Names for Hairstyles

Hairstylist
Photo: Hbrh/Shutterstock.com
Q: I have been a hairstylist for 20 years. Here are my questions: What is a crop haircut? What is a Point haircut? What is a bed hair haircut? These were questions from some of my customers. Thanks.
 
A: As a stylist with so many years in the business, you've most likely encountered these styles under different names, or else you're familiar with the techniques to create them already. You just aren't familiar with the terms being used now to identify them.
 
The names given to hairstyles popular at different periods in time are often taken from the sources (for example: the popularity in the 90s of the "Rachel" hairstyle, named for the long razored layers worn by Jennifer Aniston's character on "Friends") or from terms used to describe them by fashion writers and designers (such as gamine cut to describe the super-short boyish cuts worn by many famous women at one time or another). This means that hairstyles you know may eventually be called by names you don't recognize.
 
Speaking of the "gamine cut", this gives us the answer to your first question. A "crop" haircut is another name for a super-short haircut. They are usually worn by women with strong features and are great for accentuating the eyes.
 
Short crop haircut
Crop haircut - Photo: 74images via Canva
A "point" haircut is another shorter cut, but it can be relatively long for a short style. The key behind a point haircut is the point cutting technique used to texturize this cut. The slices of the hair are held out with the fingers of the holding hand and the stylist angles her scissors inward to cut the hair into "points".
 
Point cutting technique to create a point cut haircut
Point cutting - Photo: Getty Images Signature via Canva
The amount of texture in a point cut is determined by the size of the slices and the amount of angle used when cutting. It results in a visually interesting textured look and is usually styled to accentuate the points of hair.
 
Finally, the "bed hair" haircut is a reference to a fairly new look where the objective is to create a style that looks freshly awakened and tousled as though you just got out of bed. (Much the way Farrah Fawcett popularized the long, curly "ravished" look in the 70s.) It's usually a shorter style, usually textured to some degree, and typically has a more organic look to the hairstyle (meaning it doesn't look purposefully styled).
 
Bed head haircut or bed hair
Bed hair or bed head - Photo: Getty Images via Canva
The key idea behind this style is the ability to get up, maybe dampen the hair, add a bit of product, rough it up with the fingers, and away you go. This style is related to the "shake" hairstyle, except that the shake style usually requires medium-length hair or longer.
 
I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to let us know if there's anything else we can do for you.
 
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