20 Cute Choppy Bob Ideas With Tons of Lightweight Texture

Bobs go through many iterations and versions over the years as trends shift. Right now, the choppy bob is in and we’re loving the loose, lightweight texture this cut brings to strands of all types! See our favorite choppy bob ideas and tips for styling these heavily textured cuts in this guide.

What Is a Choppy Bob?

• Choppy bobs are heavily layered to create lots of uneven texture
• Tousled, loose styles look best with shaggy bob texture
• Choppy layers release weight and bulk for light and airy strands

A choppy bob is a short to medium-length cut with heavy layering that creates a shaggy, uneven texture. Choppy bobs can be very short – like a pixie bob – or medium-length near the shoulders (lob). 

The choppy bob is hugely popular right now for a number of reasons. People are loving the loose, sexy texture that choppy layers create in short hair.

Heavy layering lends itself to casual, tousled styles that take minimal effort to look amazing. Choppy layers also release a lot of weight and bulk that can give a bob an unflattering look.

Instead of the “triangle” effect or weighed-down waves and curls, you get free-flowing, lightweight texture and a cut that almost styles itself! We’re big fans of the choppy bob for all hair types. Straight strands get a boost in texture and shape with shaggy layering throughout the bob.

Wavy and curly strands benefit from the removal of bulk and weight in the ends which encourages more definition and texture naturally. Everyone will love how much body and movement choppy, shaggy layering brings to short hair.

It doesn’t matter if your hair is fine, medium, or coarse! You’re going to see a huge difference in how much your hair swings and moves when you have a choppy bob with lightweight layers. 

With that said, those with baby-fine hair and very curly hair will need to pay extra attention to the cutting techniques and methods used to create the ideal choppy bob. We’ll cover this in more detail after we show you some of our favorite tousled, layered bob ideas! 

20 Choppy Bob Ideas for All Hair Types

Fine to coarse, pin-straight to ultra-curly, and every hair type in between can pull off the trendy choppy bob look! You can focus on adding heavy layers throughout your bob for the most texture or concentrate on the ends to create that loose, lived-in look we all love. Here are some of our favorite choppy bob ideas!

1. Shaggy Lob With Layers

Making your layers choppy and piecey gives a free-form look to a lob. We love it in this platinum color, especially since this blonde can feel a little flat without some texture to give it dimension. Bring the layers forward around the face to add movement without full bangs.

2. Choppy With Textured Layers

This platinum-hued bob gets incredible dimension and texture from choppy layers that break up the bottom length and allow the top layers to blend and curve for more shape and movement. 

3. Shattered Wavy Bob

Shattering the ends with point-cutting or razoring deconstructs a bob haircut to give it a more uneven, choppy shape. It also helps get rid of extra hair at the ends that can bulk out or weigh down the bob and make it hard to achieve airy looks. 

4. Layered Medium Lob

Disconnected, piecey layers give a unique shape and airy feel to this medium-length lob, which is a longer version of a classic bob. Rocking a wavy texture will help these layers stand out and create additional volume around the sides. 

5. Two-Tone Choppy Bob

Black and blonde create a stunning contrast that feels wild and edgy with two-tone color. The shaggy layers reveal the darker color in the underside of the hair and keep this cut lightweight and pliable. 

6. Textured Bob With Blunt Bangs

Heavy layering creates lots of texture in a short bob, especially on straight hair that doesn’t naturally fill out a cut like this. The uneven ends are contrasted with blunt, straight-across bangs that balance the look. 

7. Collapsed Lob With Choppy Ends

Collapsing a bob means cutting into the ends to remove bulk and help the bob lie a little flatter at the bottom. Pairing this technique with some choppy layers creates a great shape for the bob without too much volume – perfect for a round or square face. 

8. Choppy Tapered Bob With Curls

Curls perfectly complement a bold, choppy texture and can stand up to a lot of bulk removal through the ends. As long as your stylist snips carefully to keep the curl pattern intact, this tapered and layered bob cut is going to give your curls so much body and movement!

9. Layered Asymmetrical Bob

Asymmetry (more length on one side) and blended-yet-choppy layers shape and unevenly weight this bob for a creative look that’s easy to style in different ways. A side part works perfectly with the asymmetrical length and uneven ends stand out with voluminous, wavy texture. 

10. Choppy Blunt Bob

Choppy and blunt may seem like polar opposites, but you can make it work by concentrating your layers in strategic areas!

Here, the ends are point-cut to loosen and remove bulk while keeping a uniformly blunt line around the bottom. Layers throughout the cut give it a choppy, casual look with tons of movement.

11. Stacked and Tapered Choppy Bob

Tapering in the back helps stack the longer layers on top over the shorter layers near the bottom for a flattering boost in volume. Letting those layers create some texture without blending them perfectly keeps the look choppy and appealing for a loose, casual style.

12. Textured Ends With Blended Layers

Making a bob look choppy and full of texture doesn’t have to mean a heavily layered cut all-over. Razoring or aggressively point-cutting the ends will release a lot of bulk and give a short bob a textured look with more subtle layering throughout. 

13. Choppy Shag Bob With Bangs

Curls easily adopt a choppy look with heavy layers cut in the right points of the curl pattern. These shaggy layers taper the bob in shape to concentrate the volume on top and prevent the triangle look for thicker curly hair. 

