Hairstyles

Popularised by Lucille Ball in the 1950s, the poodle cut sees its wearer brush their curls (natural or faux) into a giant pouff on top of their head – with the goal of very much resembling a best in show prize-winning poodle. As with most hair trends, the style is...

Forget balayage for sun-kissed colour, the 90s way to achieve natural-looking highlights was a colourful plastic bottle full of peroxide. Sun-In gave a generation of teenagers their first experience with going blonde – or attempting to. The science behind Sun-In is...

Nothing says Sloane ranger like a thick, velvet headband – and when it comes to Sloane style, there’s only one authority; The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook. Co-author Peter York told the Guardian that headbands appealed to Sloanes because "they looked like they were...

No heat, no problem. People have been creating texture without the use of hot tools for centuries; from ancient African cultures using sulfurous mud to shape and set the hair in curls like an early permanent wave to rag curling and its lockdown reinvention; TikTok’s...

The classic vision of a full, rounded Afro is intrinsically linked to the Black Power movement and a rejection of Western standards of beauty amongst the Black community in 1960s America. When the Afro became popular amongst predominantly younger men and women, there...

Synonymous with the 1920s – although it was appearing at least a decade earlier amongst the fashionable and avant-garde – the chin-length bob marked a new era for what was dubbed the New Woman. No longer weighed down by the waist-length hair demanded of women in the...

Developed as a longer version of the crew cut, the flat top started life as a military hairstyle in the 1950s and was reinvented in the 1980s hip hop scene as the hi-top or flattop fade. Generally achieved using clippers to create a high, squared-off shape, the...

The bouffant origin story involves one of the most colourful characters in British hairdressing; Raymond Bessone. Also known as Mr Teasy Weasy, he was the first TV hairdresser and earned his nickname for his habit of ‘teasy weasying’ hair into place. A lover of...

Cornrows are an ancient Afircan form of hair expression, with examples dating back thousands of years and documented in ancient sculptures and hieroglyphics across the continent. The distinct shapes and patterns formed with braids can be used to denote status, mark...

Faux locs are an alternative to traditional locs, and see extensions added into the hair through crochet braiding or cornrowing. People have incorporated extra hair into their own styles for thousands of years and in many cultures for long swathes of history, wearing...