Hair guides

Hair decisions: cuts, colour and daily care

Compare haircuts and hair colours for your face shape, texture and routine. Explore bangs, curls, salon preparation and the limits of an AI hairstyle preview.

Choose a cut or colour that fits your texture, styling time and maintenance budget. Start with your hair type and the decision you want to explore, then use reference photos or a virtual preview to explain it to your stylist. A consultation checks what is achievable on your current hair.

Featured Beauty Intelligence

AI hairstyle try-on: the 2026 guide

Most AI hair filters were built to be playful. AI try-on is different, it's a decision tool. Here is what is happening under the hood, and how to use it well.

Editor's desk
Beauty Intelligence

AI hair colour try-on: how to test a shade before you commit

Hair colour is the most expensive 'try' in beauty, six hours in the chair, a wallet hit, and a four-month commitment. The AI render is the dress rehearsal that should happen before any of it.

Editor's desk Beauty Intelligence

How to find your face shape: the 30-second mirror test

Most face-shape quizzes online are guesses dressed as science. This is the test a stylist would actually run on you, three measurements, one ratio, five possible answers, in thirty seconds in front of a mirror.

Editor's desk Beauty Intelligence

Hairstyles by face shape: a 2026 try-on cheat sheet

Most face-shape guides tell you what to wear. This one tells you what to render, five styles per shape, with the prompts that get you a usable image first try.

Editor's desk Beauty Intelligence

Find your hair type: the curl-pattern guide (1A to 4C)

Most hair-type quizzes guess. This is the test stylists trained on textured hair actually run, one wash, one air-dry, four observations, and the answer that decides the next decade of your hair routine.

Editor's desk Portrait of an adult woman with a long wispy fringe Beauty Intelligence

Should you get bangs? A 60-second decision guide

Look at your real hair before choosing a fringe image. A minute with your usual part, glasses and routine can reveal what the consultation needs to solve.

Editor's desk Close editorial portrait showing soft natural loose waves Beauty Intelligence

Type 2 wavy hair: the 2A, 2B, 2C field guide

Type 2 is the most-misclassified hair type in the world. Half the people who think they have straight hair that 'gets weird in humidity' are wavy and don't know it. Here is the field guide.

Editor's desk Adult woman with clearly visible natural spiral curls Beauty Intelligence

Type 3 curly hair: the complete 3A, 3B, 3C decision guide

Type 3 is the most common hair texture across the MENA region and the most misunderstood by mainstream beauty press. Here is the version written for hair like yours, in the climate you actually live in.

Editor's desk Adult Black woman with a full natural coily hairstyle Beauty Intelligence

Type 4 coily hair: the 4A, 4B, 4C deep-dive

Most coily-hair coverage was written for one audience and one climate. This is the version for the rest of us, the Afro-MENA, East African, Sudanese, Yemeni, and Black diaspora readers who live this texture every day.

Editor's desk Adult woman with a softly textured chin-length bob Beauty Intelligence

Short hair after long hair: the regret-proof decision guide

The question is not whether short hair suits you. The better question is which short cut belongs to your face, your texture, and your actual mornings.

Editor's desk Back view of dimensional brunette hair with softly painted highlights Salon Stories

Balayage vs highlights: which appointment to book

Most colour regrets start before the colourist mixes anything. They start when you book the wrong service for the result you actually want.

Editor's desk Colourist holding brunette swatches beside a client's natural roots Salon Stories

Root touch-up vs gloss: book the right colour fix

A root touch-up and a gloss solve different problems. Booking the wrong one is how you leave shiny but still annoyed.

Editor's desk Adult woman with dimensional chestnut hair in neutral daylight Beauty Intelligence

Hair colour for olive skin: the balanced guide

Olive skin is not simply warm skin. It has green, gold, and sometimes cool undertones at once, which is why the wrong hair colour can look technically pretty and still feel off.

Editor's desk Woman examining her pinned-back hair beside a salon mirror Beauty Intelligence

Bangs maintenance: styling, washing and trim schedules

A fringe routine has three parts: reset the front, wash it when needed, and trim when the length stops working. Plan each around your own hair.

