The Best Cuts to Try Right Now
A revival of 70s hairstyles, complete with redefined dimensions, were all over the runways this season. We’ve narrowed down the list of the most popular looks — from mid-length cuts, to natural curls and newfangled fringe — to offer some fresh style inspiration. Taking a cue from the rock music scene, the season’s most coveted looks include long and medium textured hairstyles with a messy finish, spiky haircuts and short with a cropped fringe. Ultra-long, slicked back styles, and wild and unruly hair are set to become the new standard. If you can use a new style upgrade, here are the top 20 haircuts for men from the Fall 2017 Men’s runway shows that offer some cool style inspiration.
1. James Dean Pompadour
Easily one of the iconic hairstyles of all time made famous by Hollywood actor James Dean. The pompadour is a great example of what you can do when you have a lot of hair to work with. Harry Styles has a modern James Dean, cool guy thing going on up top, but then lets it fall over to the side. It’s one half rocker, one half romance novel cover model. The style is created by combing the sides back and blending it into the top, while combing the front straight up to create a soft, high curl above the forehead. If you prefer the dry look, you can style it with a non-shine pomade.
Harry Styles
2. Modern Slick Back
The modern slick back is notable for its neat and tidy appearance. This new longish style with a slight taper on the sides is for guys who need to look professional at the office. A banker, a lawyer or PR professional whose work demands a neat appearance. You don’t want to slick it back too much with a lot of product and make it flat. You want to keep it in Jake Gyllenhaal territory and not stray too far towards coach Pat Riley’s fixed in place car salesman coif. A nice water based pomade should do the trick and give you a matte shine and the hold you need to maintain this style.
Sung-Jin Park
3. Military Buzz-Cut
For those willing to commit to this classic summer style, the super short military buzzcut is a perfect way to go for summer. No maintenance, no muss, and no product to worry about. The only thing you have to think about is how short you want to go. A 1 setting on the clippers gets you close to the skin, while a 4 gives you about a half an inch of fuzz. Just make sure you have a good head shape before taking the plunge.
Idris Elba
4. Short and Straight Side Sweep
Almost any man can achieve this look, and it’s an especially good choice for guys with a receding hairline. “Longer up front and shorter everywhere else helps give the illusion of a fuller head of hair,” says Elle Medico, a men’s stylist at Paul Labrecque Salon. One thing to note: If you’ve got curly hair, this style’s probably not for you.
Ryan Gosling
5. Casual Bangs
Fringed bangs featured heavily at many of the top men’s shows The slicked-down style and tight sides evokes a Nineties aesthetic. If you want a fresh new look that doesn’t make you look overstyled? The latest men’s hair trend is brow-skimming bangs. This look is guaranteed to draw attention to your peepers and make people wonder what’s going on behind those soulful eyes. The haircut has a distinct philosopher-boy-next-door vibe. The bangs should be long and the sides kept short for an interesting contrast between lengths.
Gerard Sabe
6. Classic Brushed Back
While the deep side part has gotten all of the attention these past few years, there’s still something to be said for the classic brushed back look. To get it right, you want to start with a layered cut on top with a just a little bit of extra length in the front, and keep it about an inch on the sides. Use a a light gel serum or pomade to comb it back and then, once dry, run your fingers through your hair to break it up a bit. Keep in mind, too much length on top, or too much product, and you’ll end up looking like you have helmet hair.
Aron Taylor Johnson
7. Modern Caesar
This is easily one of the most dramatic haircuts of all time. It’s relatively low maintenance with just a little length on top to ensure that you get the right amount of texture. This cut is achieved by cutting the hair and chopping in by point by point to create a straight line. The hair should fall halfway between your hairline and your eyebrows. When in doubt, go a little bit shorter. To style apply a styling gel or paste to the roots of damp hair, and blow-dry it forward, using your hands to create texture, by fanning out the fingers and pushing down to keep it under control. Because of the bluntness of this cut, the geometry works best on someone with strong, facial bone structure and prominent cheekbones or jawline. This cut will not work on you if you have a widow’s peak or a cowlick. If you don’t want to be bothered about grooming your hair then this cut is just right for you.
Olivier Rousteing
8. Voluminous Quiff
What is it about these guys with perfect, wild and crazy hair? How do they get their hair to look like that? Well if you have a thick mane of unmanageable hair, then this may be the cut for you. Just remember, the quiff is a unique cut with plenty of character, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. In reality, it ends up being originally unique to every single man out there. If you have a thick mane, you can easily go messy and wild without a lot of work. To get the look, opt for long textured hair on top. The shorter the back and sides are, the more dramatic the cut will be; just make sure there’s ample length and texture on the top to create movement and an exciting silhouette that you can constantly run your fingers through.
Neels Visser
9. Textured Crop
This is a simple, classic style generally favored by more mature guys. It can accentuate good bone structure and give the illusion of fine hair being thicker. It’s a great look for guys with square jaws, as the close cut on sides and back will help emphasize the shape of the face. This is also a good cut if you have thinning hair—it’ll make the hair you have left look plentiful and healthy. To style it, simply blow dry and sprinkle a texturizing powder into the roots of the hair to add a tiny bit of lift and separate the hair. To keep it from looking boring, consider a light beard to add a bit of interest.
