Every city has its own beat and its own distinct style. And while many metropolitan areas all over the world tend to follow major trends, each locale puts its own spin on them. After all, the cultural climate of each city helps to determine every decision, from how women wear the hems of their pants to how they want their hair cut.
Upon doing research on global hair trends, we noticed common cool factors happening at some of the world’s most forward-thinking hair salons. (Drum roll, please.) What did we discover? That bangs and bobs are top.
This might explain a lot when you’re scouring Instagram for your newest hairstyle inspiration — shorter is chicer everywhere from Tokyo to Paris to Toronto, and bangs? They're back in a big way. Click through for our favorite renditions, plus tips on how to pull off these cool crops from international salons. Passport not required.
Kaizo Salon, London
The Cut: A geometric bob
Best For: Straight hair of most types
This classic bob can be seen on the likes of Taylor Swift (as of late), a sharper version of Anna Wintour, and Edna Mode. Simple as it is, it makes a big statement. If you’re into making that statement, ask your stylist for a one-length, chin-length bob with straight, blunt bangs.
Lorenzo Comparelli, director and co-owner of Kaizo, says that this style can suit just about anyone, with some caveats. “As a rule of thumb, a wider face shape would look better if length is an inch or so below the jawline, while [with] more slender faces [hair] should be cut all the way to the jawline or above — of course, these rules can be changed to create stronger and quirkier looks!” If you’ve got straight, fine, or medium-weight hair, this can be very easy to style with a quick brush-through after using a smoothing serum, but if you’ve got coarser or slightly wavy hair, you’ll become close friends with your blowdryer and flat iron.
Photo: Via @kaizoshoreditch.
David Mallett Salon, Paris
The Cut: "Afro-fresh belle du jour"
Best For: Very curly hair
This curly confection is what David Mallett stylist Etienne Sekola describes as the belle du jour for the Afro. The details, he says, are in the soft ends. He cut a fringe into this 'do to give volume and shape, making it easier to style. Always use a good conditioner suited for your texture, then let it dry naturally or with a diffuser. Finish with salt spray on dry hair, Sekola advises. As is the Parisian way, effortless chic rules supreme.
Photo: Via @virginiedarbon.
George Northwood Salon, London
The Cut: The “If Margot Tenenbaum joined a rock band” bob
Best For: Fine hair on the straighter side
The all-one-length bob is a classic, and probably most memorable from your kindergarten days (when you probably adorned it with a barrette). But you can definitely rock the look as a grown-up, given a few new details. This look is best for finer hair, but isn’t impossible if you have hair that is on the thick side — you just have to invest a bit more styling time into it. Ask your stylist to chop through the ends to shape the cut, keeping your texture in mind, to create that A-line shape — but keep the ends blunt.
Photo: The Coveteur.
Hair Lounge, London
The Cut: A short, curly crop
Best For: Very curly hair, any density
The cool thing about this short cut, shorn by Charlotte Mensah, is that you can style it with straws (yes, drinking straws!), by wrapping lotion-dampened sections around the straws in spirals and allowing them to dry and set. The model, Amba Hudson-Skye, says that she re-wets and twists her curls each night to keep them fresh for the next day — this way, she can keep them going for a week before washing with a moisturising, sulfate-free shampoo. Regular trims every four to six weeks will keep your ends their healthiest and your shape on point.
Photo: Via @ambahudsonskye.
Blyss Salon, Toronto
The Cut: A lob with short, choppy bangs
Best For: Fine hair
Short bangs are all the rage right now, according to Alyson Peach and Kelly Peters, both hairstylists at Toronto’s Blyss Salon. “So many of our clients want something a bit more edgy, without losing too much length. Our short answer to that is short, choppy bangs!” If the end result looks like a perfectly imperfect hack job, you’re on the right track here. Ask for a shoulder-grazing long bob with the ends chopped into for texture, with a blunt finish, which will punctuate the style for an effortless, edgy feeling. Of course, you'll need to pop in every four weeks or so to get the bangs trimmed, although they will look good grown out, too.
Photo: Via @blysssalon.
Pells Hair, Tokyo
The Cut: A softly layered lob meets mid-length cut
Best For: Most hair types
There's a reason the lob is so popular: It looks great on pretty much everyone. Taking that length a bit longer, however, is just as flattering. This softly polished look from Tokyo salon Pells incorporates inner layers that free up bulk on thick hair without veering into shag territory.
Yudai Hashimoto calls them “secret layers” — they give the hair that movement without looking overly layered on the surface. It’s a great cut to incorporate movement while maintaining length. If you have super-straight hair, just curl the ends in random directions and brush through, and if you’ve got wavy hair this style should suit you as a great low-maintenance option. Curly hair? These layers will work for you, too, but blow it out smooth for this look.
