Textured Beauty: 22 Bobs for Curly and Coily Hair

Ciara, master of the hair switch-up, wore the most iconic iteration of the bob hairstyle that, with these blunt, above-the-brow bangs, feels vaguely reminiscent of Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface.

Kelly Rowland is everyone’s short hair muse. This version is all about contrast. Hairstylist Kiyah Wright created a sharp side part, slicked the crown, and kept the ends loose and slightly flipped so the style didn’t look too stiff like a helmet. The standout, though, is the single swirl that gives retro, flapper vibes on an otherwise modern style.

Hairstylist Coree Moreno went for and perfectly executed a classic Old Hollywood curly bob. If you’re not ready to fully commit to a cut, try curling and pinning the ends under to recreate this style into a faux bob.

Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles’s bob leans more on the longer, lob side, but adding a slight bend to the ends of the smooth style keeps it perfectly balanced in bob territory.

Bobs typically frame the face, but hairstylist Hos Hounkpatin let Ryan Destiny’s stunning glam get most of the shine by slicking her short cut behind the ear on one side.

Keke Palmer is a true hair chameleon, but the bob doesn’t get any more classic than this. She kept her style simple with a blunt cut, center part, and reddish brown color that adds both dimension and playfulness.

Gabrielle Union opted for added texture with curtain bangs and choppy layers around the jawline. Not having a sharp center part also makes the style feel less rigid.

Nara Smith’s entire aesthetic serves vintage, but she leans into the vibe even harder here with tightly curled side bangs and ends that throw the style right back into the 1950s and ’60s.

For the 2025 VMAs, hairstylist Yusef, who has also worked heavily with Rihanna, created some accents on Tyla’s straight bob in the form of cornrow parts. He sliced a deep-v into her bob, then made two braids within the part for added texture.

Halle Berry has been rocking this wavy bob for a minute. Her version, which is more beachy and tousled, proves you don’t need every hair carefully placed for the cut to look chic.

Ayo Edebiri’s bob is a hybrid of several styles on this list. Overall, it’s slick and blunt at the base, but to add some movement and texture, especially if you’re wearing a wig, loose waves worked in from the browline down will keep it flowing.

If you take the more general vintage vibe of Nara Smith’s bob and combine it with Zendaya’s Old Hollywood red carpet look, you get Karrueche Tran’s smooth but full-of-body bob.

To punctuate the point that the micro bangs and wind-flipped ends were, in fact, the moment, Jodie Turner-Smith ditched her eyebrows for the occasion.

Kerry Washington took a detour from some of her longer-haired looks for this smoothed-down lob that kept its bounce thanks to the slightly rounded ends.

At Wiederhoeft’s spring/summer 2026 runway show during New York Fashion Week, Oribe Principal Artist of Global Design, Kien Hoang, helped us envision what braids might’ve looked like during the Victorian era with this intricately twisted faux bob that he topped off with a bow created using pieces of hair.

A micro braid lob with a center part is so ’90s coded and honestly still doesn’t look dated.

Adding chunky highlights is one of the easiest ways to give a bob some life. The perfectly coiffed waves, as seen here on Kami Crawford, also help shave a few inches away from the shoulders to transform longer hair into more of a bob look.

If you don’t want to commit to either a sleek or curled bob look, do what Karen Pittman does here and try both in one style. One side is smooth and blunt, and the other has a loose curl and more volume around the jawline.

Part positioning completely changes a style. The root of this one is similar to smooth, bumped-ends bob seen on Palmer and Washington, but by shifting the part from the center to the side, the style becomes less serious but still about its business.

It’s hard to tell whether Jordyn Woods actually chopped her hair down or if she’s faking a bob by tucking her hair into her coat. Either way, test out the style before locking in on the cut by creating a faux bob.