It seems to me that almost every type of hairstyle is called a “Bob”. No matter if the style has full bangs, is short or flippy, the bangs go to the side, are short or long or the hair goes below the chin, curly or straight. All these styles are called “Bob”. I think the only hair length that is an exception is long hair.
I have been intrigued with this for a long time because I didn’t know what a “Bob” really looked like. Magazines constantly describe hairstyles as Bobs. All different kind of hairstyles, yet nevertheless they all seem to have the same name.
The problem was that when a client told me that she would like to have her hair styled in a bob I could not visualize what it should look like. So, I decided for once and for all to find out what a bob really looks like.
It is a style where the hair is longer on sides cut at chin length – than in the back and neck. But you can tell that a lot of liberties have been taken describing all kinds of hair styles that don’t fit this description yet calling them a bob.
The bob became popular in the 1920’s when women started to cut their long hair short and this was the first short hairstyle. The bob was invented in 1909 by a hair stylist named Antoine in Paris. So here is a picture of the original bob from the 1920’s:
And several “bob hair cut variations” of today.
what does a bob hairstyle really look like