Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

With hair trends for 2024 on the shorter side, it could be an opportune time to be brave and cut those locks if you dared. Short cuts a bit above the shoulders are proving exceptionally popular, with a desire for minimized maintenance, cuts and styles that require less to look their best.

Textured layers from midway down the hair will help those of us not blessed with thick hair to add volume.

Bobs in all shapes and forms were very on trend last year, set to continue into the New Year.

The Italian Bob is a chin-length hairstyle contoured to fall around the face and is a little longer than most bobs, so this is a good option if you want to dip your toe in the water for shorter tresses without going the full Pixie.

The textured blunt bob is a very chic and low maintenance option for the season, it works will with blondes and brunettes who have balayage or want to grow out their highlights.

The mini bob, which can fall anywhere between the cheekbones to the jawline can be softened with waves and curls or worn super sleek.

Now you would have to be brave to go for the Jellyfish – a trend which was all over TikTok for the last few months. This entails lobbing off the top layers of your hair into a cheekbone-brushing bob while leaving the layers underneath long and tentacle-like.

Also described as a bob-mullet hybrid, the long layers can reach as low as the waist, while the short layers typically stop at the chin like a bob.

Said to mimic the shape of the marine animal, sometimes the ends of the bob are curled inwards, giving it a rounded look like the top of a jellyfish, and the bottom layers are curled outwards to resemble its tentacles.

The so-called hime or princess cut is said to date back to the 9th century Heian Period in Japan and was adopted by anime characters in Japanese cartoons.

For the most adventurous, they are funking the Jellyfish Cut up by dying the hair all different colours, which can also mimic the most spectacular creatures in the ocean. Another popular look reminiscent of the ‘70s is the Curtain Fringe, which could also prove a good way to grow out your short fringe.

Styled to stop at the cheekbones, the likes of Taylor Swift has been styling them back like Farrah Fawcett waves. If you’re not game for a dramatic new haircut, why not venture a super side part, seen on celebrities such as Zendaya and Dua Lipa during this awards season.

According to the pop culture website Pinterest, bow stacking will be a thing for hair, much the same way it has been a thing on clothes all over the catwalk. Your time has come if you’ve kept some bows from your communion days.

In terms of colour, more natural colours are set to dominate, with a collective return to our roots.

Honey blonde or a medium shade of blonde was spotted on the likes of Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Adele recently. The hairdressing magazines are predicting a push to subtle, more low maintenance colours, with warmer rather than cooler tones likely to feature.

Pictured: Blunt longer bob