Photo: Ralf Nau/Digital Vision/Getty Images
Every girl's got a feature -- or two or three -- that isn't exactly a favorite. To make your shoulders look smaller, the last thing that you want to do is chop all of your hair off, because that puts your neck and shoulders on full display. If you'd rather not have your shoulders getting so much attention, choose the right haircut and put the focus on your pretty face.
Medium-Length Layers
A medium-length layered cut is light, bouncy and definitely draws the attention away from your shoulders, making them look smaller and less noticeable. When you're styling your hair, flip the ends up and out to create a fanned-out effect and put all the focus on your superbly styled strands, not your shoulders. The longest pieces should hit just past your shoulders for a medium-length style. This cut works especially well if your hair is quite fine, because you get an instant body boost by keeping the weight off with a medium-length style rather than long cut.
Long Layers
Long layers cover up shoulders really well. Ask your stylist for layers throughout your hair; the shortest framing your face and the longest hitting past your chest. Your styling options are endless with long locks such as these, so have fun playing around with it. Whether you style your hair into a side braid, pigtail ponytails, or just flat iron it smooth and sleek and leave it down loose, your shoulders look smaller and not as noticeable.
Blunt Cut
A long, blunt cut creates a lot of volume at the ends of your hair, drawing the eye downward instead of up near your shoulders. You can cover your shoulders by wearing your hair down and pulling some hair over each shoulder. For those days you do want to wear your hair up, leave a few tendrils of hair out at the front for a lovely face-framing effect. As long as your hair isn't all slicked back out of the way, your shoulders aren't as noticeable.
Angled Bob
If you really don't want longer hair, you can get a shorter cut, but make it an angled bob. Any other shorter cut puts your shoulders on display, but this one tricks the eye, and the illusion is what makes it such an ideal cut for covering large shoulders. With an angled bob, the back is shorter and tapered and longer around the sides. The front pieces are longer and put the focus on your cheekbones and jawline instead of on your shoulders.
Tips
If you have trouble growing your hair out, try clip-in or permanent extensions to add some length to your hair. This is the quickest, easiest way to achieve a hairstyle that covers your shoulders. Clip-ins are temporary, whereas the permanent versions are actually bonded onto your hair. Go to a salon to have a professional do the work for you if you're interested in having permanent extensions put in.
