Cuts
The bob, pixie, crew cut, undercut and layers: shape made with scissors and clippers. 58 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
Shingle bobThe short cut of the 1920s and the 1960s
Pixie cutA very short crop for women
Crew cutShort sides, slightly longer on top
Buzz cutAll one short length with clippers
UndercutShort sides under a long top
ShagMany choppy layers
MulletShort at the front, long at the back
Layered hairLayers for lift and movementFurther 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
🇷🇸 Serbia and 4 moreBuzz cut
A very short, uniform haircut made with clippers.Cut · Any hair · 1890
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreUndercut
Long top hair with shaved or buzzed sides and back.Cut · Any hair · 1910
WorldFlattop
Short sides with a flat, upright top.Cut · Any hair
🇺🇸 United StatesDevilock
A punk style featuring short sides and a long front section combed forward.Cut · Any hair · 1970
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreRattail
A long strip of hair at the napeCut · Any hair · 1980
WorldLob
A medium-length haircut falling at or just below the shoulders.Cut · Any hair
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreHigh and tight
A military crew cut with shaved sides and a short top.Cut · Any hair · 1980
WorldShort hair
A general category for haircuts kept above the shoulders or chin.Cut · Any hair · 1920
🇻🇳 VietnamCurtained hair
A parted fringe with short sides and back.Cut · Any hair · 1980
WorldRegular haircut
Classic men's style with tapered sides and combed top.Cut · Any hair
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 KingdomEton crop
A very short, slicked-down women's cut from the 1920s.Cut · Any hair · 1920
WorldFrosted tips
Short spiky hair with bleached ends.Cut · Any hair · 1998
WorldBrush cut
A very short, uniform haircut following the head shape.Cut · Any hair
🇺🇸 United StatesEdgar cut
A tapered Latino youth style with a straight fringe.Cut · Any hair · 2010
🇺🇸 United StatesIvy League haircut
A side-parted crew cut with graduated top length.Cut · Any hair
🇬🇧 United KingdomBixie cut
A short hybrid haircut blending a bob's length with a pixie's cropped layers.Cut · Any hair
🇺🇸 United StatesWolf cut
A layered haircut with a shaggy top and tapered ends, described as Gen Z's version of the mullet.Cut · Any hair · 2021
WorldTaper
A haircut that gradually shortens hair length from the top down to the sides and back.Cut · Any hair
🇺🇸 United StatesSkin fade
A men's haircut where hair blends down to bare skin on the sides and back.Cut · Any hair · 1950
🇬🇭 GhanaDensinkran
Short Ashanti mourning cut for royal womenCut · Any hair
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tonsure: Pietro Perugino, Public domain, source
- Bob cut: 147 Company, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mullet: Wordzandguitar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Brush cut: IMasc, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Buzz cut: Fadi El Benni of Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Undercut: Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Crew cut: greginhollywood, CC BY 2.0, source
- Lob: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Curtained hair: Jacques-Émile Blanche, Public domain, source
- Shag: ABC Television Network ., Public domain, source
- Asymmetric cut: Xiaweiyang, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Edgar cut: ProtoplasmaKid, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Layered hair: Rganesh72, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Titus cut: Adrien Pierre François Godefroy, Public domain, source
- Upsherin: Vered Peer, CC BY 4.0, source
- Bangs: Circle of Girolamo Mocetto (Active 1490-1530), Public domain, source
- Pixie cut: dvna creative agency: https://www.dvna.fr/, CC BY 3.0, source
- Regular haircut: JParker9, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- High and tight: Chrismillar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Flattop: NASA, Public domain, source
- Devilock: mitchbuchannon, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Bowl cut: Audun Gjerdi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ivy League haircut: U.S. Navy photo by Chief Journalist Robert Benson, Public domain, source
- Short hair: Alex Neman, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shingle bob: Evolvingthinker, CC BY 2.0, source