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The Chicest Short Hairstyles for Black Women

Keeping it natural: let your hair rest and grow with one of these glamorous cuts

written by The Editors

When it comes to their hair, black women don’t take shortcuts  – but that doesn’t mean they can’t rock plenty of different short hairstyles. Unlike other races, which may have straight, curly, or wavy hair, most black hair falls on one spectrum: varying degrees of tightly-curled strands  – such as coils, spirals, loops, curves, or even zig zags.

The texture of black hair means that it’s more easily prone to breakage, which is why maintaining a black woman’s hair takes a little more TLC than most. This means more hair products, setting a specific schedule as to when you wash your hair, or even just being careful about how often you let your hair get wet.

However, it also means that black women have more options as to how they want to wear their hair  – they can straighten or relax it with a perm, use a weave, get extensions, or even just wear their natural hair.

Regardless of which way you want to wear yours, you don’t need to keep your hair long  – famous black women, from Tyra Banks, Keke Palmer, and Gabrielle Union, have paved the way when it comes to short hairstyles for black women.

Besides sporting some of the same hairstyles as your favorite celebrities, short hair can have a couple of other advantages for black women. For one thing, wearing your hair short is any easy way to complete any look, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve opted to keep it short and natural or straighten it out with a perm.

Short hair may also be a little easier to maintain, especially if you’re not trying to grow it out and don’t need to worry as much about breakage as you would with a longer hairstyle. Speaking of maintenance, short hairstyles for black women are often easier to cut or DIY them at home if you’re not a fan of heading to the salon every time you need a new cut.

Whether you’re looking for something that may be a little easier to deal with or you just want to rock short hair the same way your fan favorites like Rihanna or Tyra Banks have, we’ve compiled a list of short curly hairstyles for black women as well as short hairstyles for black natural hair for you to draw inspiration from. Our hairstyles below range from trendy and viral to timeless cuts you can’t go wrong with.

So, if you need something to show your stylist at your next appointment, our pictures of short hairstyles and short curly hairstyles black hair should work perfectly.