If you are 40 ish with thick wavy hair

[treaclesoda]

can you suggest a hairstyle that looks good but isn't too much work?

I can't do the wavy bob as I find it very high maintenance - that artfully tousled look is not as easy to achieve as it looks. Plus my hair goes all bouffant on top and clings in round my jaw, so I look like a mushroom.

It's about four inches past my shoulders at the moment and sits ok, but I think I'll look older if I grow it longer, yet I find it hard to handle if it's shorter. And I'm bored of it the way it is.

I have had my long layered hair cut into a long, bob that falls just past my shoulders and invested in a steam pod to get a lovely sleek look.
I have some very long layers through the ends to stop it looking like a triangle and a little shape around the face.
My longer hair, I felt was wearing me and dragging my face down and just too heavy.

I'm 43 with thick, wavy hair and same length as yours.
Mine is layered so not dragged down by the weight and it brings out the waves-if I leave it too long without a cut I get the dreaded medieval,mushroom head I also don't have a straight parting,more zigzaggy, so it gives it a bit of lift at the roots.

I have a jaw length bob. Any longer and it goes weird and straggly. It can't cope with layers, they turn me into a frizz ball. This shorter length brings out the curl which makes it easier yo deal with!

I have a long layered wavy bob.
Key things for me are:

• absolutely no point cutting or feathering or thinning. My hair likes to be cut in the traditional way, with the scissors held parallel to the comb (rather than that jabby thing they do when holding the scissors upward) .
• the layers must be a particular length otherwise I get the mushroom effect or the triangle effect. There is a happy place in the middle, and I find middle-aged male hairdressers are my best bet to find it.

I have some layers in, but I nearly always wear it up or in a ponytail. A bit dull and crap, but I look nuts with short hair and I look nuts with long hair. Constraining it is the only way.

I love Anna Chancellors hair.

I think I want it for myself actually.

would it work on you?

I wear mine long, all 1 length except for thick blunt fringe

I kind of twist it around my fingers in thick sections with a little bit of wax and straighten my fringe so it hangs in loose waves

Netty I curse you and your Steam Pod mention, one quick google and my fingers are itching to click and buy...

I have shoulder length thick hair, cut into layers. I discovered not long ago that if my hair is dried for a short time with a diffuser, it goes quite curly, and ends up looking 'artfully tousled' with a minimum of effort. I use Aveda curly girl stuff on it. For those that remember it, it's a bit like the 'coupe savage' perm, but slightly curlier. I'm in my 50's and I think I can still carry it off

My hair is more curly than wavy, I have a longish bob (sits on my shoulders) with long layers, and a short fringe, which is easy to dry straight.
Agree that thinning etc not good.
I find this style very low maintenance & also use a variation on the curly girl method, regular haircuts are a must, though.

Rose Byrne seems to have a similar hair type. There are loads of pictures of her various hairstyles on the web.

I tried a steam pod -made me frizz

I just googled the steam pod as I'd never heard of it.
I had something similar in the 90s, and remember filling it up with water. It was bought in boots the chemist, probably for about £20. I had completely forgotten about it until today.

If mine's layered, it sort of splits out into two "styles" (using that term very loosely), so the top layer springs up, and the bottom layer straggles down.

It has got so frizzy over the past year - I've been really stressed, so wondering if it's that?

Am just now trying L'Oreal extraordinary oil for the very first time (put it on between shampoo and conditioner). It seems to have helped a little with de-frizzing. Think I may need to be bolder and try to put some on as a finish once my hair is dry too.

I find blow-drying too much hassle (almost always leave it to dry naturally), so that steam pod probably isn't for me...sigh at reports of swishing.

The steampod has changed my life... I love my hair now and can't live without it.. I swear by the steampod cream and serum though..
No frizz, just swishy, sleek hair and I have Tina turner hair, thick and wild.

I'm 36 with thick, wavy, naturally frizzy hair. It's about the same length as yours. I have long layers and a long, grown-out-looking angled side fringe. The angled bit is important because it gives that nice pointy bit that you can flick out (not explaining this very well - sorry).

I use Aveda Naturally Straight blowdry cream and blast it with my Parlux. I use the Babyliss Big Hair to do my fringe, which makes it nice and bouncy and flicky. Then I use a round brush to do random curls and flicks in the ends round the front.

I find having a fringe really helpful because as long as you'ce dried that bit and styled it it makes your hair look 'done' even if you can't be arsed to do much with the length. I tend to wear it in a half-up-half-down 60s style. If I do that, I spray dry shampoo in it and muss it up first.

I try and have regular trims to stop myself looking like Zelda from Terrahawks.

Mine's about boob length at the moment which is about my favourite length (have had waist length) with layers. It looks awful blow dried but as long as I let it dry naturally it looks fine!

Mine's this length: instagram.com/p/tSAGv7vlmb/?modal=true

Mine is bobbed to collar bone length at the moment, but I might go up to jaw length next time. It's triangly, but I have a very long face, so triangles are good.

I am crystal tips naturally. Now there is Wellastrate, I can use a comb, I have shine on my hair and it has taken 10 years off me. And it lasts a year.

swish....

Curly girl works with shorter hair, too.

thanks for all the suggestions and advice