It’s Time To Stop Renaming The Bob

There comes a time in every beauty writer's life when she has to step back and realize that things have completely spun out of control. Today is that day. According to Allure, the "wob" is a new hairstyle that just about everyone in Hollywood is running to get.

Except, it isn't.

The truth is, the wob is just a wavy bob. That's it. A bob with waves. Just like the lob is a longer bob and the fob is a fake bob. But, just because Jennifer Lawrence's hairstylist decided to run a curling iron through her hair doesn't mean her mane has changed names before our eyes. We've hit a breaking point. It's time to stop with the hair portmanteaus. It's time to stop renaming the bob.

Now, we're not saying we're perfect. We declared Jennifer's shorter crop a "baby bob" when she first emerged with it. One time, we even reported on something called "babylights." It's sometimes fun to throw a punny name on a trend and see if it sticks. (Remember "sombré," for soft ombré, or "bronde," for brown-blonde?) Plus, how many different ways can you write about short hair, or even hair in general? It can get repetitive.

But, enough is enough. Where does it end? Is a "sob" a straight bob? How about calling a long, layered haircut a "nob" — for "non-bob?" What is it about the bob that has us feeling like we can replace the "b" with any letter and turn it into a Frankenstein of hair puns?

What Jennifer Lawrence has on her head is a bob. Coco Rocha also has a bob. So do Emma Stone, Cate Blanchett, and all of these women. It is a bob, no matter how you slice style it.

So, let's move on from the multiple monikers and talk about something more important. Like, what exactly is divergent liner?