One practical tip is to try to work with your hair's natural type - curly, straight, wavy, etc. Whatever the occasion (or humdrum routine), one major consideration in selecting your hair style is the shape of your face. Your new hairstyle needs to complement the shape of your face. After all, it's much easier to change your hairstyle than to change the shape of your face! Use your hair style to accentuate your best facial features.

If you're not sure of your face shape, stand in front of a mirror and trace around your face's reflection in the mirror with something like lipstick. Which is it closest to - heart, oval, round or square?

The secret to using that knowledge to select your ideal hairstyle is to emphasize the smaller parts, and de-emphasize the dominant parts of your face.

For example, if you have a square block on your shoulders, you may want to soften the outlines and send others' eyes to your eyes. Curly or wavy hair softens the edges and wispy layers and/or long bangs swept to the side can radically enhance this facial shape.

What usually works best for a round face is a style that lifts the hair at the crown and leaves hair hanging close to the face. Oval-shaped faces look great with just about any style, so if that's you, count your lucky stars! Start your experiments by brushing your hair away from your face, and work from there.

Once you've narrowed down the hair style type that would best suit you - or if you're still not sure - it's time to explore the individual possibilities. Magazines - from style to celebrity - often include vast ranges of hair styles to choose from, and you can spend hours leafing through them. Your local library probably has plenty to browse.

Hair Styles Cuts, for instance, has almost 4000 different hair styles you can 'try on'. A year's membership costs a fraction of one disastrous haircut, and you can have a ball trying on hair styles you'd never dream of experimenting with in real life!
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