Mostly women
Styles mostly worn by women. 83 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
Further reading
🇺🇸 United StatesBeehive
A conical updo piled high on the crown.Updo · Any hair · 1960
WorldMarcelling
A heat-styled curl technique from the 1870s.Curls · Any hair · 1872
🇺🇸 United StatesFinger wave
S-shaped waves set by hand with comb and gelStyled · Straight hair · 1920
🇬🇧 United KingdomVictory rolls
A 1940s women's hairstyle featuring voluminous side rolls shaped like the letter V.Styled · Straight hair · 1940
🇺🇸 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
WorldHair crimping
A heat or braid technique creating zig-zag waves in long hair.Styled · Straight hair · 1985
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSurfer hair
Tousled, sun-bleached locks from the sea.Styled · Wavy hair · 1950
🇺🇸 United StatesProtective hairstyle
Styles that tuck hair away to reduce breakage and environmental damage.Braid · Coily and kinky hair
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Protective hairstyle: Bluenile Photography c/o A. Smith, CC BY 2.0, source
- Long hair: Adam Jones Adam63, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bob cut: 147 Company, CC BY 4.0, source
- Hime cut: kxz Chen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Dreadlocks: Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, source
- Fontange: Francesco Solimena, Public domain, source
- Seiko-chan cut: HouseGecko, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- The Rachel: ABC Television, Public domain, source
- Laid edges: Jean Chassaing, Public domain, source
- Hair straightening: Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Perm: Louis Calvete, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pouf: After Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty, Public domain, source
- Bun: Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nihongami: 都新聞社 Miyako Shinbun, Public domain, source
- Pompadour: Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, source
- Beehive: MGM, Public domain, source
- Lovelock: Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599 - 1641) Details on Google Art Project, 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
- Wings: Sepideh (Sepi), CC BY 2.0, source
- High roll: Joseph Ducreux, Public domain, source
- Nubian wig: Keith Schengili-Roberts, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Big hair: Photo by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, source
- Surfer hair: Rachel Amarette, CC BY 2.0, source
- Greco-Roman hairstyles: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- French twist: SWinxy, CC BY 4.0, source
- Pixie cut: dvna creative agency: https://www.dvna.fr/, CC BY 3.0, source
- Polish plait: Adrian Grycuk, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, source
- Marcelling: The Bridgeport times and evening farmer, Public domain, source
- Dido flip: The original uploader was Djr xi at English Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chignon: www.GlynLowe.com, CC BY 2.0, source
- Natural hair movement: livepict.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Short hair: Alex Neman, CC BY-SA 4.0, source



