3 Before-and-Afters That Prove Any Bad Haircut Can Be Saved

The Backstory
Liz Hagelthorn, 25, wanted to start her new job as an assistant at Twitter in Palo Alto, California, with a fresh style. So two weeks before her first day, she went to a local salon for a trim of her midlength hair and a few layers around her face. She ended up with a look she describes as "a Carol Brady—Gene Simmons hybrid—somehow it's both a bob and a mullet."

When she saw the finished results in the salon mirror, she cried.

The Counseling Session
According to Garnier celebrity stylist Tommy Buckett, Hagelthorn's problem was wildly uneven layers created with a flagrant disregard for blending. What makes the style especially egregious are its extremes: short pieces on top that form a bouffantlike helmet and long, stringy layers at the bottom that give it that '80s hair-metal vibe. Undaunted, Buckett got down to business, transforming Hagelthorn's shaggy style into an "edgy Debbie Harry bob."

The Happy Outcome
Hagelthorn, who had never worn her hair this short, adores her new cut. "My style is more modern now, and it really suits me."

Her Cut
Tommy Buckett cut five inches off the back and one inch from the sides, so the overall length was less jarring with the short front sections. "This will make the cut easier to grow out," he says.

Once the longest layers were gone and the cut was more balanced, Buckett thinned some weight from the top to make it lighter there and fuller on the sides. "Liz didn't need any more layers," he says. "But she did need to blend the ones she had so they didn't seem like separate haircuts."

To complement the choppiness on the top, Buckett made all the ends more piecey by cutting into the hair shaft at an angle. A hit of texture spray accentuated the "lived-in look."

Dress: Coast