Wow that ' s actually really clever . <| sep |> I ' m going to suggest an alternate approach . As a PhD student , and therefore or someone as busy as you are , if you are looking for a flattering cut , you are going to want to start a Pinterest board with pins for what you do like . There is zero wrong with your look at present . It ' s practical and functional for the circumstances where your life is at . Granted , there ' s nothing wrong with seeking to renovateupgrade your look , ether . And since a ' big ' makeover can always happen when you graduate , there ' s no reason to put pressure on yourself to update your overall look at this time , unless you are wanting to do it just for fun . Personally , I think ' fun ' is a great reason to do any change at all when you are otherwise focused on a very stressful personal career goal . You have great bone structure and skin clarity . As far as being cold Have you ever looked into your macronutrients ? I ' m switching to a PaleoKeto lifestyle , and am finding that I ' m warmer overall when I keep a stable blood sugar , eat more fatprotein vs carbs , and remember to eat every couple of hours . It takes a few weeks to really get used to it , but being warmer is WORTH IT . Back to your hair . What ' s your typical product regime ? You might look into cowashing . I use cleansing conditioner and that simplified my life tremendously . I am a tech writer and have been working long hours of late , so every little timesaving thing helps . My natural hair color is about the same as yours , and I also have dark circles . The former enhances the latter . I gave up and dyed my hair red . It helped Anyway . So probably the biggest bang for your hair buck is going to be something like a graduated bob or a lob . Perhaps shorter in the back than the front . You need to find the BEST stylist in your area from your social network , and make it clear to that individual that you ' re a PhD student who is not likely to be able to come in more than every 3 months , if thatBUT that you will have more time and expendable cash upon graduationemployment to devote to your professional image . And to that end , since you ' re probably going to celebrate the finish with a major makeover anyway , you want something that you can use NOW that will be lowmainteance but that will keep you looking pulledtogether while you continue through the PhD program . If you approach it that way , you can probably get by with NOT doing color . Be firm that you want to save that for after graduation . But also keep in mind that many cuts look 10 x different and more awesome with dimensional color . But regardlessbring that Pinterest board to show your stylist what you are looking for . And maybe a separate board to illustrate what you DON ' T want . Having images of what you DO like is CRUCIAL to communicating with a professional when you want to be on the same page .