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Time to Cut It All Off? The Best Short Hairstyles for Round Faces

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Ever since I was about ten years old, I’ve been a huge fan of wearing my hair short. The longest it’s gotten since then is somewhere around my chest, and I usually get tired of it before then and chop it back around my chin. The thing with short to medium length hair, though, is that you can get a bad cut or style a lot more easily than with long hair. One of the most important things is knowing your face shape and what will work for you. Today, I’m going to focus on short hairstyles for round faces.

The Basics

If you don’t know what face shape you have, take a look at this basic outline to figure it out. If you determine that your face is round, keep reading! The key to styling hair for a round face is to make sure that you lengthen your face, rather than cutting it short. If you go for bangs, opt for a piecey cut rather than something blunt or straight. If you have layers (especially curls!) make sure that they don’t fall right at your cheekbones.

I’m going to go through the shortest possible pixie cut all the way to a long bob (which is venturing into the realm of medium length hair). There are, of course, plenty of beautiful long hairstyles for round faces as well, but the focus here is the short ones.

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Pixie Cuts

  • Boycut. The shortest pixie cut option, a boycut can look great on a round face. While the boycut is very similar to a cropped pixie, it has a bit more of an edge to it. A cropped pixie has soft layers, while the boycut is much blunter and usually doesn’t have bangs.
  • Modern Pixie. This is the most popular pixie cut at the moment. Most of the celebrities that you see rocking pixies are using the modern pixie as their base! This pixie cut is shaggy on the top, usually with short bangs, and cut up short at the nape of the neck. For my pixie cut, I opted to leave the hair in front of my ear longer, but you can cut it up short if you prefer (though that’s typically more a trademark of the boycut).
  • Undercut Pixie. If you want something a bit edgier, you can shave down the sides of your head for an undercut pixie. After that, you have a lot of variety of choices in what you do on top. You can leave the hair long and either let it fall asymmetrically to one side or straight back, or you can keep the top shorter as well – just not quite as short as the sides. The fun thing about leaving the hair on top long is that you can easily add volume for a special occasion to make the hair much larger and give a totally different look.
  • Thick Cut Pixie. The key to this cut is to leave a lot of volume in your hair when you get it cut. If you have thicker hair, a lot of stylists will thin the top out when you get a pixie so that it’s not overwhelming on the top. Instead, you can opt to skip the thinning and rock a really thick pixie style. This is a good style to rock if you’re thinking about growing out your pixie since it naturally adds more length.

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    Short Bobs

  • Parisian Short Bob. This cut verges on being a pixie – in a lot of cases, it’s the transition style between a pixie and a bob as you’re starting to grow your hair out. The Parisian bob is characterized by short bangs and very short hair. The difference from a pixie is that in a Parisian bob the difference in length from front to back is much less drastic. The hair around your face might be slightly shorter, but it gradually meets the length in the back instead of the back being noticeably longer. Parisian bobs are especially cute if you take the time to add some curls!
  • Flapper Bob. The typical 20s-style bob (a la The Great Gatsby) has shot back into style in recent years, and it is the perfect look for any round-faced woman who wants a short cut. Think of Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan in the 2013 Gatsby movie for an idea of the cut. Flapper bobs typically feature bangs and taper in around the chin. If you want to really lean into the roaring 20s feel, have it cut up shorter in the back than the front.
  • Shag Bob. This style is exactly what it sounds like – a short bob with a lot of shaggy layers. This look will work better for women with thick hair since the shagginess really comes from the variety of layers all hitting each other in unique ways. If you’re going to add bangs to this one, I would recommend side swept bangs. Definitely, don’t go with something blunt, it’ll totally throw off the look. If you really like center bangs, get something piecey and layered there as well.
  • Barrel Curls Bob. This is more of a style than a cut, but it’s a great look for a short to medium length bob. The key here is to start the curls around your cheekbones – you don’t need to have ringlets that start right from your roots. I think that this looks better the tighter the curls are, but you could also rock it with really big barrel curls if that’s your MO.

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    Long Bobs

  • Asymmetrical Bob. Pretty much what it sounds like – an asymmetrical bob will be longer on one side than the other. You can do this as subtly or dramatically as you like. I’ve seen bobs that have one side up at the chin and the other swooping down the shoulder and others that have one side up at the ear and the other inching down to the chin with the help of some accent bangs. The nice thing about an asymmetrical bob is that if you get tired of it or decide you don’t like it, after all, it’s really easy to do damage control. Just go back to your stylist and have her cut the asymmetrical side up to match the other!
  • Choppy Bob with Bangs. This is similar to the shag bob, but since the cut is longer the layers should be longer. With longer layers, the cut will look more piecey than shaggy because it won’t puff out to the sides as much. Obviously, you can do this cut with or without bangs, but it looks incredible with some nice piecey bangs that get longer at the sides of your forehead.
  • Balayage Long Bob. The key to this style is the coloring. Long bobs are great on their own, but sometimes you need a little something to spice it up. Balayage highlights are a great way to accentuate the long bob since they draw the eye down to the ends of your hairstyle. In the same way, the balayage tricks anyone looking at you to thinking your face is longer than it is – thus making your face seem less noticeably round.

    • Conclusion

    So there you have it! There are so many cool, flattering short hairstyles to try with a round face – don’t be afraid to go for it! Some of these styles will work for you even if you don’t have a round face, though they’re obviously geared toward that audience. I personally have more of a square face, but I’ve still worn the modern pixie and a pseudo-flapper bob in my time.

    Are you currently rocking a short hairstyle with a round face? Are you toying with the idea of chopping it all off? Is there a particular look you’ve been dying to try? Have any of these worked well (or not-so-well) for you? Sound off in the comments to let us know!