Not all of us have been blessed with long legs, and soaring statures, and for the most part this has been out of our control. While height gain can possibly be achieved through other methods later in life, it could be that doing so is simply not possible for you, or that the gains simply weren’t enough. Maybe you’d rather not gain any actual height, but would like to give off the illusion of being taller on certain occasions.

No matter the circumstances, there are three methods in particular that can quickly and easily give the appearance to others that you’re taller than you actually are.

1) The first, and probably most obvious way to look taller is through the use of footwear, be it insoles inside your currently existing footwear, or a new set of footwear designed to leave you higher off the ground.

Many shoes on the market today are designed with height gain in mind, raising you one or more inches higher than a normal shoe, while still looking like a regular old shoe. Insoles can also achieve this same effect, those these are limited somewhat by what footwear is being used.

2) Next is clothes, and not only can clothes make the man or woman, they can also make the man or woman appear taller. Unlike footwear, which will actually make you taller while wearing them, proper attire will not make you physically taller in any way, but can give off the appearance that you are.

The first rule of thumb is to wear tighter fitting clothing, so much as you can get away with it, based on your body shape. Loose fitting or baggy clothing gives its wearer a squatter, shorter appearance. When speaking of leg wear, pants should be carried just above the hips, and not approaching the stomach area. Vertical lines on shirts are another useful tactic for giving off the illusion of increased height.

3) Finally we come to hair, without a doubt one of our most recognizable features, and one that can fairly easily be changed to give ourselves a whole new look, be it through a new style, cut, or coloring. Hair can just as easily be used to our advantage in our attempts to look taller as well.

No, we’re not advocating you sporting a high rise Mohawk, but even shortly cut hair, slightly spiked at the front does an excellent job of making you look taller. Women should avoid having long hair which hides the neck, instead styling it upward if they do wish to maintain their hair’s length.

Using one or more of these techniques, you can easily give the appearance of being a few inches taller than you actually are, no long workout regime required.