14. Stacked Choppy Bob With Layers

Tapered length in the back stacks this bob with extra volume by propping up the longer layers with gradually shorter length underneath. Red highlights with dark auburn brown base color helps accentuate the choppy layering for a cute and edgy look.

15. Short Pixie Bob With Feathery Layers

Going really short with your bob length makes it super lightweight and airy. With tons of layers in the cut from the top down, you release any weight and bulk at the ends to encourage natural texture to take form. This pixie bob looks great with loose waves and volume on top!

16. Blunt Textured Wavy Bob

A rough, blunt line for the ends with a little bit of point-cutting can be a great complement for choppy layers throughout the cut. Lots of layers set the stage for texture and dimension, while a loose modern wave brings it out even more. 

17. Shaggy Lob With Split Bangs

This ultra-choppy shag cut is sometimes called a wolf cut thanks to its wild and shaggy look. Split, heavy, feathery bangs and lots of layers throughout the cut lend it a lot of dimension and texture – more than just about any other type of cut! If you want the choppiest lob, this is the one to get.

18. Point-Cut Bob With Collapsed Layers

Point-cutting straight up into the ends of a bob cut helps break up any blunt lines and gives the cut a looser, more casual shape. Blended layers above the ends help collapse the bob for a thinner, less bulky look at the ends to perfectly flatter the choppy texture and shape.

19. Textured Bob With Uneven Layers

Making layers a little uneven with long and short lengths blended together is what creates that cute, choppy look for a bob. These varying layers create some texture and definition through the cut, which is a great plus for straight strands.

20. Wavy Bob With Choppy Layered Ends

Texturizing the ends of a short bob with lots of big, choppy layers completely changes the look. You get plenty of volume and body with ends that are a little more lightweight and full of movement for a more modern style. 

Tips and Things to Consider

Ending up with a choppy bob that exceeds your expectations is easy when you know all the tips and tricks to getting the perfect cut. If you’re looking to undergo a total hair transformation with your new bob, check out these tips and considerations. 

• Add bangs to tweak the look. Choppy bobs always look great with bangs, so use them to tweak the look and make it even more flattering for your face shape. Long, jaw-skimming side bangs, blunt bangs, or curtain bangs are perfect for heart faces. Layered side bangs and long, airy split French bangs are great on round or square faces. Oval faces can try all types of bangs to customize and upgrade a short bob!
• Start small with choppy layers. You can always get more layers later, but you can’t take away layers that are already cut! If this is your first time rocking a heavily layered, choppy bob, make sure to start small. Get shaggy layers through the ends and have them point-cut or razored to create the look. Fewer layers will be easier to style, too – bonus! 
• Layer placement matters for curls. The point along each group of strands where your layers are cut will affect your curl or wave pattern immensely. Cut in the wrong area or at the wrong angle, and you’ll be left with wonky curls that don’t fully complete their C-, S-, or O-shape. Make sure you’re working with a stylist who knows how to properly layer curly or wavy hair (typically while it’s dry!) to encourage more texture, not accidentally chop into your curl pattern. 
• Don’t over-layer fine hair. While all hair types can look great rocking choppy bobs, fine hair can easily be over-layered and take on a “hacked” look instead of the cute, shaggy look you want. Don’t get layers that cut deeply into your hair. Instead, opt for fine, blended layers throughout and get choppy with the ends to keep the look full and healthy. 
• Don’t try this at home. It seems easy enough to chop some layers into a bob to give it that sexy, tousled texture, but don’t be fooled. This is a difficult cut to create and requires a lot of skill and expertise with different hair types. It’s easy to cut too many layers, leave them too blunt to lay properly, or bring them too deep into the hair. Go to a professional to get a good choppy bob haircut and make sure to go in every 4-8 weeks (depending on how short your bob is) to keep it looking fresh and flattering.

Will A Choppy Bob Look Good On You?

Tousled, casual texture that’s simple to care for and super trendy – what’s not to love about a choppy bob? This trendy look is very popular right now, but you want to make sure it’s going to be a good look for you before you go in for a cut. 

Choppy bob cuts can look amazing on everyone with some important tweaks and customizations. All face shapes and hair types can rock a choppy-textured bob. Just keep the tips and considerations above in mind to make it flattering for you.

The finer your hair is, the more airy and blended your layers should be throughout the cut with choppier, shaggier layers and point-cutting in the ends. Medium to coarse strands can get pretty choppy with the layers – just ensure they’re not cut too deeply in the style to lay properly and boost your natural texture.

If you have any type of natural wavy or curly texture in your hair, it needs to be cut and layered while dry to ensure you don’t disrupt the wave or curl pattern. Curls and waves shouldn’t be cut in the middle of the C-, S-, or O-shape in the pattern in order to preserve it. 

Don’t forget to use bangs to your advantage to make your choppy, layered bob look great with your face shape. Skip bangs in favor of more choppy layers around your face if you’d like.

Or, go with long, layered bangs, split bangs, curtain bangs, or blunt bangs to tweak the overall look and help sculpt your face shape! Still not sure if a choppy bob is the right look for you?

Check out our guide next to see if a heavily layered look will work well with your hair type: Should I Get Layers? | An Overly-Detailed Guide. Try our Virtual Hairstyle Try-On App to instantly see how you look with a choppy bob in real time!