Photo: Via @pellshair.
Salon XVI, Melbourne
The Cut: Blunt fringe with soft, textured layers
Best For: Medium to thick hair
This cut has the best of both worlds: soft, flowing texture with razor-sharp, blunt bangs. You'll always look put-together with the neat bangs, but also carefree with the rest of the length. It’s not really high-maintenance; it just looks that way.
Benjamin Martin, owner of Salon XVI in Melbourne, Australia, explains this style as soft, graduated layers from the front, with point-cut fringe with rounded edges just outside your eyebrow width. He advises getting the bangs trimmed three to four weeks but you can grow out the rest of your hair for five or six weeks longer than that trimming schedule, since it’s a longer style.
Photo: Via @salonxvi.
George Northwood Salon, London
The Cut: The bowl shag cut
Best For: Fine hair
When you want rock-'n'-roll hair in London, you go to George Northwood. Take for instance, this total upheaval of a shag/bowl cut hybrid. Northwood cut a rough bowl shape around the head, layering throughout and chopping it up. (The way he describes it sounds jarring, but the result is much softer.) For those with finer hair, this is an excellent way to get volume with a wash-and-go style. It’s what Northwood refers to as “boyfriend hair” — basically that towel-dried and tousled style that dudes can execute in the time it takes to shower and dress.
Photo: Via @georgenorthwood.
Foster London Salon, London
The Cut: Full choppy fringe on a soft bob
Best For: Straight or wavy hair that’s medium weight or thicker
For a lived-in take on fringe, here’s a slightly unstructured bob from Foster London. The fringe is full with choppy textured ends but the bob itself has a soft outline, sitting just below the jaw. The key, according to the salon, is that a strong outline with soft layering makes this style much more cute and versatile than sharply editorial. Which to us is great because that means less time styling, more time hair-flipping.
Photo: Via @miss_wastell.
Hair Lounge, London
The Cut: A short, curly shag with soft fringe
Best For: Fine, curly hair
Bangs on curly hair is such a great look, especially on this rounded bob-shag hybrid done by Charlotte Mensah, a hairstylist at Hair Lounge in London. Again, shaping is key for this cut — you want to work with the types of curls you have so they can stack the way you want them to. This requires minimal styling prowess, scrunching with your hands and drying with diffuser on your blowdryer. Using a curl-enhancing product (Mensah suggests Aveda Be Curly Curl Enhancer) will help to keep your curls hold shape as well. Maintenance requires a trim every month and a half to two months, so it’s not too fussy of a cut.
Photo: Via @hairlounge1999.
George Northwood Salon, London
The Cut: Their " bob #2," i.e. The Alexa Chung
Best For: Most hair types
As the name implies, this bob is the proto-Alexa Chung hair. It’s a classic choppy bob that’s been popular for a while in London, according to Northwood, because it suits everyone, it’s flattering, soft, and manageable. Great for fine to thicker hair, the styling relies on how much you chop into the hair when layering, since the bulk makes up the shape.
Ask for a shoulder-skimming, textured bob with grown-out fringe. If you have thicker hair your stylist can chop more through the ends, than if you have finer hair, to alleviate bulk. A rough-dry with your blow dryer, and then tonging a few random pieces for wavy texture is all you need to give it that mussed up movement.
Photo: Via @georgenorthwood.
Not Another Salon, London
The Cut: Long and curly with bangs
Best For: Fine to medium, naturally curly hair
The trick to mastering a long cut with bangs on curly locks lies in the shaping, but having hair that isn’t too thick also helps. Ask for lots of layers sliced through and the fringe cut on the long side, with slightly rounded face-framing sides. But again, it's paramount to select a stylist that can work with your texture well. To style, simply air-dry after using a curl or wave-boosting styling cream, or use a diffuser can help zuzh up the volume.
Photo: Via @notanothersalon.
SalonXVI, Melbourne
The Cut: A classic bob with a short undercut
Best For: Straight locks
For those who aren’t afraid of the clippers, this undercut asymmetrical bob is full-on edgy. Benjamin Martin explains it as a classic concave bob, but with an undercut through back and one side to create the asymmetry. If you have naturally straight hair, this can pretty much be a wash-and-go style for you, but if you want that super-sleek look, just blast it blowdryer and a boar bristle brush to shape and smooth it. Since it’s a short style, it requires a bit more maintenance; Martine advises a trim every six weeks to keep it looking sharp as possible.
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