Hairstyles

For the terminology used in finance, see haircut (finance).

Street haircut in Harbin, China

For humans, a haircut, hairstyle or hairdo normally describes cutting or styling head hair, rather than other body hair such as pubic, facial, or underarm hair. Unlike other animals, human beings of many cultures cut their hair, rather than letting it grow naturally. Hair styles are often used to signal cultural, social, and ethnic identity. Hair styles in both men and women also vary with fashion.

There is a thriving world market in cut human hair of sufficient length for wig manufacture. In less developed countries, selling one's hair can be a significant source of income — depending on length, thickness, and color, wig makers have been known to pay as much as US$40 for a head of hair. In the United States, cut hair of at least 10 inches (25 cm) length may be donated to a charity such as Locks of Love.

Groups who generally do not cut their hair

• Nazirites
• Sikhs
• Rastafarians
• Exclusive Brethren women
• Sadhus
• Many sects of aboriginal North American peoples

Types of haircuts

• Afro, a bushy hairstyle
• Bangs.
• Beatle haircut or Moptop, after the fashion of the early Beatles, long all around, neatly cut, very new to Americans at the time, but not an uncommon British haircut. During the height of Beatlemania Beatle wigs were sold.
• The Beehive, a large "big hair" style popular in the 1960s.
• Bun.
• Buzz cut, also called a butch cut, short all over
• Bob, a short cut for women, first popular in the 1920s, considered a sign of a liberated woman.
• Bowl cut or Moe, after the Three Stooges character
• Caesar cut, a short men's cut with longer bangs, also called a Clooney cut. Wildly popular among men from the early 1990s to the present.
• Chonmage, a samurai's topknot. The hair on the top of the head was usually shaved, and the rest of the hair gathered together and tied in a topknot. A modified version is still worn by some sumo wrestlers.
• Comb over, combing hair over a bald spot.
• Cornrows, raised, continuous braids woven closely to the scalp; originating in Western Africa, they remain a popular African American hairstyle.
• Crew cut, similar to buzz, originally worn by college rowers in the 1900s to distinguish themselves from football players, who had long hair (to supplement the inadequate helmets of the time)
• Crop, a very short woman's cut.
• Croydon facelift.
• DA, for "duck's ass", combed long on sides, parted in back, also called ducktail or southback. The parting in the back caused the hair to stick up, hence the name.
• Devilock, Short in back and on sides, long in front.
• Dreadlocks, where hair is divided into many long, matted plaits. Originally a Rastafarian hairstyle.
• Fauxhawk, a fake Mohawk: short on the sides and back, medium length on top pushed up in a Mohawk direction, a portmanteau of the French 'faux' (false) and 'Mohawk'.
• Feathered, a style which rose dramatically in popularity during the 1970's but died down in the mid 80's. It is slowly gaining back popularity. It was a main hairstyle for men in the antiquitic meditereanean such as ancient Greece and Rome.
• Finger wave, popular in North America in the 1920s and 1930s
• Flattop, just as it says, when combined with DA, called a Detroit. Because the flat top is not always compatible with a round head, there is often a spot on the top that is buzzed shorter, almost to the point of being shaved. This area is called the landing strip.
• Fofa, short to medium length on the sides and back, with a receding hairline from the forehead back due to a natural baldness. Usually found on distinguished gentlemen and derived from the style of the monks.
• French braid/French plait/French twist, a classic "updo" in which long hair is gathered into a ponytail, then twisted together, and finally tucked and pinned together along the length of the roll.
• High and tight, cut/buzzed very short (or even shaved) on sides and back up to the crown where the hair is left longer, can be a variation of crew cut or flattop
• Hockey Hair, short bangs with medium length "flipped up" hair in the back and sides.
• Horseshoe Flattop, The sides and are shaved also shaved up in the back to the top of the head making the remaining hair looks from above like. The top is cut like a flattop.
• Induction Cut, the very shortest of hairstyles, without actually shaving the head with a razor.
• Jheri curl, A perm that loosens the curls of a black person's hair. Known more for the oily residue of the chemicals used ("Jheri Curl Juice") than the actual style.
• Japanese Hair Straightening, A process that takes wavy or curly hair and breaks the cystine bonds by way of chemicals, then a hot iron reorganizes the structure of the hair leaving it permanently straight and healthy looking.
• khokhol/chochol/chachol, a Slavic name for a longer tuft of hair left on top or on the front side of the otherwise cleanly shaven or shortly cut man's hair.
• Layered hair, where the top layers of hair are cut shorter than the layers beneath.
• Low and tight, cut/buzzed very short (or even shaved) on sides and back up to a line above the ears but below the crown, hair is left longer above this line
• Mohawk, long hair divided into sections which are then braided and worn down (Also used interchangeably with "Mohican")
• Mohican, both sides shaved or buzzed, long and usually spiked in the middle
• Moptop, a shaggy straight cut with straight fringe, over the ears
• Mullet, "business" (short) in the front and on top; "party" (long) in the back.
• Odango, a women's hairstyle consisting of two long pigtails eminating from two perfect "spheres" of hair on the top of the head. Made famous by Sailor Moon.
• Ofuku, worn by apprentice geisha in their final two years of apprenticeship. Similar to the wareshinobu style. Also called a momoware ("split peach") because the bun is split and a red fabric woven in the centre.
• Pageboy, a women's hairstyle in which the hair is almost shoulder-length except for a fringe in the front.
• Perm, or "permanent wave," is a chemical-induced curling of naturally straight hair. Originally done electrically with an apparatus resembling an electric chair. Among African-Americans, a perm is the straight or large-curled look created by chemical relaxers.
• Pigtails, long hair is parted in the middle and tied on the sides, often curled into ringlets (hence the name).
• Pompadour, big wave in the front, named for Madame de Pompadour aristocratic fashion leader of pre-Revolutionary France, mistress of Louis XV of France. Elvis Presley had one.
• Ponytail, a hairstyle where most of the wearer's hair is pulled away from the face and gathered at the back.
• Recon, a radical version of the High and Tight, with the sides and back cleanly shaved very high up the head, intentionally leaving a very extreme contrast between the longer top hair and the shaved sides.
• Shaven head, or "skinhead"; no longer a political statement, but rather a popular hairstyle among men (and occasionally women) from all walks of life.
• Short back and sides, "boy's haircut"
• Side-locks: a hairstyle popular amongst Orthodox Jews where the peyos or side-locks are allowed to grow long, whilst the rest of the hair is cut.
• Side-part: a hairstyle where the hair is, instead of being parted in the middle, parted on the side.
• Spiked: a hairstyle where hair gel/spray/wax is applied to the hair "usually daily" and spiked into a series of designs varying from large to small.
• Tonsure, a haircut where the crown of the head is shaven.
• Über-Patch, Das, shaved to the skin on both sides, completely bald (or shaved to skin) on top, with a large square or rectangular patch of short hair about 1 inch(25 mm) on the back of the head.
• Undercut, variation of a bowl cut where the sides and back are cut very short (or even shaved) so that the longer top hair (partially) covers buzzed hair
• Wareshinobu, a hairstyle worn by geisha. Resembles a large bun and enhanced with a large number of flutters and other decorations.
• Quiff, a hairstyle where part of the hair is put up high on the top of the head.

See also

• Hair coloring

External links

• Gene's Barber Shop: Glossary of haircuts