Editor's desk Adult woman wearing slim-frame glasses with a softly layered bob Beauty Intelligence

Hairstyles for glasses: frames, fringe, and balance

Glasses are part of the face. A haircut that ignores them is solving the wrong composition.

Editor's desk Adult woman with thick shoulder-length hair and long gentle layers Beauty Intelligence

Low-maintenance haircuts for thick hair

Thick hair does not need to be punished into behaving. It needs shape, weight control, and a cut that understands where density is useful.

Editor's desk Adult woman with natural curls talking with a stylist Salon Stories

Curly haircut prep: what to do before the chair

A curly cut is won before the cape goes on. The stylist needs to see the pattern you live with, not the pattern your wash day can temporarily fake.

Editor's desk Stylist listening to an adult client beside a salon mirror Salon Stories

How to fix a bad haircut without making it worse

The first rule after a bad haircut is boring and difficult: do not make the second decision while still angry at the first one.

Editor's desk Beauty Intelligence

Humidity hair plan: the MENA summer guide

Humidity does not ruin hair randomly. It exposes the cut, the cuticle, and the morning routine. Build the plan before summer starts.

Editor's desk Adult woman arriving at a salon in a simple button-front shirt Salon Stories

What to wear to a hair appointment

Wear a comfortable top you can wash and remove easily. Then check the neckline, cape fit and accessories for the service you booked.

Editor's desk Soft scarf, fabric scrunchie and smooth hair clips on a dressing table Beauty Intelligence

Hairstyles under hijab: deciding the cut you actually wear

Most hair-cut guides assume your hair is on display. For women who wear hijab, the cut decision has different inputs, and almost no one has written about them honestly. Here is the version we wish existed.

Editor's desk Stylist and adult client comparing printed hairstyle references Salon Stories

How to talk to your stylist: three photos and a phrase

The shortest distance between the cut you saw on a render and the cut you walk out with is the brief. Here is the version that works.

Editor's desk Colourist discussing hair colour samples with an adult client Salon Stories

Hair colour consultation checklist: what to ask your colourist

A colour consultation should end with an agreed first-session result, the tests needed, and a price you understand.

Editor's desk Portrait of an adult woman with long centre-parted curtain bangs Salon Stories

Curtain bangs vs bottleneck bangs: which fringe fits your routine?

The shortest centre pieces decide much of your daily fringe routine. Choose their length before choosing the haircut name.

Editor's desk Short snapped hair fragments beside longer intact strands Beauty Intelligence

Hair breakage or shedding? What to check and do next

A hairbrush cannot diagnose hair loss. Separate what you can change in your routine from changes that need a clinician.

Mademoizelle editorial desk Simplified illustration of a hair strand splitting at its tip Beauty Intelligence

Split ends: what a trim fixes and how to prevent more

A serum can improve how ends feel. Removing a split and reducing the next source of wear are different jobs.

Mademoizelle editorial desk Lightened hair lengths and small broken fibers near a comb Beauty Intelligence

Hair breaking after bleach: stop damage and plan the next step

The first priority is not a perfect blonde. It is stopping avoidable stress and agreeing what the remaining hair can reasonably tolerate.

Mademoizelle editorial desk Small pale flakes among parted dark hair Beauty Intelligence

Dandruff or dry scalp? A safe plan for flakes and itching

Flake color is not a diagnosis. Match the next action to symptoms and product use rather than treating every flaky scalp with oil.

Mademoizelle editorial desk Hair roots and lengths shown as different care zones Beauty Intelligence

Oily roots and dry ends: wash the scalp, protect the lengths

You do not need one product to treat the entire head the same way. Clean the scalp while giving dry lengths less friction and appropriate conditioning.

Mademoizelle editorial desk A loose low bun with a long-sleeved plum outfit and a boat neckline Studio Notes

Occasion hair with a sheila: pulling, slipping and a bun against the collar

Locate the problem before making the style tighter: a collar collision, pulling at the front and a slipping covering need different checks.

Editor's desk

,