Q: I want to get my hair cut into a short stacked bob similar to the one shown here. I’m afraid though that this style will require a lot of maintenance. I know
that it will look great after my salon visit and styling by a professional, but will I be able to re-create the style at home? It doesn’t exactly look like a do-it-yourself hairstyle. How often will I need to visit the
salon for trims to avoid it looking “out of shape”? Would once per month be sufficient?
A: You’re right in that the stacked bob is generally going to be more of a “high-maintenance” style because it isn’t exactly one that lends itself to do-it-yourself trims. The good news is that the style is adjustable
and you can have the look created so that you can make it less “maintenance dependent” by having the shorter “stacked” sections cut slightly longer or even over-directed to give the hair a smoother finish.
Most gamine-short haircuts result in the eyes becoming the center of focus on the face. This is
primarily due to the fact that these styles keep the attention centered on the area around temple-level (or at least below the parietal
ridge) which is the zone in which the eyes rest.
If you go with a traditional taper, the shortest portions of the taper will probably be less than half an inch in length, which after a month will have more than doubled in length
according to the averages of hair growth. This means that you will need to have it “touched up” at least every three weeks if you want to keep the sharp, clean finish in the nape area.
However, by over-directing the hair and creating a slightly longer nape length (say, three-quarter inches or so), you can easily give yourself from a month to six-weeks between salon
visits. Which should coincide with color retouch services if you choose to include a color treatment in the new look.
Just remember that shorter hairstyles, while they are generally easier to maintain in the day-to-day, have an added cost in more frequent salon visits because the hair growth rate makes
shorter styles change more rapidly than long styles.
