What Gigi Hadid’s Love Layers Haircut Actually Is
The love layers haircut is a modern, heart-shaped, voluminous layered cut that updates classic ’90s face-framing styles by using swooping, C-shaped, bouncy hair layers to create romantic movement, lift at the roots, and a narrower, contoured effect through the ends. If you love the undone, effortless drama of ’90s Rachel Green hair but want something that feels current, this is your lane. Love layers follow a heart-like outline around your face, with more volume at the top and a slimmer silhouette at the bottom, giving you high-drama volume and an illusion of structure without complicated daily styling. Think long, sweeping layers that look soft, lived-in and polished all at once—perfect if your hair feels flat or heavy and you want it to move. The real prerequisite: enough length for layers that can start just below your chin and continue down through your ends.
How to Ask Your Stylist for Gigi’s Heart-Shaped Layers
Walking into the salon and saying “Gigi Hadid haircut” can help, but you’ll get a better result if you can explain how love layers are cut. Dimitris Giannetos describes them as “love layers (aka heart shape layers)” that update the C-cut, where the layers form the inward shape of a C around the face. Translating that for a stylist is key so you leave with the romantic, voluminous layered cut you’re picturing instead of random face-framing pieces that fall flat.
- Start with your goal: tell your stylist you want a voluminous, soft, romantic ’90s-inspired look that still feels polished but slightly undone, similar to Gigi Hadid’s love layers haircut.
- Ask for an updated C-cut with long, sweeping layers that follow a heart shape: more lift at the roots, layers that start a little below the chin, and a silhouette that is fuller on top and narrower at the bottom.
- Specify that you want the first layers to begin just below your chin and continue down towards the tips of your hair to create heart-shaped layers and the illusion of contour around your face.
- Request layers that create movement and bouncy hair layers through the lengths, rather than choppy, short layers that could break up your long hair too harshly.
- Ask your stylist to cut with a middle part in mind, even if you sometimes change your part, because the heart-shaped layers look especially good with a center part and maximise height at the crown.
The real gotcha here is balance: if your stylist cuts the layers too short or stacks them too high, you’ll lose that long, sweeping drama and end up closer to a classic shag than a refined ’90s revival. Make sure you stress that you still want the illusion of long lengths—your hair should feel lighter and more dimensional, but not noticeably shorter. You’re asking for structure and contour around the face, not a radical chop.
Styling Love Layers: Blow-Dry and Straightener Hacks
Once the cut is in place, the good news is that it does most of the heavy lifting for you: the long layer haircut lays much of the groundwork for the minimal styling that follows. This is why the love layers haircut fits busy people; Gigi Hadid’s stylist notes the shape offers her more time back because it is easy to zhuzh and look polished. You’re aiming for voluminous, soft, romantic hair with an undone, effortlessly cool finish that still looks chic and put together. That comes from how you handle your blow-dry or straightener, not from spending an hour with hot tools every day.
- Apply a heat protectant to damp hair and set your part in the middle to prep for the heart-shaped finish that maximises root lift.
- Using a big round brush, blow-dry sections of your hair, turning the brush to create that inward C-shape through the lengths while building volume at the roots.
- As each section dries, pin the hair up and let the lengths cool completely in place; this helps lock in the swooping, bouncy hair layers and root lift.
- Once everything has cooled, remove the pins and muss through the hair with your fingers rather than a tight brush, so the finish stays undone and romantic instead of stiff.
- Finish with a light mist of hairspray, watching for the heart-shape layers to appear around your face—fuller near the top, narrower and contoured near the ends.
If you are not comfortable with a hair dryer, you can fake the look using wide-plate straighteners. Apply heat protectant, then smooth over your hair and divide it into about six medium-size sections depending on your hair type. Run the straightener along each section and curl the ends inwards to mimic the shape of a blow-dry brush and create that C-shape curl. At first the curl might look tight, but you need to trust the process—pin the curls, let them set, then rake through with your fingers or a wide-tooth comb and mist hairspray to lock the heart-shaped layers in place. The main mistake to avoid is brushing everything out too aggressively; that will erase the carefully built dimension and volume you just worked for.
Why Love Layers Feel Like a ’90s Classic With a Twist
The reason everyone is talking about Gigi Hadid’s love layers is that they feel familiar but upgraded. Her stylist shares that the secret to her dimension and depth is an updated version of the C-cut, a swooping, face-framing style where layers form the inward shape of a C, reminiscent of Jennifer Aniston’s iconic Rachel haircut. Another source notes that this update on her viral feathery, flicky C-curl cut makes a case for long, sweeping, dramatic layers that give the illusion of long lengths and feel totally Rachel Green coded from mid-era Friends. You get that nostalgic ’90s drama with a contemporary twist: more thoughtful contouring, softer edges and a focus on effortless styling.
Because the heart-shaped layers create more volume on the top and a more narrow shape at the bottom, they can sharpen the face by creating the illusion of contour. On highlighted or multi-tone hair, the overlapping lengths add even more dimension and make natural variations in colour stand out. There is a reason this cut is trending for long hair right now: summer is described as the perfect time to experiment with layers that lighten heavy hair and add volume for an easy, breezy look. If you want your hair to feel lighter, bouncier and more dramatic without having to commit to a short bob or pixie, love layers deliver that balance.
Is the Love Layers Haircut Worth It?
If you want romantic, undone ’90s-inspired hair with high-drama volume and bouncy movement, Gigi Hadid’s love layers haircut earns its hype. When done well, you end up with long, sweeping layers that look voluminous, soft and romantic, while still feeling chic, polished and put together. The cut’s heart-shaped layers give you more lift at the roots, an illusion of contour, and a top-heavy, narrow-bottom silhouette that looks especially striking with a middle part. And because the shape is built into the cut, your daily styling can stay fairly simple; a quick blow-dry with a round brush or a pass with straighteners and pins is often enough. The main thing to watch for is communicating clearly at the salon—describe the heart shape, the starting point of the layers, and that you want the illusion of long lengths. Get that right, and love layers are a long-hair refresh you can enjoy for months.
