Hair Style – The layered look

The rough and tumbled look of expertly layered hair look always soft and feminine, whether the hair is left in a shaggy mane or smoothed back in gentle waves. Layering provides an excellent solution to straight flat hair because the layers provide movement and body of their own.
The layered hair cut is of major importance in layering. A poor cut can result in the steep, bulky steps that will never sit properly instead, they will lie in hard angular lumps, which is not what layering is about.

A good layered hair cut will bring direction and volume to the hair. It can be combed forward or backward, from one side to the other, and always result in a feathery swirl.
Layered look can be the answer for fine, thin hair and make its texture appear thicker. The trend today is toward razor cutting, because this produces the best possible degree of fine feathering.

Layered look can produce its own shape with ease-thinning out certain areas to balance the face shape and features. Softly layered fringes, for example, are kinder to a large nose than the heavier, all one length fringes. A feathering of layers around the face will disguise overgenerous ears while layers on the crown will provide natural height and slim down a square or round face.

On layered look hair, the layers themselves must be long. Otherwise, the hair will stand out in a puffy halo and a change of styles might prove difficult. With short hair, the layers need careful control so that the hair falls softly and prettily into shape, without spiking at the crown. Make sure your hairdresser checks for cowlicks on the crown if you are having a short layered crop. Allowances must be made for these during cutting.

Medium length straight hair layered looks marvelous cut in gentle layers. If the layers are long enough, it will still be possible to sweep hair up at night. For a really elegant look, keep it smooth, almost severe, with just a suggestion of fringe on the forehead (right). Left straight, the effect is casual and almost windswept (far right). If dried with a round brush and handheld dryer, wonderful waves and controlled movement can be achieved.