You have beautiful long hair and everyone is envious but all you dream about is a shorter mane? This situation catches many women unawares. You should be happy with your beautiful and voluminous tresses, right?
Not at all. Each woman wants to be different and even the best and the most fantastic hairstyle can make you unhappy when you are standing in front of the mirror. Thankfully, modern women came up with a variety of ways to make your hair look shorter.
How to Make Your Hair Look Shorter
One of the simplest ways to do it is to go to the hairstylist. A couple of cuts and your long locks turn into a pretty pixie. However, most women are not happy with this choice either. You spent all these years growing the hair long and letting it go in a flash is too much to bear.
So the real question is: How can you make your hair look short without cutting it? We came up with a few simple ways to make you forget about the scissors.
1. The Headband Method
This is one of the simplest and the quickest way to achieve a short hairstyle. Of course, it won’t help you make a pixie but a long bob is here for you to enjoy.
- Take a long and thin piece of fabric. A dress belt will do as long as it’s soft enough to become a headband.
- Collect your hair into a ponytail but tie only the bottom part of it. The knot that ties the ponytail should be in the middle of your headband
- Take one end of the headband in your right hand and another in your left one
- Pull the ponytail toward your neck and upward
- The ponytail will be hidden inside your hair
- Tie the headband ends on top to make a bow or do it under your hair in the back.
- Voila! You are ready to go
The only downside of this method is that you have to deal with a headband. You can use a very thin piece of fabric, which matches your hair color so it’s almost invisible.
2. Braid Your Hair
Whenever you braid your locks, they immediately look shorter. This is especially true for cornrows. However, regular French braids can do the trick just as well. Start braiding at the top part of your head and go down the bottom. Make at least two braids.
The tighter you do your braiding, the shorter your hair will look. You can make three braids and then braid them into one. You’ll get an impressive hairstyle while shortening your hair immensely. You can also consider making box braids using your own hair. Or try milkmaid braids with two pigtails wrapped around your head.
3. Braided Mohawk
You can create a stunning mohawk by braiding your long hair the right way. All the eyes will be upon you when you sport it.
- Divide your hair into two parts with an ideal middle part.
- Start taking thin strands from each side of your hair at the front.
- Use two strands from each side to start making a braid, add strands as you go.
- Once you finish at the bottom of your head, you can continue braiding with the rest of your hair. Then you can lift the braid up and pin it to the front or just leave it hanging.
As a result, you get a crest on top and short hair on the sides.
4. Use a Kerchief
If you don’t mind hair accessories, a silk hair kerchief can do the trick. All you have to do is sweep your hair up in a bun or a braid and clip it to the hair on the head.
Then take a kerchief and wrap it around your head as women did back in the 1960s. You don’t just get a stylish short hairstyle, you protect your locks from environmental factors, such as the sun.
5. Clip it Up
Hairclips can become your best friends for making a beautiful short hairstyle. No scissors allowed!
- Wash and dry your hair and spray it with some curl enhancer
- Divide your hair into two parts by making a middle part clip the two side parts upward
- Apply hair gel to the rest of your hair and pull it hard to the back to make a ponytail. The sides should appear smooth.
- Divide the top sections into additional strands and two strands twist them.
- Wait 10 minutes and untwist the strands
- Repeat the same process with the hair you have in the ponytail.
- Pull the ponytail up and use bobby pins to attach to the rest of the hair.
Keep applying hair gel every step of the way if required. This hairstyle is great for both curly and straight hair.
6. A Great Pixie
Even if you couldn’t have dreamed about a pixie with your waist long locks, you can make it in just a few steps.
- Take your hair and pull it back to make a very tight ponytail.
- Depending on the length of your hair you can either braid it or keep it as a ponytail.
- Pull the ponytail up and clip it at the crown or near the front hairline.
- The ends of the ponytail can be arranged as bangs.
7. A Center Back Ponytail
If your hair is medium length, try a slick ponytail in the center back of your head. If you wear it at the nape, your hair would look much longer and hang down the back. When it’s in the center, it looks much shorter, and from the front, you can’t even tell it’s there.
8. A Pin Curl Coif
Try pin curls for an amazing coif. You can design them so that you have a vintage curl in the front with only one removed. And the rest of your hair is in perfectly pinned swirls. It’s lovely, but you may need a little help getting the curls in just the right position.
Make sure to do these the night before and tie them down with a silk scarf so that they don’t have any frizz. Then in the morning, you can add a spritz of hairspray to keep them firmly in place.
9. A Loose Bun
To hide your length, try a loose low bun that’s tucked into the rest of your hair at the nape. This is a chic, messy look that’s cute.
- Bring your hair back to the nape loosely.
- Double it and secure it with an elastic.
- Flip the little bun up and inside the gathered hair.
- If you want a loose french twist look, flip it twice.
- Hide the bun inside of the rest of your hair and pin it.
- Make sure you have a few textured or curly tendrils hanging in the front for style.
10. A Fake Lob
You can create a fake lob by securing the ends with an elastic and then pushing your hair underneath at the nape and clipping it. So this one is something like the loose bun, but you don’t need to double the hair inside the elastic.
Only the ends are gathered. Also, you push it under the hair and secure it instead of flipping it up. If there is any hair that isn’t gathered into the lob, it should be straight and untextured.
FAQs
As with a lob, you can secure the ends with an elastic band. Then push the hair under and secure it at the center-back of your hair.
You can use some of our tips to make your hair appear shorter, or highlight your locks like Johnny Depp did for the trial.
Pull your hair into a tight ponytail in the back, near the crown. Bring some hair to the front for bangs and play around with the rest to create a pixie look.
Amber Heard has done this too. But a pixie look during the trial might have been too edgy a look to be in her favor.
Try any of our short hair looks to get an idea of how you would look if you cut your hair.
There are many! All you need to do is to put your hair in a ponytail in the back so that it doesn’t show during your app try-ons. Search for ‘hairstyle try on’.
Making your hair look short is easier than you might think. These 10 ways can help you enjoy a new short hairstyle without cutting any of your precious locks off. We recommend you to experiment with your hair. Perhaps you’ll come up with a special style all on your own!