuts such as the Titus were reflective of the French punitive system (think guillotine – the hair of the accused was cropped short to ensure the, uh, apparatus, would do its job).

This was cutting-edge only briefly, perhaps due to the unpleasant association. Fair enough!

Longer locks returned to the height of fashion and dominated popularity for another century, but the pixie cut has made a triumphant return – and this time without the violent imagery.