The bob is a hairstyle which I have returned to constantly throughout my life. Two years ago, after a bleach-blonde-turned-bright-orange mullet stint, I went back to my roots in the form of a blunt, naturally dark brown bob framed by a block fringe — and haven’t looked back since.
The bob is undeniably having a moment right now, and for long-term fans like myself, it’s easy to see why. It’s a classic style that requires relatively little maintenance, whilst managing to look both youthful and sophisticated. Tom Gear, senior stylist and colourist at salon Bebop, says of the style: ‘The bob embodies that perfect mix of timeless style and modern edge, which sits right in line with the 1990s/Y2K revival everyone’s loving at the moment. People are looking to icons like Zendaya, Hailey Bieber and Gigi Hadid who are all rocking their own takes on the bob.’
So why is it, for a haircut that has proved its versatility and stood the test of time, that when I type its name into Google, the suggested searches are phrases like: ‘will a bob suit me?’ ‘short hair fat face’, ‘will a bob make me look fatter?’ etc? In 2024, it’s depressing to realise that many of us still carry dated notions and perceptions about our hair.
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I don’t know where exactly I picked up the idea that haircuts possessed the ability to add or shed pounds, but as a 1990s child, the media and mass culture raised me to believe that thinness was life’s ultimate goal. It was the desired outcome of what you ate (or didn’t eat), what clothes you wore, and thus, what kind of hairstyle you had. This belief had a trickle down effect into salons, as hair stylist Ash Hill explains: ‘So many people are worried about their hair negatively changing their face shape because it’s been beaten into us for years. It’s one of the first fundamentals you learn in British hairdressing schools, to make the head an oval as “it’s the most flattering face shape”.’
Because of this, I spent most of my teenage years and well into my twenties wearing hair extensions. My hair could never be long enough or thick enough to cover up the fact that I was 5ft 2inches, a size UK 12, and had 34E cup boobs. As someone obsessed with fashion, I didn’t see bodies like mine in the magazines I obsessively consumed. However, the one thing I could easily change about myself was my hair, and so I glued, clipped and faked my way into the aesthetic du jour.
Thankfully after leaving secondary school I discovered feminism, and started to unlearn most of what had been drummed into me from a young age about looks. I realised that instead of curating my appearance for the consumption of others, I could opt for things I actually liked, regardless of whether they made me look ‘feminine’ or dare I say it, ‘thin’. Tattoos, piercings, and frankly unhinged make-up choices followed, as I experimented with different rebellious personas much to the dismay of my parents.
In my second year of university, I got asked to be a hair model for Vidal Sassoon. Getting paid to have my hair professionally (albeit by students) cut and coloured? I was sold. Micro-crops with brightly coloured panels, ranging across purples, oranges and pinks, with asymmetric fringes and undercuts — while these weren’t my favourite hair looks, they were certainly bold ones. This journey came to an end when a trainee left bleach developing on my fringe for too long, subsequently burning my scalp and forehead (she refused to wash it off as the colour hadn’t lifted enough, and instead blew my face with cold air from the hair dryer until she deemed it ready).
However, all of this made me realise that I could embrace dramatically short hair. My boobs and my body would still remain the same size, even if I wished they wouldn’t. I learned that the relationship between hair and weight was a non-existent one — like so many other beauty myths, women like me had been sold a lie.
This was a frustrating, but also incredibly liberating discovery — in the years that followed, I even shaved my head entirely, something I recommend that everyone does at least once. It’s a look that I truly loved, and one of the most empowering (and not to mention easy) hairstyles I’ve ever had, but it didn’t feel enough like me for the long-run.
I am a style chameleon, and I hate being too committed to one look. I oscillate between dressing hyper feminine (dresses, bows, ruffles) and androgynous (street wear, oversized silhouettes, suiting), so my hair needs to be able to do the same. A well-cut, chin-length bob feels like the perfect anchor — it can make a T-shirt and jeans look polished as hell, and a voluminous Molly Goddard skirt appear grown-up rather than childish with my short stature. As celebrity hair stylist and founder of Queens Peckham salon Beth Kucic puts it: ‘Bobs automatically give you style. They’re chic and put together, even if you don’t feel together on the inside!’
My approach to my overall look has always been to opt for what I like and what will bring me joy, rather than what I think might ‘suit me’. It sounds cheesy, but as Kucic says: ‘We should have more of a fuck it attitude’ when it comes to our hair. She believes that ‘anybody should be able to wear any haircut — it’s all about owning it and the hairdresser properly cutting that type of style to suit someone’s face.’
This is obviously easier said than done, especially as so many of us have had traumatic salon experiences where we’ve been left with cuts we aren’t happy with. ‘Consultation is key, as well as finding the right hairdresser,’ advises Kucic, for those considering going for a shorter bob.
Gear at Bebop shares a similar ethos, noting: ‘Concerns around a big chop are totally natural, and I hear them often, but the truth is, with a well-considered cut, any hairstyle can be incredibly flattering. The key is in customising it to the individual, and playing up their best features.’
While we have come a long way from the problematic attitudes of the 1990s, our current decade has a whole host of new issues when it comes to body image and beauty standards. Social media bombards us with images of unattainable perfection on a daily basis, as well as driving a lighting speed trend cycle. ‘Take your time with decisions, and don’t just follow trends when it comes to your next haircut’ is important advice to follow from stylist Hill.
All of this isn’t to say that I don’t have moments when I wish I had a tall and willowy silhouette, topped off with thick, effortlessly tousled waist length hair. I’m only human, and it’s near-impossible to not compare yourself to others in our ultra-online world. But you have to work with what you’ve got, and stay true to who you are — and a razor-sharp bob haircut allows me to do exactly that.
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