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16 Short Hairstyles for Fine Hair That Add Volume

Fine-textured strands need the right type of cut and style to look their best. If you want to maximize your hair’s fullness and achieve more volume, check out these 16 trendy short hairstyles for fine hair! 

What Are the Best Short Hairstyles for Fine Hair?

  • Add interest and texture with bangs, fluffed-out volume, waves, and curls
  • Focus on short and blended layers for movement and fullness
  • No choppy, shaggy layers – they make fine hair look thinner

Finding great short hairstyles for fine hair is no easy feat. Some of the cutest trendy styles seem to be designed for thick, dense hair with tons of natural oomph that fine strands just don’t have. 

But what if we told you that almost any short hairstyle can be tailored to fit ultra-fine, thin strands with a few little tweaks? It’s true, and as long as you know the key elements and features that make short hairstyles work for fine hair, you’ll be able to rock any look with fullness and confidence. 

The best short hairstyles for fine hair say yes to big volume (with the help of products and proper layering), healthy texture in the form of waves and curls, blended fine layers or short, thickening layers at the ends, and eye-catching bangs or soft layers around the face. 

Learning to avoid certain hairstyle elements – like choppy, shaggy layers and wispy, thinned-out ends – will help you enhance your hair’s natural fullness and volume while keeping your product use and style time to a minimum. 

If finding cute short hairstyles for fine hair has eluded you so far, things are about to change! 

Keep reading to learn about the elements to look for in flattering short styles for fine strands, see gorgeous examples of styles and cuts that work, and get tips to achieve more fullness and volume in your baby-fine strands. 

5 Things to Look for in Short Hairstyles for Fine Hair

Woman with a short hairstyle and fine hair grinning at the camera looking left

Eugene Partyzan/Shutterstock

Looking for a cut that includes any of these features will make it more flattering on short, fine hair. 

The Right Layers

Short layers at the ends of your hair and blended, graduated layers throughout can help create visual fullness and volume that prevents fine strands from looking flat or stringy.

Avoid choppy, shaggy layers that take out random or uneven chunks of hair and create a thinner, patchier look in fine hair. Instead, you want soft layering that enhances your hair’s fullness and movement.

Subtle, gradual layering can be used to create more volume where you want it, like at the crown, in the back, or around your face. Short layers at the ends will help bulk up the bottom and prevent your ends from looking wispy or thin. 

Blunt Cuts

Blunt cuts, on the opposite end of the spectrum from layers, can also be helpful to keep your ends looking full. The major advantage of blunt cuts for fine hair is that they help bulk up your ends without sacrificing any thickness to layers. 

To make a blunt cut work for you, you’ll need healthy ends that aren’t thin or wispy. If you need to take off a little more length to make it work, do it. Having full, healthy ends will visually thicken your hair and make your style look super chic and polished. 

Extra Texture

Extra fluffy volume, waves, and curls are easy ways to make a short hairstyle look thicker and fuller on fine hair. The added interest of bends, twists, and curls throughout the style helps prop strands up with more volume while giving it a thicker look overall. 

If you’re finding that your style looks a little flat with a straight texture, adding some volume with sprays, root powders, or root-lifting mousse will help. Adding waves or curls are other quick fixes that always work. 

Bangs or Face-Framing Layers

Adding bangs or a few soft, face-framing layers to your look will make a huge difference in how full your hair looks. Since fine hair tends to lie flat and may lack natural movement, bangs and face-framing layers are simple tweaks you can make to transform a style into one that flatters and enhances your hair.

Side-swept bangs are great for fine hair, but if you like a denser look, go for full, textured bangs that lay across your forehead.

If the upkeep and styling requirements of bangs isn’t for you, soft face-framing layers give you the same fullness-enhancing benefits with less maintenance and easier styling. 

Side Parts or Asymmetry

Styling your hair with a side part or choosing a cut with a little asymmetry is perfect for fine hair. Side parts create a little asymmetry without requiring you to cut your hair a different way, so it’s the easiest tweak for most to make.

With a side part, you’re stacking more of your hair on one side to create a fuller and thicker appearance. Asymmetrical cuts that are longer on one side have the same effect.

The secret lies in the contrast these types of cuts create – with one side a bit shorter than the other, the eye is drawn to the longer side that looks thicker and fuller. That gives your hair a fuller, denser look overall. 

16 Best Short Hairstyles for Fine Hair

You’ve got all the keys to what makes short hairstyles for fine hair look great – let’s look at some examples to see these keys in action! 

From feathery, casual styles that exude carefree coolness to polished blunt bobs with a hint of sophistication, there are so many ways to make short styles work well for fine hair. Check them out! 

