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EveryHairstyle

Mostly women

Styles mostly worn by women. 126 hairstyles on EveryHairstyle so far.

Many hairstyles have been worn mostly by women, often because of rules and customs about how long women's hair should be, how it should be dressed and when it should be covered. Long hair was expected of women in most cultures for most of history, so women's styles include the great updos, braids and set styles, while short cuts for women, such as the bob, became a statement of independence.

Long hair and its dressing

Long plaits, chignons, buns and updos have been women's styles in Europe, Asia and Africa for centuries. Elaborate styles, such as the Manchu liangbatou, the European pouf and the Japanese nihongami, showed status and needed servants or professional hairdressers. Married women in many cultures put their hair up or covered it, so a woman's hairstyle could show whether she was married, as with the Korean chignon fixed with a binyeo.

The short cut

In the 1910s and 1920s young women in Europe and North America cut their hair into bobs and Eton crops, to the alarm of many older people, and short hair became a sign of the modern woman. The pixie of the 1950s and 1960s and Sassoon's geometric bobs continued the change. Many women's styles have since spread to men, and the line between women's and men's hair has blurred.

Famous mostly women hairstyles

Shingle bobThe modern woman's cut of the 1920sBeehiveThe tall updo of the 1960sChignonA classic low knotPixie cutA very short cropVictory rollsVictory rollsWartime set styles of the 1940sFrench twistA vertical rollThe RachelThe layered cut of the 1990sLiangbatouHeaddress of Manchu women

Further reading

KindCutBraidUpdoPonytailLocsNaturalCurlsShavedFringeStyledWrappedAdorned
Hair typeStraight hairWavy hairCurly hairCoily and kinky hairFine hairThick hairAny hair
OrderBest knownA to ZOldest firstNewest firstBy length
WorldBangs Strands of hair cut to cover the forehead and fall over the eyebrows.Cut · Any hair · 1880 Sadhana cut 🇮🇳 IndiaSadhana cut A soft fringe hairstyle popularised by Bollywood actress Sadhana in the 1960s.Fringe · Any hair · 1960 Bettie bangs 🇺🇸 United StatesBettie bangs Short, straight-across fringe from the 1950s pinup era.Fringe · Straight hair · 1950

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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