Haircut
- Alternate meaning: Haircut (finance)
For humans, a
haircut normally describes cutting head hair, rather than other
body hair such as
pubic,
facial or
underarm hair. Unlike other
animals,
human beings of many
cultures cut their
hair, rather than letting it grow naturally. Hair styles are often used to signal
cultural,
social and
ethnic identity. Hair styles in both men and women also vary with
fashion.
There is a thriving world market in cut human hair of sufficient length for wig manufacture. In less developed countries, selling one's hair can be a significant source of income - depending on length, thickness and color, wig makers have been known to pay as much as US$40 for a head of hair. In the United States, cut hair of at least 10 inches length may be donated to charity.
Groups who do not cut their hair
Types of haircuts
- Afro, curly hair allowed to grow out equally all around, popular with African Americans, but worn by others
- Beatle cut, after the fashion of the early Beatles, long all around, neatly cut, very new to Americans at the time, but not an uncommon British haircut. During the height of Beatlemania Beatle wigs were sold.
- Buzz cut, also called a butch cut, short all over
- Bob, a short cut for women, first popular in the 1920s, considered a sign of a liberated woman.
- Bowl cut or Moe, after the Three Stooges character
- Chonmage, a samurai's topknot. The hair on the top of the head was usually shaved, and the rest of the hair gathered together and tied in a topknot. A modified version is still worn by sumo wrestlers.
- Comb over, combing hair over a bald spot.
- Crew cut, similar to buzz, originally worn by college rowers in the 1900s to distinguish themselves from football players, who had long hair (to supplement the inadequate helmets of the time)
- DA, for "duck's ass", combed long on sides, parted in back, also called ducktail or southback. The parting in the back caused the hair to stick up, hence the name.
- Devilock, Short in back and on sides, long in front.
- Flattop, just as it says, when combined with DA, called a Detroit
- High and tight, cut/buzzed very short (or even shaved) on sides and back up to the crown where the hair is left longer, can be a variation of crew cut or flattop
- khokhol/chochol/chachol, a Slavic name for a longer tuft of hair left on top or on the front side of the otherwise cleanly shaven or shortly cut man's hair.
- Low and tight, cut/buzzed very short (or even shaved) on sides and back up to a line above the ears but below the crown, hair is left longer above this line
- Mohawk, both sides shaved, buzz cut in the middle
- Mohican, both sides shaved, longer in the middle
- Mullet, short on top, quite long on sides
- Ofuku, worn by apprentice geisha in their final two years of apprenticeship. Similar to the wareshinobu style. Also called a momoware ("split peach") because the bun is split and a red fabric woven in the centre.
- Pompadour, big wave in the front, named for Madame de Pompadour aristocratic fashion leader of pre-Revolutionary France, mistress of Louis XV of France. Elvis Presley had one.
- Ponytail, long hair is tied back from the face
- Undercut, variation of a bowl cut where the sides and back are cut/buzzed very short (or even shaved) so that the longer top hair (partially) covers buzzed hair
- Wareshinobu, a hairstyle worn by geisha. Resembles a large bun and enhanced with a large number of flutters and other decorations.
- Shaven head, or "skinhead", not always, but often, a political statement
- Short back and sides, "boy's haircut"
See also
The Crewcuts from the 1950s and Haircut 100, from the 1980s are pop music performers who used hair as an identifier.