1. Voluminous Bixie With Side Bang

Voluminous Bixie With Side Bang

Kiuikson/Shutterstock

Bixie cuts combine the shorter length of a pixie on top with the slightly longer back and sides of a bob. This breezy cut features short layers at the end – a helpful way to thicken up fine hair – and full side bangs keep the top voluminous and far from flat. 

2. Midi Blunt Bob

Midi Blunt Bob, a great short hairstyle for fine hair, pictured on a woman in a white shirt

SunCity/Shutterstock

Midi length somewhere between your shoulders and mid-neck is perfect for fine hair and looks great on all face shapes. Keeping the ends blunt and unlayered means you won’t have to sacrifice any of your fullness to layers – a great option for super-fine hair that may be thinning. It has such a polished, chic look. 

3. Tapered Chin-Length Bob With Texture

An example of a short hairstyle for fine hair featuring a Tapered Chin-Length Bob With Texture

Cookie Studio/Shutterstock

Tapering with gradually shorter layers toward the neckline is a great trick for fine hair that looks thinner at the ends. This shapes the cut and keeps the style looking fuller at the bottom for a thicker look overall. Side-swept bangs and waves are gorgeous ways to texturize and further fill out this style. 

4. Tousled Pixie With Dark Shadow Root

Tousled Pixie With Dark Shadow Root

Kiuikson/Shutterstock

Playing with different color techniques can help you visually fill out fine hair to make it look thicker. A dark shadow root contrasted with lighter color adds depth to create an optical illusion of fuller, denser strands. This is a great style if you love a messier, freeform look that doesn’t have to be perfectly arranged. 

5. Feathered Bixie Cut

Feathered Bixie Cut, a great short hairstyle for fine hair

Kiuikson/Shutterstock

Plump out fine strands with a short bixie (pixie/bob) that creates extra fullness with fine, feathery layers around the face and short layering on the ends. This casual style is easy to manage and can be styled with an off-center side part, a deep side part, or brushed forward with slightly shorter bangs.

6. Beach Wave Chin-Length Bob

Beach Wave Chin-Length Bob

Sofia Zhuravetc/Shutterstock

Beach waves are voluminous, tousled, and super casual. They’re also perfect for lifting and volumizing short, fine hair! Use a curling iron to wrap hair in opposite directions around your head with a side part in place. You’ll love the big volume and illusion of thickness it creates for a chin-length bob!

Read Next: The 7 Best Flat Irons for Beach Waves

7. Short Tapered Crop With French Bangs

Short Tapered Crop With French Bangs

Metamorworks/Shutterstock

Cropping your hair to just-past ear length is a really flattering way to wear short, fine hair. This crop features graduated layers that are shortest around the crown and gradually lengthen to create the appearance of fullness and volume around the back and sides. Style the front with a split French bang for a chic and easy style. 

8. Blunt Chin-Length Bob

Blunt Chin-Length Bob pictured for a short hairstyles for fine hair roundup

Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

To make fine, straight, short hair look super chic and polished without spending a ton of time with volumizing products and heat styling, try a simple cut like this.

The ends are bluntly cut without layers to prevent sacrificing any of your hair’s natural fullness. Rock that pin-straight texture for an angular, precise look that really accentuates your jawline. 

9. Asymmetrical Tapered Bob

Asymmetrical Tapered Bob, a great short hairstyle for fine hair

Roman Chazov/Shutterstock

Going asymmetrical with your length is another neat trick to emphasize your hair’s fullness and make it look a bit thicker. Combining more length on one side and a side part is the best way to reap the benefits! Tapered length gets shorter closer to the neckline for a full, somewhat rounded look that mimics lush, thick hair.

Read Next: The 25 Best Asymmetrical Bob Hairstyles of 2024

10. Graduated and Stacked Bob

Graduated and Stacked Bob

Sun Shock/Shutterstock

Layer graduation is a pretty way to make fine hair look more voluminous since the different lengths are gradually blended with no harsh differences or gaps between the layers.

Short layering around the back and sides “stacks” the bob for extra crown volume and height, while the length in the front is ideal for waving, curling, or tousling for extra texture. 

11. Side-Swept Pixie Cut

Side-Swept Pixie Cut, a short hairstyle for fine hair that adds volume

Litvinov/Shutterstock

Side-swept styles are ideal for short, fine hair since they “stack” and bundle the hair as it’s all pushed to one side. If you’re rocking a short pixie, keeping the top long enough to style over to the side will help you make the style appear denser and thicker. 

12. Permed Tapered Bob

Permed Tapered Bob, a short hairstyle for fine hair

Cookie Studio/Shutterstock

Perms are a life-saver for fine hair with a naturally straight texture. Waking up with full, voluminous curls every day makes styling fine strands so much easier, and look how much more thickness it creates! Tapering the ends so they shorter closer to the neckline keeps this cut from taking on a triangular, bottom-heavy look. 

