Hairstyles

RATTAIL The mullet’s less popular younger sibling, the rattail look consists of a long piece of hair growing down the back of the head – ideally in stark contrast to a shaved head or otherwise much shorter hair. Popular in the 80s amongst stars including Jordan Knight...

BUZZCUT Born from military practicality and uniformity, the buzzcut entered civilian life in the 70s as part of skinhead style. In stark contrast to the fashionable coiffed men’s looks of the era, the military associations of the hypermasculine shaved head meant it...

HOT COMB While combinations of metal and heat have been used since ancient times to manipulate the structure of hair, it wasn’t until the 19th century that commercial hot combs became widely available. Crafted from metal and heated over a stove, a hot comb or pressing...

FEATHERED HAIR Wispy, layered and ultra-light, feather cuts have their roots in the 1950s when the technique was used to bring movement and texture into naturally straight, short hair. Feathered styles enjoyed a renaissance in the seventies when Farrah Fawcett became...

SIDEBURNS Sideburns have always provided an opportunity for men to showcase their virility – and explore their vanity. Some of the earliest sideburns were worn by the Hittites, who lived in present-day Turkey and Syria around 1600 BC. They shaved off all of their...

CURLY BANGS One of the biggest trends to emerge post-Pandemic has been cuts that work with natural texture, with curly bangs enjoying a long overdue renaissance along with other 70s and 80s styles that work for curls, like the mullet and shag. Popular for men and...

COMBOVER This not-very-effective solution to baldness sees hair grown long on one side, so it can be swept over the scalp to provide an (unconvincing) full head of hair. With baldness so intrinsically linked to ageing and all of society’s related issues with what it...

HAIR HORNS A little bit Princess Leia, a little bit Keith Flint, Cornettes – or hair shaped into horns – were one of the Mediaeval era’s most interesting trends… and provide perfect evidence of the fact that weird beauty fads are nothing new. Popular throughout the...

Named for the trend-setting Marquise de Pompadour - mistress of King Louis XV in eighteenth century France - the pompadour was originally a style that involved frizzing the hair all over and wrapping it around padding to create a swept-up, voluminous style. The look...

Hair cuts are heavy with symbolism about fresh starts and life changes and there’s perhaps no better example than the big chop; a term used by those with Black hair to describe cutting off their chemically-treated lengths to transition from relaxed or permed hair to...