Ask The Experts: How To Manage Short Hair

Six hair stylists and experts share their tips, advice and favourite products for managing short hair.

The key to managing short hair is an amazing cut. If you have the right shape, styling should be easy. Your hair doesn’t start to take shape until 80% dry so don’t give up styling at the last important drying stages. For short styles, I love to use WELLA EIMI Bold Move, €17.  Sharon Sheehan, AC Pure, (051) 421 288

WELLA EIMI Bold Move, €17

Short hair can be high maintenance in that it requires a cut every six to eight weeks to keep the shape and style of the hair, but for the interim period, it’s quite low maintenance. You can wash and dry your hair, throw some wax in it and go. Paul Hession, Hession Hairdressing, hessionhairdressing.com

Kérastaste Keratin Thermique, €25

The most important thing for short hair is good cut. It’s not about just cutting it all short – it needs to be personalised. Talk to your stylist about angles and graduation. You want your hair to have a personality. When you have a short cut, you need to use good products. If you have fine hair, use thickening moose on the roots followed by a texturising dust to give your hair of strength and texture with roots that won’t collapse. If you have thick, coarse hair, use a relaxing cream like Kérastaste Keratin Thermique, €25. This is a smoothing cream, humidity barrier and heat protector all in one. You can also use a soft wax to help weigh the hair down so it doesn’t frizz up as the day goes on. Katie Jane Goldin, CEO of LanaiBLO, Gold Fever, InStyler and greathairinspiration.com.

Always make sure when you have short haircuts that you have lots of texturing for versatility. This makes managing short hair a dream. Paul Davey, Davey Davey, daveydavey.com

The first and most important thing with managing short hair is a good haircut. It is essential you are using the right products to suit your hair type. I would always avoid using anything too heavy in the hair, especially wax, unless you have a certain type of hair that calls for it. Focus on applying product to the ends of your hair. If you rub it into the roots, you’ll notice your hair looking greasy as soon as you apply it. This happens because the product heats up with your own body temperature and turns to an oil. Devastation Paste and Sea Salt Spray are great products for a moveable texture in the hair while bulking it out, plus it can be layered up before you blow-dry the hair and again after you blow-dry. Don’t be afraid to try different things with short hair, like slicking it back or side partings.  Christian Shannon, Brown Sugar, South William Street, brownsugar.ie

Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray, €30

The right product is essential. Try not use brushes. Use your hands to finger dry the hair and the product to mould the shape. Darren Lacken, Crow Street Collective, cscollective.ie

Check out Sharon Sheehan, Paul Davey, Paul Hession, Christian Shannon, Darren Lacken and Katie Jane Goldin‘s tips for autumn/winter hair trends in the November issue of IMAGE.