13. Tousled Bob With Soft Face-Framing Layers

Tousled Bob With Soft Face-Framing Layers

Popcorner/Shutterstock

Here’s another look using color to its advantage for a denser appearance. This chin-length bob is slightly tapered at the ends and incorporates soft face-framing layers to break up the length and flatter those cheekbones. Lightened money piece highlights in the front create more visual depth so the style looks full and fabulous. 

14. Side-Swept Long Top Crop

Side-Swept Long Top Crop

Myboys.me/Shutterstock

This short cut works so well for fine strands as it keeps the back and sides cut very short with a longer length on top. That length contrast makes the top look fuller by comparison and focuses the eyes on the thickest areas of your mane. Add volumizing, root lifting mousse while it’s damp, blow it out, and part to the side for a clean-cut, simple style. 

15. Long Pixie With Brushed-Forward Bangs

Long Pixie With Brushed-Forward Bangs, a great short hairstyle for fine hair

Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

A grown-out pixie or one that’s cut to leave extra length on the back and sides can be great for fine hair. Short lengths ensure you don’t deal with stringy, thin ends with fine hair.

Brushing the longer top forward for side-swept bangs adds volume on top, along with the soft layering around the crown for a little piece-y texture. 

16. Bob With Short Layering and Textured Bangs

Bob With Short Layering and Textured Bangs

Metamorworks/Shutterstock

This style brings together 3 fullness-enhancing elements: Short length around the chin, short layers in the ends of the style, and full, textured bangs. All 3 elements visually plump out fine hair for a more voluminous, dense look. 

Styling Tips and Things to Consider

You’ll get better results rocking short hairstyles for fine hair when you put these tips and tricks into action. From building out your product toolkit to using special techniques when you dry and style your mane, these tips will be your secret weapons for building big volume and making your hair look full and thick. 

  • Fine hair needs some special products. While the right cut and layers can work wonders, you’ll get the best results when you use the right hair products for fine hair. At minimum, your toolkit should include volumizing mousse, root-lift or texturizing spray, and dry shampoo to add grit and volume. Volumizing/texturizing products use starches and proteins to physically lift, separate, and add texture to your fine strands for better grip and height when you style it. 
  • Lift your strands while you blow dry. If you prefer blow drying to air drying your strands, make sure you’re doing it the right way. Lifting your strands while you dry will set the root in an upright position, giving you extra lift and volume from the start. Use a round brush for smooth, blow out results or a regular brush if you plan to heat style afterward. Add volumizing mousse to your roots while your hair is damp for even better results! 
  • Tease lightly for targeted lift. Fine hair can benefit big-time from a little light teasing where you need lift and volume the most. You might concentrate lift at your crown, along the sides, in the front, or all over. Use a fine-toothed comb for the most compacted, lasting lift or a wide-toothed comb for less damage and more diffused volume. Spritz each section with hairspray after teasing to help it last and smooth unteased hair over it to cover it. 
  • Add texture for a fuller look. You can use texture – big volume, waves, or curls – to make your hair look fuller in any style. Waves and curls are a great way to make a ponytail look thicker if yours is a little thin! If you don’t want too much texture, even a slight bend at the ends will help separate and define layers to add the illusion of thickness in mostly-straight hair. 
  • Take a hair thickening supplement. Even if you’re not looking to grow your hair longer, taking a good hair growth supplement will help you enhance the thickness and fullness of your mane while promoting denser hair growth. We’ve reviewed tons of supplements and growth-enhancing products over the years, but so far, none have beat Folexin. It’s all natural with ingredients that boost your body’s hair growth process. It contains biotin, iron, folic acid, and Chinese fo-ti plant extract to enhance fullness, volume, and hair density in less than 2 months. 

Short hairstyles are such a great look for fine hair. When you know the tips and tricks to make your short, fine hair look full, thick, and lush, you’ll get even better results! 

Whether you’re rocking a super-short look like a crop or pixie or embracing a midi short length around your chin or neck, you can make your short strands work for you and create the illusion of thicker, denser hair. 

Using one or more of the key elements we covered for fine hair (the right layers, blunt ends, extra texture, bangs/face-framing layers, and asymmetry) will put you on the right track with any short hairstyle.

Avoiding choppy layers and razored styles with wispy/thin ends is essential if you want your fine strands to appear dense and full.

With the right style elements, a good product toolkit, and fullness-enhancing style techniques, you can make any short hairstyle look amazing on your fine strands. Try some of these simple tweaks for your sassy, short ‘do and you’ll never struggle with limp, flat, or lifeless hair again!