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
Further reading
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreNatural hair movement
A social and cultural campaign for wearing textured hair without chemical straightening.Natural · Coily and kinky hair · 1960
🇸🇩 Sudan and 4 moreDreadlocks
A hairstyle of rope-like hair strands formed by matting or twisting.Natural · Coily and kinky hair · 1970
🇵🇱 Poland and 1 morePolish plait
A matted hair formation viewed as both a medical condition and a folk amulet in Eastern Europe.Styled · Coily and kinky hair · 1600
🇺🇸 United StatesProtective hairstyle
Styles that tuck hair away to reduce breakage and environmental damage.Braid · Coily and kinky hair
🇺🇸 United StatesSilk press
Heat-straightened style for kinky hair without chemicalsStyled · Coily and kinky hair · 1920
WorldHair straightening
A technique to flatten and smooth hair texture using heat or chemicals.Styled · Curly hair · 1950
WorldFinger coils
A natural hair style created by twisting strands around fingers to form defined spirals.Styled · Curly hair
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSenegalese twists
Smooth two-strand protective style using synthetic hair.Locs · Any hair · 1984
🇺🇸 United StatesTwist-out
A protective hairstyle created by unraveling twists to form defined waves.Styled · Curly hair
WorldWash and go
A low-manipulation style that enhances natural curl patterns without heat or extensions.Styled · Curly hair
🇿🇦 South AfricaBantu knots
Twisted coils of hair worn as a protective style or permanent look.Styled · Curly 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
- Dreadlocks: Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, source
- The Rachel: ABC Television, Public domain, source
- Hair straightening: Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Beehive: MGM, Public domain, source
- Liangbatou: Daderot, Public domain, 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
- Chignon: www.GlynLowe.com, CC BY 2.0, source
- Natural hair movement: livepict.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shingle bob: Evolvingthinker, CC BY 2.0, source