Historic Hair Styles

The influence of film stars like elvis presley and james dean marked a turning point in hairstyles. The ‘rebellious’ look involved a large quiff – the bigger it was, the badder you were – with increasingly long side burns. Unlike more recent interpretations of quiff, the 50s original was always neat and clean.

The beatles epitomised not only the sound of the 60s, but the hairstyle that came with it to. Hair was grown out and pushed forward into what became known as a ‘mop top’. It hung over ears and collars and had a heavy fringe. The style was so popular that toy manufacturers at the time began to produce ‘beatle wigs’.

Men started to get a little more experimental, growing their hair into longer, shaggier styles with lots of layers. Being the ‘hippie era’ pretty much anything became acceptable in terms of hairstyles. Which explains the sudden appearance of the infamous ‘mullet’.

Countless hairstyles appeared during the 80s and all of them were high-maintenance. Whether punk or new romantic, men started turning to special styling products in order to achieve more extreme looks.

Following the androgynous looks of the 80s, men started to turn to more traditional and typically masculine styles during the nineties. Hair was short at the sides but with a bit more length on top so that it could be tousled into a grungy ‘bed head’ style.

The ‘faux-hawk’ was one of the most unexpected trends that appeared in the first decade of the 21st century. It was short around the sides and slightly longer on top so that it could be styled into mini mohawk. Alternatively, guys grew their hair longer and let it hang over their ears for a more natural and unstructured look.