Help Me Help My Hair!

It's my turn to ask you lovely readers your fabulous fashion-y opinions on my life--now, it's all about hair. I have a haircut scheduled for this Saturday at two o'clock at a new salon nearby with a stylist I've never seen before. It's a nice salon, Aveda-related, very swanky. I am pretty blase about cutting my hair, usually, I've gone pixie-short for many years and generally keep it at a chin-length bob or shorter. I do not cry over haircuts (there's no crying in beauty, ladies). I hate having longer hair on the back of my neck, and the longest it's ever been was in about the eighth grade, when my otherwise well-meaning friends convinced me to let it grow long like theirs and I ended up wearing my hair in two braids on my shoulders for the next year.

So, I need your help. I haven't had a haircut since August and it's time to jump into the dizzying waters of fashionable, ladylike haircuttery feet-first again. Despite my previous forays into Japanese straightening perms and many head-burns on the straightening iron, I am just not feeling the straight style lately. I have fairly curly hair that's only gotten curlier as I've gotten older (and more used to caring for it), so this time, I want a cute, retro-licious bob that will really work with my curls. Thus, I have made you all a gallery to peruse and tell me what you think!

First, my actual hair, on a recent evening when it was somewhat tame:




As you can see, I am no friend of the "just blow-dry it straight!" cabal that all hairstylists seem to be members of. I just can't do it, it does not work on my hair, it doesn't stay nice and straight and smooth.

My hair preferences: as mentioned above, the length in the back is really getting to me, and I have a lot of bottom layers that need to be taken up about two inches. I have a low hairline at the nape of my neck, so even though I love to have a cut that is cropped close at the neck, I hate to have to shave the back of my neck--it makes me feel like Neanderthal Woman of the Cave People. In the winter, it is nice to have a full head of hair to keep you warm, but I am very active and want something easy to care for, easy to keep away from my sweaty face when I go roller skating, running, or do pilates.

I love a 1930s bob, but when I try to pull that off I look like the daughter from Gosford Park:
When my various styling endeavors do work, I have big, lovely sausage curls and you know I love that Gothic lolita look to pieces. I have a larger forehead and a squared-off hairline in front, so bangs look fab and work really well on me. With my new black and white glasses (Face a Face!), I could go either super-dramatic and severe, or soft and classic, which can run to the frumpy side on me. I tried getting a straight-across, heavy fringe (love having bangs, but it is a huge hassle with curly hair) with curly rest-of-hair and it just looked funny, not romantic and gamine and chic at all.

Here are my ideas:
1. Keep the growing-out side-swept bang, which is at a length where the locks will curl nicely off to the side with a little help from a bobby pin, and get the bob shaped in a 1940s-ish style, to be slicked down and smoothed out to look fab, a la Mlle. von Teese--
How does she get her hair that deliciously black and that shiny? It's like staring at the dark of the moon, my goodness. Note: I am also thinking about going a shade darker than my natural medium brown color for a little change of pace.

2. Trim the bangs so they are wispy and side-swept, like the lovely Rachael McAdams below. Keep the curls controlled (ha!) so they are big and fancy:
I do like this look, and could probably achieve it with some work on a good day. She is the cutest, after all.

3. Go short, for a shape halfway between a pixie and a bob. This is something I've asked a stylist to do for me before, but I think it confuses them to no end. Ideally, it would look like this sans grey chunk in the bangs:


4. Go pixie-short, a la Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. Jeanne did this a while ago and she works it like a pro, having very delicate features and excellent bone structure. As you can see above, I have a strong jawline and a pentagonal face. The last time I rocked the pixie hardcore was in high school and a little in college. It would be easy to manage, a bit severe but I feel like I could really be ready for a big, drastic change.

5. Just get a trim to clean up my layers and try another salon, if I don't like this new one, for a relaxer/straight perm treatment redux. This way, I could go back to the stick-straight Louise Brooks bob with bangs that I rocked for the first eleven years of my life. I know it's a good look for me and I find myself inevitably attracted to it. The problem--after going through the five-hour Japanese straightening perm in New York and it only lasting three months, I am hesitant to put my hair through another protein-damaging chemical-burning texture-altering process. I do love that style, though, I feel like an effortless fashionista without all of the hot flat-irons and the sad attempts at blow-drying my hair straight with a round brush.

What's a girl to do? I am in need of a major style change, something professionally acceptable but cute, fun, and flattering! Help!


Photos by Karen, others from www.latest-hair-styles.com.