Hairstyles

Henry V is the poster boy for the bowlcut, leading a 50-year reign of bad hair terror throughout the 1400s. His distinctive cut was the go-to look for men of the court, lasting until the end of the Medieval era and most recently replicated by Timothée Chalamet in The...

Business in the front, party in the back: the mullet might be seen as something of an 80s joke, but this two-for-one cut has military origins.. Mullets were originally worn by ancient warriors, thanks to their practicality in battle – long hair kept your neck warm, a...

These days we tend to associate pigtails with little girls, but hair worn in double ponytails has its heritage in the military. Pigtail wigs were popular army and navy choices in 18th century Europe and were worn tied up with ribbons. They could be up to two feet long...

Edges, otherwise known as baby hairs, have been the benefactors of creative loops and swoops among Black and Latina women for generations.  Slick swirls and polished edges were the perfect pairing for the cropped and waved styles favoured by flapper...

Fringes (European) or bangs (American) really got going in the 20s. Introduced by silent movie stars like Louise Brooks, they were striking and blunt. Then came pin up girl Bettie Page, who in trying to conceal what she regarded as a big forehead, cut, and popularised...

Braids are so much more than a hairstyle; traced back to 3500 BC to the Himba people of Namibia, they tell stories of entire cultures. For thousands of years styles such as cornrows, Ghana or Goddess braids identified things like age, marital status, religions and...

The bob is the epitome of French style, from Joan of Arc and Coco Chanel to Amelie. Yes really, Joan of Arc, spanning back to the 15th century when she wore a bob to disguise her gender during the Hundred Years' War between England and France. Fast forward to 1910...

As sharp and crisp as the blades that cut them, shape-ups frame faces, and accentuate masterful fades. Of course, they’re best executed at the barbershop free hand with rotary motor clippers - even the seasoned and skilled seldom try this at home. Born out of the...

From the 1920s and beyond, finger waves have sat, undulating atop the heads of flapper girls, literary and cinematic heroines, and real life ones, too. From Downton's Lady Edith Crawley and Greta Garbo, to Missy Elliott (who rapped about them in her 1997 song The...

1972 marks the birth of the crimp -  a technique invented by Geri Cusenza whilst styling Barbara Streisand's hair.  Long gone are the days of the bouffant crimp, however. The style's revamp now features crimped bangs, crimped sections, crimped ponytail and...