should I chop these bizarre layers or not?

[sedonia]

A little over a year ago, my hair was cut in a short stacked, inverted bob. It was tres chic at the time, but growing it out is a huge pain. This has resulted in some very strange layers that are driving me crazy. The sides are thick and chunky and essentially unlayered and only an inch or so past shoulder. The back is layered with a very steep V-shaped hemline. Strangely, the center back of my head, which hangs the longest, is also the point with the shortest layers. These long layers are thin and scragly. From the side, I still have the stacked wedge look.

It just looks weird. I'm not sure the strangeness of it shows up in the pictures.

I could blunt cut it right now into a shoulder length bob, or I could reshape it some other way (how?), or I could just let it grow and learn to live with it. If I cut it blunt, the nape won't be long enough to put up, and I just dropped a chunk of change on ficcares.

Suggestions? Pics below; the blue arrow points to the length of the sides/front.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1453&pictureid=17671 http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1453&pictureid=17672

[girlcat36]

I would not chop. My hair is growing out in really weird layers too, some up to 10" apart, due to medical treatment. I am just suffering through it as I microtrim the longest parts.

[Riot Crrl]

Looks fine to me!

One idea could be to use Feye self trim to gradually make the ends a shallower and shallower U. I definitely don't see a reason to blunt it to the shortest layer in one go.

[lynnala]

I think the back layers look really great! How about just using clips or combs to hold back the front so it blends in? And the color is fab!

[sassystyle]

I wouldn't chop it all short. From the pictures it looks fine. Maybe small trims of the longest part while the shorter layers grow? You can also style it with different toys to manage it until the shorter layers get a little longer.

[Amoretti]

Don't touch it. In 6 months time it will have changed a lot. Plus you can put it up now. It looks fine; really.

[Samikha]

It depends on what you want most, the length or the bluntness. If you have a hairdresser you trust, you can tell them you're growing it out and want to make it neater without losing too much length.
If length is a big deal for you, I'd say stick it out and do the occasional small trim :) But if you are a more "style" sort of person, it might be better to just do something about it, so it doesn't bother you as much out. Might make the growing process a bit easier on you. I did something similar recently; got bangs and and cut off a good deal at the bottom to even the layers up, as well as trimming all the layers. I feel much better about it now, but of course we're all different.

Your hair looks beautiful, by the way :) Very vibrant and eye-catching!

[spidermom]

I think your hair looks pretty. Just trim a little bit off the bottom from time to time, and eventually the shortest layers will catch up. You can trim the shortest layers by putting your hair in a ponytail on top of your head and bending forward. Merely dust them when they're getting dry and splitty, snipping off the teeny-tiniest amount possible.

[dorothea-brooke]

I think it looks great! If the side bits are bothering you (and I feel your pain, as I'm growing out bangs that are now just past chin length and also give me a weird "layer"), just stick to styles that pull the sides back: half-ups, updos with the sides clipped back with bobby pins or barrettes, updos with scarves, etc.

I wouldn't chop -- much will change very soon!

good luck,
dorothea :flower:

[Nevermore]

I think your hair looks great and your layers don't look odd at all and imo, being able to put your hair up and try to forget about it is the best thing for someone who wants long hair and doesn't like how their hair looks at the moment. A bob is a...bob. It does bob things, which is really not much and you're stuck with it until it grows out enough to put up.

[Ursula]

It doesn't look bad to me.

If you don't want layers in the long term, I'd suggest cutting 1" from the ends, say, every 2-3 months, so you slow the growth of the ends while letting the shorter layers catch up. You can probably use Feye's method for this, perhaps with the help of a friend.

If you wanted to do a bigger cut, to get closer to even, I'd say to still use Feye's method, just to be sure you leave enough length to put it back with a ponytail, and perhaps a French twist.

[lady_hero]

I'm growing out wonky layers, too. I don't know what to do with them either :shrug:

Yours look fine to me. You could trim up the back to help even them out.

[Golden21]

I wouldn't cut it. I am in a very similar situation. From what I have discovered, the front hair grows way slower, so you will have a similar situation again. As for the layers in the back, I would not cut them either, try to ignore it (that's what I'm doing with my hair).

[Nat242]

I'm just going to join in the "don't-blunt-cut-it" chorus. Really, it doesn't look bad, and being able to put it up is a huge plus, in my opinion. Trimming off half your growth every month is a great way to even out the layers whilst still gaining some length.

-- Natalie

[30isthenewblack]

Hi Sedonia,

I vote for you to not cut it as well. I see a lot of hairstyles as I'm on a 40 min train ride every morning and I see a lot of girls with similar hair to yours who have those layers in the back so I don't think they are bizarre at all. It is probably the shorter layers at the front which you find the most annoying.

