The soft-wave bob is breezy, boho and about to be everywhere  

Sure, the shape of a bob is fundamental. A great cut can make or break your hair's ability to look delicious on the daily. But the soft-wave bob? Well, it's proof that considered styling can breathe new life into your strands, and make you fall back in love with it, even if you're overdue a cut.

In fact, that's one of the times a soft-wave bob works best. The unstructured shape, compliments outgrown strands, especially if you like a more laidback, undone look. But equally, the breezy styling can help loosen up ultra neat cuts, like a freshly chopped blunt bob, and give it a much more relaxed vibe. 

So what exactly is it? Simply put, the soft-wave bob is a looser, less structured wave that gives a slightly slept-in texture. It's the hair equivalent of No Makeup Makeup – minimally styled, but still super natural looking. It's exactly the right amount of relaxed.

And depending on your hair's natural texture and your desired look, it can be achieved a few ways. For instance, naturally soft-wave textures can be encouraged with styling products (like salt sprays, texturising sprays and curl creams) to emphasise the pretty shape further. For straight-ish, or sort of wavy textures, air drying hair that's tucked behind ears, or twisted into dinky buns can create a gorgeous soft wave. Or for something a little more glam, heat tools can introduce loose waves, especially when they're brushed out to look like second or third day hair.

Beach waves have headlined for years, but for summer 2022, this offers an even subtler cool-girl take that look more minimal, and less deliberate. 

Here's 10 of our favourite ways to wear the soft-wave bob…

The caramel soft-wave bob

Influencer, Estela Newbold paired soft-wave sections at the front of her hair with pretty caramel moneypiece highlights.

Baby braid soft-wave bob

Digital creator, Steph Hui teamed naturally wavy hair with cute baby braids framing her face.

Side-parted soft-wave bob

Laura Harrier's hairstylist opted for side parted soft-wave bob, flicking extra waves over the other side for volume and to emphasise the gently waved texture.

Shaggy soft-wave bob

Actress Ella Purnell rocked loose, scrunched, unstructured soft-waves for a rebel take on the style.

French soft-wave bob

Model Marsella Rae's soft-wave bob is a cheeky French bob length, hitting at the lip and making the most of her naturally wavy texture.

Semi-straight soft-wave bob

Actress Zoey Deutch's soft-wave bob is a little more structured. It looks like ‘S’ waves have been styled in, then combed out to leave a much looser, softer wave.

Messy soft-wave bob

We love model, Amrita-Karma's slept-in texture. It's the hair equivalent of No Makeup Makeup – slightly styled, but still super natural looking. 

Tucked soft-wave bob

Model Kaia Gerber's soft-wave bob looks beautifully undone – like it's been tucked behind her ears and left to air-dry to encourage some natural movement.

Blunt soft-wave bob

Rose Byrne's more structured soft-wave bob features one giant wave that's been stretched out and loosened up. It's a pretty way to emphasise her sliced blunt shaped. 

Silky soft-wave bob

This silky bob is mostly straight, with the exclusion of one face framing section, waved to add movement and add dimension for the light to bounce off her silky strands.

Read more stories about bob haircuts:

• The Parisian bob is this summer's update to the French-girl cut
• Bob haircuts aren't just for straight hair – here's proof
• Kris Jenner has swapped her signature pixie cut for the sleekest chin-length bob we've ever seen

For more from GLAMOUR's Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk