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
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreUndercut
Long top hair with shaved or buzzed sides and back.Cut · Any hair · 1910
🇺🇸 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
🇬🇧 United KingdomEton crop
A very short, slicked-down women's cut from the 1920s.Cut · Any hair · 1920
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
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- 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
- Shag: ABC Television Network ., Public domain, source
- Edgar cut: ProtoplasmaKid, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Layered hair: Rganesh72, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pixie cut: dvna creative agency: https://www.dvna.fr/, CC BY 3.0, source
- Devilock: mitchbuchannon, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Shingle bob: Evolvingthinker, CC BY 2.0, source