Stage and screen
Styles made famous by film, music and dance. 35 hairstyles on EveryHairstyle so far.
Film, television, music and dance have made many hairstyles famous overnight. Silent-film stars made the bob respectable, Audrey Hepburn the pixie, Farrah Fawcett feathered hair, and Jennifer Aniston the Rachel. Music gave the world the pompadour, the mop-top, the hi-top fade and the Jheri curl. Stage and dance traditions have their own styles, from the ballet bun to the jewelled plait of Bharatanatyam.
Screen hair
Film studios employed hairdressers who set the styles audiences copied: the bobs of the 1920s, the finger waves and victory rolls of the 1930s and 1940s, the beehives and bouffants of the 1960s. In Japan the singer Seiko Matsuda made a feathered cut so popular in the 1980s that it carries her name. In India, the actor Sadhana's fringe of 1960 became the Sadhana cut. Television made the Rachel the most requested cut of the mid-1990s.
Music and dance
Singers have been trend-setters since Elvis Presley's pompadour; Dido's 2000s flip became the Dido flip, and Michael Jackson popularised the Jheri curl in the early 1980s. Classical dancers need hair that stays put under spotlights and in fast movement: ballet dancers wear a tight bun, Bharatanatyam dancers a long plait fixed with ornaments, and kabuki actors wear elaborate wigs.
Famous stage and screen hairstyles
The RachelFrom the television comedy FriendsFeathered hairFarrah Fawcett's 1970s style
Pixie cutAudrey Hepburn in Roman HolidayVictory rollsStudio styles of the 1940s
BeehiveWorn by 1960s girl groups
Jheri curlPopularised by Michael Jackson
Dido flipNamed after the singer Dido
Seiko-chan cutNamed after Seiko MatsudaFurther reading
🇮🇳 IndiaPunjabi paranda
A multicoloured silk braid extension from Punjab.Adorned · Any hair
🇺🇸 United StatesDurag
Close-fitting head cloth for hair protection and style maintenance.Wrapped · Curly hair · 1960
🇸🇩 Sudan and 4 moreDreadlocks
A hairstyle of rope-like hair strands formed by matting or twisting.Natural · Coily and kinky hair · 1970
🇫🇷 France and 2 morePompadour
High-volume hair swept up and back from the forehead.Updo · Any hair · 1950
WorldPixie cut
A short hairstyle with a longer top and very short bangs.Cut · 1953
🇬🇧 United KingdomPageboy
Straight hair hanging below the ear with an inward turn.Cut · Straight hair · 1950
🇺🇸 United StatesBeehive
A conical updo piled high on the crown.Updo · Any hair · 1960
WorldPigtails
Two symmetrical ponytails or braids worn on opposite sides of the head.Ponytail · Any hair
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreBouffant
A puffy, rounded hairstyle with height at the crown.Styled · Any hair · 1950
🇺🇸 United StatesFinger wave
S-shaped waves set by hand with comb and gelStyled · Straight hair · 1920
🇨🇳 ChinaLiangbatou
A tall Manchu headdress featuring two side-parted hair sections and elaborate ornamentation.Wrapped
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreHair extensions
Cosmetic additions of human or synthetic hair attached to natural hair for length and volume.Styled · Any hair · 1950
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Rachel
Voluminous layered cut popularised by FriendsCut · Straight hair · 1995
WorldHair crimping
A heat or braid technique creating zig-zag waves in long hair.Styled · Straight hair · 1985
🇺🇸 United StatesHalo hairstyle
Horizontal bands of light colour wrapping around the head.Styled · Any hair · 2013
WorldBig hair
A hairstyle style defined by large volume and significant space around the head.Styled · Curly hair · 1960
🇺🇸 United StatesLemonade braids
Side-swept cornrows popularised by Beyoncé in 2016Braid · Coily and kinky hair · 2016
🇮🇳 IndiaSadhana cut
A soft fringe hairstyle popularised by Bollywood actress Sadhana in the 1960s.Fringe · Any hair · 1960
🇫🇷 FranceBallerina bun
A neat, secured updo standard in classical ballet.Updo · Any hair · 1880
🇯🇵 JapanNihongami
Traditional Japanese hairstyles featuring structured wings and topknots, worn by women in historical periods and by geisUpdo · Straight hair
WorldPigtails
A hairstyle featuring two symmetrical ponytails or braids on opposite sides of the head.Ponytail · Any hair
🇯🇵 JapanNihongami
Traditional Japanese hairstyles characterized by upswept buns and side wings.Updo · Straight hair · 1603
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Dreadlocks: Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, source
- Seiko-chan cut: HouseGecko, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pigtails: Yogi, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- The Rachel: ABC Television, Public domain, source
- Jheri curl: Olugold, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nihongami: 都新聞社 Miyako Shinbun, Public domain, source
- Pompadour: Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, source
- Pageboy: Jacometto Veneziano, Public domain, source
- Beehive: MGM, Public domain, source
- Bouffant: Bain News Service, Public domain, source
- Finger wave: Unknown author Unknown author (Either deceased family member or work f, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Liangbatou: Daderot, Public domain, source
- Hair extensions: Eunicehair, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hair crimping: 1000heads, CC BY 2.0, source
- Halo hairstyle: Papipacify, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pigtails: Ykstyyppi123, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Big hair: Photo by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, source
- Pixie cut: dvna creative agency: https://www.dvna.fr/, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dido flip: The original uploader was Djr xi at English Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Durag: The original uploader was Calliopejen at English Wikipedia ., CC BY 2.0, source
- Punjabi paranda: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source