Cuts
The bob, pixie, crew cut, undercut and layers: shape made with scissors and clippers. 30 hairstyles on EveryHairstyle so far.
A cut is a hairstyle whose shape comes mainly from cutting, with scissors, clippers or a razor, rather than from braiding, pinning or setting. Good cuts work with the way hair grows and falls, so they can be washed and worn with little styling. They range from the buzz cut, all one short length, to the precise geometry of a bob and the many layers of a shag.
How cuts are made
Stylists build a cut from a few choices. Elevation, the angle at which hair is held from the head, decides whether the cut is one length, graduated or layered. A guide, the first section cut, sets the length that the rest follow. Clippers with numbered guards make short cuts, fades and tapers, while point cutting, thinning and razor work soften lines and remove weight. Many cuts are made wet, then refined dry.
Cuts and their eras
Short cuts for women, such as the bob and the Eton crop, became a sign of modern life in the 1920s. Men's cuts were shaped by armies, from the crew cut to the high and tight, and by music, from the mop-tops of the 1960s to the fades of hip hop. Recent decades brought back the shag, the mullet and the undercut. Most people's hair is a cut, worn with little else.
Famous cut hairstyles
Still to be written: Layered hair.
Further reading
🇮🇱 IsraelUpsherin
A first haircut ceremony for Jewish boys, typically held at age three.Cut · Any hair · 1600
🇮🇳 IndiaTonsure
A religious practice of cutting or shaving scalp hair to signal devotion, humility, or clerical status.Shaved · Any hair
WorldBangs
Strands of hair cut to cover the forehead and fall over the eyebrows.Cut · Any hair · 1880
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreMullet
An asymmetric haircut with short hair at the front and sides, and long hair at the back.Cut · Any hair · 1980
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreBob cut
Short to medium haircut ending at the jaw or shoulders.Cut · Any hair · 1909
WorldBowl cut
A short haircut with a straight fringe and even length around the head.Cut · Any hair · 1400
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreUndercut
Long top hair with shaved or buzzed sides and back.Cut · Any hair · 1910
🇷🇸 Serbia and 4 moreBuzz cut
A very short, uniform haircut made with clippers.Cut · Any hair · 1890
WorldFlattop
Short sides with a flat, upright top.Cut · Any hair
WorldPixie cut
A short hairstyle with a longer top and very short bangs.Cut · 1953
🇺🇸 United StatesCrew cut
A short, graduated men's haircut with upright top hair.Cut · Thick hair · 1920
🇬🇧 United KingdomPageboy
Straight hair hanging below the ear with an inward turn.Cut · Straight hair · 1950
🇯🇵 JapanHime cut
A Japanese style with straight cheek-length sidelocks and long back hair.Cut · Straight hair · 1970
🇺🇸 United StatesDevilock
A punk style featuring short sides and a long front section combed forward.Cut · Any hair · 1970
🇵🇱 PolandCzupryna
A traditional Polish haircut with shaved sides and a long top, worn by nobility.Cut · 1308
EuropeCaesar cut
A short, evenly layered haircut featuring a straight horizontal fringe.Cut · 1980
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDucktail
A 1950s men's cut with a central rear parting.Cut · Straight hair · 1950
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreRattail
A long strip of hair at the napeCut · Any hair · 1980
WorldShort hair
A general category for haircuts kept above the shoulders or chin.Cut · Any hair · 1920
WorldLob
A medium-length haircut falling at or just below the shoulders.Cut · Any hair
🇻🇳 VietnamCurtained hair
A parted fringe with short sides and back.Cut · Any hair · 1980
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreHigh and tight
A military crew cut with shaved sides and a short top.Cut · Any hair · 1980
WorldRegular haircut
Classic men's style with tapered sides and combed top.Cut · Any hair
🇺🇸 United StatesShag
A layered, unisex haircut featuring feathered top sections and thin edges.Cut · 1969
🇬🇧 United KingdomEton crop
A very short, slicked-down women's cut from the 1920s.Cut · Any hair · 1920
WorldAsymmetric cut
A haircut where one side is longer than the otherCut · Any hair
🇫🇷 FranceTitus cut
Short layered cut with curls from late 18th-century FranceCut · Curly hair · 1791
🇺🇸 United StatesHi-top fade
Tall flat top with shaved sides from hip hop cultureCut · Coily and kinky hair · 1984
WorldTemple fade
A short haircut tapering from the scalp to a longer length on top.Cut · 1990
WorldStep cutting
A graduated haircut featuring distinct horizontal layers that create a stair-like effect.Cut
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Rachel
Voluminous layered cut popularised by FriendsCut · Straight hair · 1995
WorldFrosted tips
Short spiky hair with bleached ends.Cut · Any hair · 1998
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Upsherin: Vered Peer, CC BY 4.0, source
- Tonsure: Pietro Perugino, Public domain, source
- Bob cut: 147 Company, CC BY 4.0, source
- Hime cut: kxz Chen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Mullet: Wordzandguitar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Titus cut: Adrien Pierre François Godefroy, Public domain, source
- The Rachel: ABC Television, Public domain, source
- Czupryna: Nieznany malarz polski, Public domain, source
- Bangs: Circle of Girolamo Mocetto (Active 1490-1530), Public domain, source
- Short hair: Alex Neman, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bowl cut: Audun Gjerdi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pixie cut: dvna creative agency: https://www.dvna.fr/, CC BY 3.0, source
- Undercut: Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Buzz cut: Fadi El Benni of Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Crew cut: greginhollywood, CC BY 2.0, source
- Flattop: NASA, Public domain, source
- Pageboy: Jacometto Veneziano, Public domain, source
- Devilock: mitchbuchannon, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Lob: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ducktail: Rockbillyboogie, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Curtained hair: Jacques-Émile Blanche, Public domain, source
- High and tight: Chrismillar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Regular haircut: JParker9, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Caesar cut: Luděk Kovář, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shag: ABC Television Network ., Public domain, source
- Hi-top fade: Kct02, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Asymmetric cut: Xiaweiyang, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Temple fade: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, source