Haircuts were never a huge decision in my life. My mom would have anyone chop off anything and I’d just deal. Then I got lazy and let it grow long and that’s when it got real easy. Long hair comes with a lot of flexibility with styling. But that takes time! Even DRYING the damn mane was a pain (and a commitment). My hair lived in a messy bun for months because I couldn’t find the time to work with it. So where’s the happy medium? What’s the best, low maintenance haircut for a busy working mom?
When I made the choice to get a mom bob, I knew what I was doing. Or at least, what I wanted. My responsibilities at home superseded most self-care activities, and the mop on my head was an afterthought. Working full-time with a new baby at home calls for some serious rearranging of priorities.I had to bite the bullet. I had to get a mom haircut and it had to make my hair routine as quick and easy as possible.
But when you tell a hair stylist you’re looking for something low maintenance, they have a totally different idea of what that is.
To them (the pros) they do hair all day! And they do other people’s hair. It’s easy for them to make anything *look* low maintenance. I always hop out of the salon with a fresh blow out and my hair never looks that good again.
I know you know exactly what I mean.
Between all the products, brushes, and straight up SKILL, they’re in a completely different league. So for the rest of us, what makes a haircut easy to maintain? Seriously though.
What makes a haircut easy to maintain?
This is specific to your individual hair and time commitment, but let me tell you about mine (because when it comes to hair, I am lazy af).
My hair is thick-ish, generally straight but super frizzy for the first 6 hours after washing it, and hardly ever “styled”. At most, I’ll run a straightener through it for 5 minutes or less. I’d like to do more to it, but I really don’t care most days. My go-to no-time-for-this look is a ballet bun with a couple bobby pins. A messy bun, if you will. Then I like the freedom to do something for date night or something particularly instagram-worthy.
SO. Now that we have that covered, this is what makes my hair bearable.
At Least Shoulder Length
Shoulder length is the lowest I can go. Why?
- to throw it up in a ponytail or bun
- to keep my face from being too exposed
I don’t know why, but short hair makes me self conscious. And insecurity is ANOTHER THING I do not have time for.
You’re probably calling me out for exposing my face when my hair is up in a bun, and you’re right. It’s kinda the same thing. Except it’s not because I can occasionally redeem some confidence with a style every now and then.
Minimal Layers
Too many layers and ambitious styles are…. a headache. Layers are amazingly generous with growth and allow you to go further between trims, but the closer they are in length, the better!
Too many layers will have them creeping up your head and end up closer to mullet. You don’t need that!
Works with what you’ve got
Your hair texture is the biggest factor of maintenance. I do not have very well behaved hair by any means, but I have a few tricks to keeping my hair in its place (no pun intended).
The best low maintenance haircuts for moms
1. The Long Bob (“lob”)
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My favorite, simple haircut. All one length or slightly angled with a shorter back. It’s easy to style because it actually looks GOOD when it’s kinda messy. Hallelujah!
It dries fast, and is V trendy. So there’s that.
Bonus: You can still sneak most of it in a hair tie on those days when you just can’t be bothered with hair.
2. Long and Layered
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All hail the layered look because, when they’re done right, everything just lays effortlessly. Minimal styling required, just a little serum to make it all look shiny and let the layers do the work.
I particularly like long layers because I don’t need to run in for a trim. The layers just grow and I can get away with up to 6 months between cuts.
This will take an extra while to dry, but again you can just let it do it’s thing. It was designed for this.
NOTE: I only mentioned 2 cuts. Yes that is limiting, but I don’t want to give you false hope. When it comes to “low maintenance”, these babies take the cake.
The best mom haircut is simple (just like this list).
Carolyn says
I had found shorter hair was more work for me than versus now that my hair is long. I used to spend well over half and hour styling my hair to make it look good. I love my hair long, and I don’t like the way short hair looks on me. My routine now with my elbow length hair is to take a seat and have my husband braid my hair for me. He does French, Dutch, fishtail, side, wraparound and variations of the different braids for me. He has gotten quite good at doing them and I like having my hair out of my face. I get compliments on my hair from friends, coworkers and acquaintances. I have him trim my hair every couple months to remove split/damaged ends to keep my hemline neat. So I am not spending a lot of money at the salon. My husband loves my hair long, so he is not going to get scissor happy on my hair. I intend to keep my hair long and I encourage other women to keep their hair long if they want to, and not be pressured to cut their hair off as they get older. Long hair is classic beauty at any age. It is not a money maker for the salons, so they will always be pushing short, high maintenance haircuts.
Nikki says
I’ve also found that short hair is more maintenance – I had an above the shoulders bob and it did not look good unless heat styled. Now that I have long hair and long layers I can get away with not heat styling sometimes. I absolutely loathe hair in my face so I have taught myself to braid my hair. if I were to go short again – i’d go super short like pixie.
Ashley says
Amen! Hair in the face is the worst and has me making the craziest faces thinking I’m getting the hair out of the way lol. Drives me nuts.
Jenn says
My hair is in a ponytail most days because I can’t concentrate with it down and it just looks blah but if I were to spend time on it in the morning I’d either be sacrificing sleep or no one would make it to school on time with all of their stuff and wearing clothes. So glad to see someone else struggles like I do. I typically have the long layers so maybe I’ll try the other option.
Ashley says
I feel that!! And honestly I prefer having that option. After cutting my hair I couldn’t even put it up and that is heartbreaking omg