The Malt Shop Bob Takes The Nostalgic Hair Trend To A New Level

Nostalgic hairstyles are constantly coming back around based on trend cycles, and short haircuts in particular have been huge in the past few years. Together, that makes for the perfect recipe for the malt shop bob to become huge, and the whimsical, playful cut is now getting its time in the spotlight.

The malt shop bob haircut is a super nostalgic throwback to the 1960s in both cut and styling choices. It's usually a shoulder-length or longer bob haircut with ends that flip out reminiscent of styles from retro-inspired movies like "Hairspray." Think about cuts like Lizzo's shoulder-length bob with bangs, which she debuted on Instagram, or Florence Pugh's bob with flipped-out ends. Achieving this look comes from a mixture of your cut and your styling, so you'll want to know what to ask for at the salon, but you'll also want to know what it'll take to style the look when you're at home.

The malt shop bob is a fun haircut requiring some styling to achieve. Celebrity hairstylist Larry King tells Glamour UK that the style looks great with jaw-length hair, and he shared that it became popular in the 1960s. He says, "Women would spend a significant amount of time and effort to create the perfect flip and make sure it lasted all day." Now, with the help of modern styling tools and products, the look can take much less time to achieve than it would have in the 1960s.

To style your malt shop bob, reach for a circular thermal brush and your blow dryer, and blow dry your hair while rolling the brush upwards to create that flip, as Olivia Garden Beauty demonstrates in a YouTube video tutorial. Continue with that all around your head and through the layers of your hair. Finally, tease your hair at the top to create the signature volume the style calls for. You could also use a hair straightener if you don't want to use the brush and blow dryer method. Run the straightener through your hair and flip it upside down when you get to the ends to really get that flip you're looking for, but don't touch any of your hair until it cools so it'll stay.

Getting a malt shop bob at the salon is simple. If you want to go traditionally short, ask your stylist for a jaw-length bob. Like always, be sure to bring a few different pictures of the type of haircut you're looking for so your stylist will know precisely what your expectations are. If you want the look but you're unsure about going as short as jaw-length hair, then you could opt for a longer haircut and achieve the same nostalgic look with your styling.

One thing about the malt shop bob that's great is that you don't always have to style it the same way, meaning that you're not always needing to wear it as a flipped-out bob. If you want, you could try out other bob hairstyles or find other ways to style your trendy chin-length bob for days when you don't want to flip it out.