(Culture)
Now is around the time when your desire for a dramatic hair change goes from innocent craving to exigent need. So, which will it be? A sharp bang? A '60s pixie? Or bolder, maybe? Bowl cuts and mullets are reportedly on trend. If we're talking low-stakes options, the answer is obvious. These lob-donning celebrities prove that a shoulder-skimming haircut is the safest way to be simultaneously timeless and cool.
Once you chop your strands to chin level or higher, the styling possibilities diminish with every inch of hair gone. The final step before that happens is called the lob. This collarbone-length —sometimes shorter, sometimes longer — cut is eternally fashionable without compromising on versatility. That is to say: You can still pull it into a low bun if need be.
There are a few celebrities who hardly ever stray from this length, such as Emma Stone, Reese Witherspoon, and Taylor Swift, and others who sport it on a more occasional basis, such as Bella Hadid and Khloe Kardashian. Just recently, Venus Williams debuted the ultimate cool-girl version while Selena Gomez proved that curly girls can rock a shoulder-grazing crop, too.
Five celebrity-approved lobs to inspire your summer hair transformation, ahead.
The Lazy Girl-Friendly Version
Margot Robbie is the poster child of lobs. Save the odd Sharon Tate moment, you'll rarely see her hair any shorter or longer than just below the shoulder. And not that she's lazy — quite the opposite, actually — but the length does, indeed, favor a sort of just-rolled-out-of-bed, unbrushed look. Hailey Baldwin has a similar cut that she often wears in undone waves, too.
Choppy With A Blunt Bang
2020 is turning out to be the year of clean finishes and dynamic shapes (think: a resurgence of A-lines and super-blunt edges) and Venus Williams' new cool-girl cut is the embodiment of that. In mid-May, she debuted the choppiest lob with chunky, contrasting highlights and a thick, straight-across bang.
Bella Hadid's Retro Take
If you're as nostalgic as Bella Hadid seems to be, you probably obsessed over the '90s-inspired rounded bob she famously debuted at the CFDA Awards in 2017. It was glossy, flipped inward at the ends, and featured tapered bangs (the highlight of the whole look).
Side-Swept & Fail-Proof À La Reese Witherspoon
Not all lobs have to be so bold as Hadid's '90s cut or Williams' choppy crop, though. Take Reese Witherspoon's, for instance. She's been wearing her blonde hair at shoulder-length for literal decades and it's never gone out of style. Her timeless take is side-swept, slightly layered, and textured.
& One For The Curls, Too
Don't you dare cast off a long bob just because you have curly hair. Selena Gomez — a longtime bob wearer — has been letting her coils out to play lately and they're looking pretty great in a shaggy, '70s kind of way, don't you think?
