Summer is the ideal time to cut your hair. It’s hot, and no one wants heavy hair sticking to their neck and hanging down their back. It’s also busy, so you need a wash-and-go style that you can still dress up for formal occasions. The lob, AKA long bob, has been having a moment for a few years now, and salon guests in-the-know love to shake things up with a lob when they get the itch to make the chop.
Aveda Artist Timothy Walkinhood, who works at Douglas J Salon in Okemos, MI, says he’s had plenty of lob fans in his chair. “It’s trendy, it’s modern, and it gives you so many options for styling,” he says of the cut. “You can still pull it up, you can use Texture Tonic to scrunch and go and if you want to spend some time with the iron, that’s a good look too!”
Timothy praises the look’s versatility, especially in the summer months. “You can go from day to night super easily,” he says. “If you’re wearing your hair up for work, you can come home, throw in a couple curls, spray some Texture Tonic in it and it’s nighttime ready. You don’t have to spend all the heat time if you don’t want to because it’s so in now to look effortless and lived-in and not so polished, [so a lob is] perfect for the summer.”
Timothy’s number one product pick for styling a lob is, if you haven’t guessed, Texture Tonic. “Whether it’s on straight hair, thick hair or fine hair, it enhances the natural texture,” he explains. “It creates that piecey definition.”
It’s also his go-to for guests who prefer to airdry their lobs. “I prep the hair with Brilliant Damage Control to detangle, towel-dry by squeezing, not roughly drying, spray Texture Tonic on the midlengths and ends and scrunch,” he says. “Then I spray a little more, scrunch a little more – there’s a lot of scrunching if I’m going natural – or I’ll spray and twist the hair into waves or loose curls and literally let it dry without touching it.” If you need frizz control, try using Be Curly Style-Prep or Brilliant Retexturing Gel as well.
If you want undone, textured beachy waves with an iron, Timothy recommends prepping with Brilliant Damage Control to protect from thermal damage, then spritzing on Texture Tonic before blowdrying hair on high fan with medium heat. (You can use a paddle brush or finger-dry, whatever you prefer.) Once hair is dry, use a 1 & ¼” curling wand or a 1 inch flat iron and start curling the hair about two inches away from the scalp. Leave about an inch at the end uncurled. Tug on the end of each curl to loosen and lengthen.
Curl everything away from the face until you get to the section above the ear and begin alternating. To finish, spray on a little more Texture Tonic and run your hands through your hair to separate curls and give them an effortless, undone look. Finish with a little Air Control hair spray and you’re done!
