If you think a bob limits your styling options, think again. Pamela Anderson has just proved otherwise. On her return to the red carpet, the Baywatch icon brought her beauty A-game with her. Over the course of two days, she’s worn the same bob in two completely different ways, proving short hair can be every bit as versatile as longer lengths.
Marking her first red carpet appearance since April, Pammy stepped out in Italy, reinventing her bob from one day to the next — she really is treating us.
‘Pamela’s bob is a really great example of how much mileage you can get out of a well-cut shape,’ says Jason Collier, celebrity hairstylist and Key Opinion Leader at Jerome Russell Bblonde. ‘What I love is that she’s not relying on the haircut itself to make a statement, she’s changing the way it’s styled and suddenly it feels like a completely different look.’
Her trip began with an appearance at the Venice International Film Festival, where she wore her champagne bob in easy, beachy waves. ‘This look is soft, undone and effortless,’ says Jason. ‘There’s natural movement through the lengths, and the ends are allowed to fall where they want to.’
That’s why it came as such a surprise to see her step out the following day with the same bob transformed into polished, sculpted silver-screen curls. ‘The second look is deliberately glamorous,’ says Jason. ‘The ends have been rolled under and the hair has been given a really controlled, rounded finish, which immediately brings in that Old Hollywood feeling.’ Proof that a bob is anything but a one-trick pony.
The two looks couldn’t be more different, but as Jason points out, that contrast is exactly what makes them so effective. Each style works hard to complement Pamela’s features in a different way. ‘The more sculpted version frames the face beautifully and draws attention to the cheekbones and eyes, while the softer version creates a more relaxed frame and allows the face to be the focus,’ he explains.
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It only reinforces Jason’s point: a well-cut bob can feel like an entirely different hairstyle with some clever styling. But what does that mean in the salon chair?
‘If you want a bob that you can style in lots of different ways, don’t just ask for ‘Pamela Anderson’s bob’. Take reference pictures and talk to your stylist about versatility,’ says Jason. ‘Tell them that you want to be able to wear it polished and curled under one day, but also loose, textured and undone the next. That will help them build the cut around how you actually want to wear your hair.’
He recommends going for a bob that sits somewhere around the jaw-to-shoulder area, since you’ll want enough length and movement to play with.
‘I’d also avoid going too heavily into a super-blunt, one-length shape if versatility is your priority,’ he advises. ‘A little softness and movement through the ends will give you much more to work with.’
Pammy’s bob might be two looks down, but we have a feeling she still has a few more styling tricks up her sleeve.