I had a layered cut where the hair was about chin length at the front and longer at the back. It looked quite at the time (I'm sure :-p). Thus, I've always had different layers in my hair. I actually don't mind layers but my shortest layer is almost 1/2 the length of my longest layer so I have the same frustration as you.

I agree with the others. I am planning to grow my hair to about 31 inches which should be waist curly on me and then gradually start trimming the hair so the layers catch up. I do like layers in my hair as I said but longer layers.

At one stage I wanted to grow my layers so I told hairdressers that so they would not cut more layers in my hair. In hairdresser's language, this seems to translate that I want them to cut off the longest layer to be the length of all my hair which happened quite recently and I lost about 2 to 4" of hair. I actually find that very annoying because my hair grows at different lengths and it doesn't matter how many times they cut my hair into a blunt cut, it will naturally layer anyway.

I've attached a photo of the back of my hair. You may be able to see the shortest layer does not even reach my shoulder. All I can say is thank God for curly hair. It hides a lot of sins!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2705322148_6b95bcca22_o.jpg

[EvaSimone]

I started growing out hair that was layered similar to yours, I didn't cut it at all until I reached waist which took me a year. The layers were a little wonky but I am glad that I waited until I did. Once I had the trim which was an inch my layers looked a lot nicer.

I also second amoretti's advice your hair will look completely different as it grows and one plus of layers is being able to pull out "romantic" strands of hair in front to accent updos.

My advice is to wait and honestly I think your hair looks nice.

That being said if your layers are driving you insane then save yourself the stress and get a 1 inch trim on the longest layers, that will make a huge difference and probably give you peace of mind.

[Oskimosa]

When I saw your pics I thought "wow thats alot like the layers I had..." then I saw that you grew all that IN ONE YEAR??? Kudos! :applause

If it bothers you that much, get the layers shaped up, but don't chop! You'll probably be better off trimming the ends until the layers grow out. It looks fine, probably alot like what I will do when mine gets long. I am surprised an inverted bob grew out like that!

[sedonia]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I really didn't mean to troll for compliments and headpats, I was just having a *really* bad hair day. Really the pics I took were too flattering, plus my hair just felt like crap. I started looking at it a little while ago and realized it was really dry and straw like on the ends, and greasy at the roots (I just washed it last night and I do not have oily skin).

And then I put it all together: For the last couple of weeks I have been trying out CV shampoo bars. At first I really liked them because they fluffed out my fine hair quite a bit, but I think that cumulatively the effects were not good.

Anyway UPDATE: I just shampooed and conditioned with my old cone-filled products and my hair feels great again, and I'm ready to just deal with the layers again.

[sedonia]

When I saw your pics I thought "wow thats alot like the layers I had..." then I saw that you grew all that IN ONE YEAR??? Kudos! :applause


Well, technically a year ago I was already starting to grow the back of the bob out. My profile pic is what my hair looked like August of last year (also pre-henna).



If it bothers you that much, get the layers shaped up, but don't chop! You'll probably be better off trimming the ends until the layers grow out. It looks fine, probably alot like what I will do when mine gets long. I am surprised an inverted bob grew out like that!

Hmm...I know the bob is the source of the wonky layers, but the steep V-shaped hemline is odd. I have only had it trimmed 2-3 times in the past year, with minimal reshaping.

I am wondering now if the nape of my hair grows faster than the sides and top?

[30isthenewblack]

My hair definitely grows slower at the sides and top of my head. I have been MN to try and encourage the crown of my head to grow quicker.

[Oskimosa]

Yea, the left side of my head grows faster than the right.

[Speedbump]

I would wait until your shortest layers are at shoulder length and then start zipping stuff off the ends a little every month until your layers are gone. No sense in zapping all of your length when you can just put it up and forget about it. It will grow out in no time. You're just in the "awkward stage" and any cutting you do during it will only prolong it. :twocents:

[jojo]

Well I started off with a similar cut and I hear your frustration, my sides are shorter but i too vote dont cut. all I do is micro trim the back, eventually my layers (which have nearly met the length) and sides will catch up.

Once your side fit comfortably behind your shoulders, i promise you it wont bother you as much. I have a good 4" difference but it is catching up now, slowly but surely!

[lawyermom]

Hopefully in the not too distant future, I'll be having to make the same decision - your hair looks fabulous right now; I wouldn't cut it either :)

[Silver & Gold]

If it were my hair I would leave it alone for a few more months unless I absolutely had to trim for damage. The layers look nice to me.

[wintersun99]

................

[feralnature]

sedonia, I am growing out the same tres chic stacked inverted bob you are. My sig pic shows how it looked in Jan08 after a cut in Nov 07 to help blend the layers. Your hair looks the way mine will in time and i plan to gradually cut the hemline off an inch at a time thus evening out the layers, just don't want to do a big chop. My hair is longer of course, than it was in my pic and I have decided not to give up length when i can now comfortably wear it in a ponytail etc...good luck growing!