30 Cute Medium Shoulder Length Hairstyles For Women (2021 Guide)

11K Shares

Medium hairstyles are some of the most versatile and chic options available. Whether you prefer layers, bangs, bobs, or asymmetrical options, there are hundreds of styles from which to choose.

When choosing from medium length hairstyles, it’s important to consider the shape of your face, the texture of your hair, and the amount of time you are willing to invest in styling it each day. To help you determine your best medium haircut, we have gathered all the information and hair inspiration you will need to help you find your perfect medium hairstyle.

Contents

1 Benefits Of Medium Length Hairstyles
2 Different Types Of Medium Hairstyles For Women
3 Top Products For Medium Length Hairstyles
4 Styling Of Medium Hairstyles

Benefits Of Medium Length Hairstyles

Medium hairstyles for women offer several unique benefits.

Versatility

Medium length hairstyles for women are arguably some of the easiest styles to work with. They give you enough length to create beachy waves or gorgeous curls, and are also ideal for sleek, straight looks. If you’re short on time, most shoulder length hairstyles provide enough room for a chic ponytail, too.

Medium Length Hairstyle Ponytail Updo

More Volume

If you’re a fan of long hair but you find that the extra weight leaves your hair looking flat, short to medium hairstyles can remedy this. Many women find that removing excess length (and thereby weight) opens the door to a whole new world of voluminous and sexy styles.

Shoulder Length Hairstyle Shag + Bob

Frame Your Face

Finally, medium hairstyles give you the ability to create a frame for your gorgeous face. With just the right layers or fringe, you can draw attention to your favorite features, and you can do it without sacrificing too much length.

Gorgeous Medium Hairstyles

Different Types Of Medium Hairstyles For Women

If you have medium length hair, you have access to thousands upon thousands of styles. You can be as bold, as unique, or as subtle as you want. Most hairstyles for medium length hair will fit into one of a handful of categories.

Shag Haircuts

The shag haircut is by far one of the most popular, and for good reason. It works well with both short and medium length hair, and it can be customized in any way you like.

Medium Length Shag Hairstyle

The classic features of a shag cut are textured layers and choppy ends. These cuts are perfect whether your hair is wavy, straight, thin, or thick, and they give you plenty of styling opportunities at home, too.

Medium Hairstyle Shag + Balayage Bob

Some of the hottest medium hairstyles in the shag category include the shoulder-length layered cut with balayage color, the wispy layered shag, and a lob style with jagged layers and lots of texture. If you have curly hair, a layered and messy shag is a phenomenal way to add volume and make a bold statement.

Simple Medium Length Shag Bob

The Bob

It’s hard to go wrong with a bob. The bob haircut is one of the more classic styles, and is commonly associated with elegance and grace. Though the original bob style is mostly one length and relatively short – ending at about the jawline – a longer bob, or lob, can look flirtatious, sexy, and fun.

Side Braided Wavy Bob

Bob hairstyles are great medium length haircuts with or without bangs. Also, if you add a few layers here and there you will see some extra volume. This medium hairstyle works well for straight, wavy, and curly hair, too.

Medium Length Blunt Bob + Bangs

If you have straight hair, for example, you might opt for a bob that is slightly longer in the front and shorter in the back. This adds a great deal of interest to your style and is relatively easy to maintain.

Medium Length Haircuts Lob

If your hair is wavy or curly, a bob will create a great deal of volume. The best part about this medium style is the fact that you can go from a sleek, no-nonsense look at the office to a tousled beachy look in the evening with very little effort.

Subtle Ombre Lob

If you want to make your bob stand out, ombre hair color for medium hair can be a subtle or dramatic addition to your hairstyle.

Medium Length Ombre Bob

Top Products For Medium Length Hairstyles

When you have short to medium length hairstyles you may have to style your hair more often to achieve your desired look. Finding the perfect volumizing boost to give your bob some extra volume, or the perfect sea salt spray to make your tousled hair look beach ready, is a must. It may take some trial and error to find the right products for you, but once you have them your styling will come together quickly and as gorgeous as ever.

Product	Rating	Price
Living proof Full Dry Volume Blast, 7.5 oz	3,488 Reviews	$30.00	Buy Now
OGX Argan Oil of Morocco Hair-Texturizing Sea Salt Spray, Curl-Defining Leave-In Hair Styling Mist...	1,964 Reviews	$5.99	Buy Now
Batiste 6.73 fl oz Dry Shampoo by Batiste Original	6,395 Reviews	$7.49	Buy Now

Layered Haircuts

Layered cuts are the most popular medium length hairstyles for thin hair. The more layers you add, and the shorter those layers are, the more volume you can achieve. Also, this is the perfect medium hairstyle for balayge hair as your color will be seamless throughout your layers.

Balayage Layered Hairstyle

These cuts work with several hair textures, but they are best for women who have slightly wavy to curly hair. Highly textured layers add dimension to your cut, but you can also keep things subtle with layers that seem to blend into each other seamlessly.

Medium Length Layered Hairstyles

If you have straight hair, a layered haircut with angular bangs and choppy ends can give your styles some edge. If your hair is wavy, you can’t go wrong with the tousled and sexy windblown look.

Medium Length Hair Layered + Bangs

Finally, if your hair is curly, the addition of layers can reduce the weight of your hair and give your curls more bounce. In fact, you may not even be able to tell where one layer ends and the next begins.

Medium Length Layered Curly Hairstyle

Asymmetrical Styles

Asymmetrical medium hairstyles are usually viewed as bold and edgy, but it’s possible to have a subtler style. They often play on other styles in this list – the bob or the shag, for example – but add a twist.

Sleek Asymmetrical Lob

There are numerous ways to incorporate them into your look, and like many of the other medium hairstyles, they work well for a variety of different textures and hair types. Asymmetrical styles can be sleek, layered, or messy, so they truly give you lots of flexibility in your daily routine.

Simple Asymmetrical Bob

Asymmetrical styles built on the classic bob with bangs are some of the most popular right now. Bangs are usually angled; they get gradually longer and mimic the asymmetrical style of the overall cut.

Asymmetrical Bob + Angled Bangs

This hairstyle works best for women who have straight or slightly wavy hair, so if you have curlier locks, consider going with a similar style without the bangs. Adding a few layers here and there will provide some texture and bounce to your curls, too.

Medium Length Hairstyles For Thin Hair

Styling Of Medium Hairstyles

One of the benefits associated with medium hairstyles is the ease of styling them at home. If this is a concern for you, consider a cut that doesn’t require every hair to be in perfect place. For example, if you have naturally wavy hair, you will spend far more time styling a classic, sleek bob than a tousled layered cut. In general, it is always best to choose a cut and style that works well with your hair’s natural texture and thickness to reduce the difficulty of styling at home.

Medium Length Straight Bob

Many of the medium hairstyles you will come across can be recreated at home with simple hair-styling tools. If you want a choppy, messy look, you may want to invest in a pomade that is designed to help separate sections of your hair and make your layers more visible, too. Of course, if your hair is at least shoulder-length, you can always opt for a quick ponytail and be out the door in minutes.