Scott Eastwood
10. Long and Loose
Congratulations! You have arrived at long hair heaven and are well past the awkward middle stage. Now the only maintenance you need is a trip your barber every four weeks to snip the split ends. You’ll need to wash your hair every few days, depending on how much you play with it. The less you run your hands through your hair, the less you have to wash it. If you have dead straight hair, you can blow it dry to add a little volume, but it’s best to allow the hair to air dry naturally. Apply some dry oil or smoothing balm on the ends and scrunch it in to tame loose frizzy ends. For wavy hair, towel dry and use a hair serum from the top of the crown to the ends. This is a perfect style for guys with ultra masculine features–otherwise you can end up looking like a girl.
11. Afro Fade
One of the best hair afro fades we’ve seen this year belongs to The Weeknd aka Abel Tesfaye’s who formerly sported dreadlocks inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat. What’s so great about his cut is that’s it’s modern and fashionably on-trend, but also completely stylish and irreverent. A lot of sports, greatest players are also rocking a not-too-groomed afro fade right now, but the Weeknd’s ’80s-era height in the front makes his cut stand out from the rest.
Jimmy Butler
12. Side and Up Spiky Fade
Breakups and new haircuts go hand in hand, but sometimes transformations can feel a little forced. Brad Pitt handled his recent break-up with class. His haircut literally went from nondescript and short all over to a young, cool fade that had just the right amount of ready-to-have-some-fun messiness to it.
Brad Pitt
13. Versatile Man Bangs
Zayn Malik was just another dude with a high fade haircut (albeit a very famous one) until 2017 came around and he started to grow his impressively thick, wavy hair out as mother nature intended. The beauty of this mid-length cut is that it looks completely different every time depending on how it’s styled. A fade just doesn’t give you that.
Versatile Bangs
14. Beard and Buzz-Cut
Jamie Dornan’s grooming look went from rich-guy slick to straight-up badass this year when he shaved his head and grew his beard to a DGAF length. While we know the look was technically for a role, we like to think this is who Dornan really is on the inside; a badass Irish dude with serious acting chops, not just American’s heartthrob of the moment.
Demna Gvasalia
15. Natural Curls
Naturally curly hair is once again in the beauty and fashion spotlight. Thumb through the pages of any magazine and you’ll see many styles of natural curls and afros from sophisticated to sweet to edgy. At men’s fashion week in New York, the trend was out front and visible at almost every show. Michael Lockley who walked in the John Varvatos fashion show sported a natural, cool dude fro that complemented the musician vibe of the clothes. Fashion and hair always dictate each other, and right now the fashion pendulum has swung back to the ’70s, with more and more texture.
Michael Lockley
16. Matte Swept Back
Sometimes a grooming upgrade is about cleaning up your act. Justin Timberlake has been perfecting his off-duty style since his NSYNC Days and it’s nice to see him also brush up on his formal wear skills, down to the matte swept-back style.
Justin Timberlake
17. Bro Flow
Dev Patel sported some elegant locks at this year’s Oscars, demonstrating that you don’t have to rock a high-and-tight ‘do with a tux. There’s a longer, messier, Don’t Give A Fuck hair move that’s taking over. Some call it the “lax bro cut.” Others refer to it as “grungy.” We call it the “Bro Flow.” We’re talking of course about the men’s hairstyle that’s taking over Hollywood. Guys rocking flowing locks has long been a badass move, endorsed by both grooming rebels (Jared Leto, Brad Pitt), athletes, and basically anyone in a rock group between 1985 -1995. Think Jon Bon Jovi, Eddie Vedder, Axl Rose—the list goes on. And it’s easy to see why: upkeep is minimal at best, a little extra hair always looks better peeking out of a baseball cap, and women seem to really like it. The style also demonstrates commitment to a cause because good flow can take months just to get started and even more to get to a place where it will impress.
Dev Patel
18. Mid Length Shag
This is an example of a great haircut for mid-length hair. It is best pulled off if you have some wave or curl to your hair. So if you have straight, fine hair you might want to think about a different style. “Ask for a low-graduation, textured shag.” “No straight lines, to keep it soft and natural looking. To style, start with a leave-in conditioner, then work a dime or nickel sized amount of frizz control serum and coat the hair thoroughly. Smooth it back with your fingers and let it air dry, ” and voila you’re done. Dev confessed in an interview that, “If I told you my hair tip, you’d laugh. It’s Cetaphil moisturiser. After I finish moisturizing my face, I rub the rest of it in my hair.” Of course, there’s no one way to style it, but that’s also kind of the point. It screams carefree coolness, even if the whole thing takes more effort than you would want to let on. And while a 70s shag come in all shapes, colors, it might just inspire you to skip your next haircut.
19. Light and Fresh Pompadour
Okay, this one isn’t a huge transformation as much as it is empirical proof that not waiting too long in between haircuts is crucial. David Beckham’s lighter and shorter pompadour and freshly shaved face take him from handsome dude to movie star handsome. Even though his hair hasn’t drastically changed. Just think of what it can do for you.
David Beckham
20. Ice Blonde
Platinum hair is powerful and always makes dramatic statement, but it’s even more unexpected on men than it is on women. If your personal style tends to follow the ‘shock and awe’ philosophy, you know what you need to do next.
Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis
If you like this post, see more hair trends: The Cut Makes the Man: Top 14 Men’s Hairstyles 2016
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Jack Black Clay Pomade • Jack Black • $22
D R Harris Small Tortoiseshell Acetate Comb • D.R. Harris • $34
Jack Black Sleek Finish Texture Cream • Jack Black • $14.50
Oribe Crème For Style, 150ml • Oribe • $42
Bumble and bumble Thickening Hairspray 8 oz. • Bumble and Bumble • $29
