Why have mens hairstyles stayed roughly the same for the past 6 years?

Most men nowadays have a variation of the same haircut ie. tight at the sides, heavy on the top with the fringe either long over the forehead or else pushed up into a quiff. During the 2000s I remember hairstyles would come in for a few months to a year and then give way to another hairstyle. What is it about mens hairstyles since 2012 that has meant lads are loathe to change them. I laugh when I see a group of young lads nowadays and they all have the exact same haircut as each other, big floppy head of hair and nothing at the sides. Premier league footballers seem obsessed with their fade haircuts.

Has social media and the easy ability to look at your own image using camera phones led to men becoming more self-aware with regard to their appearance and as result the most objectively attractive hairstyles have been decided upon through a process of natural selection and men with those haircuts won't let them go? In the 2000s men would just get a 2 or 3 at the sides (no aesthetic-maximising fades) and a trim the the top and then just gel the top and they were good to go - seemed a bit more manly.

Its not just hair fashions either - the fashions of skinny tracksut bottoms, skinny jeans, tight clothes,etc. doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon and it seems to be around for as long as the haircuts.

eviltimeban

The big beards seem to have gone away a bit. I shaved mine off earlier this year (saying that I'd have a cycle of beard / clean shaven every six months or so). I'm sticking to clean shaven now.

Can't really comment on the hair styles - who are "hair style influencers" these days? I note that teenage boys all seem to have the exact same haircut - shorn up the sides and back and then brushed forward at the front. It's pretty awful looking to be honest.

I wonder will longer, more natural hair on guys make a comeback, after the extreme styles we've witnessed in recent years?

eviltimeban

eviltimeban wrote: »

The big beards seem to have gone away a bit. I shaved mine off earlier this year (saying that I'd have a cycle of beard / clean shaven every six months or so). I'm sticking to clean shaven now.

Can't really comment on the hair styles - who are "hair style influencers" these days? I note that teenage boys all seem to have the exact same haircut - shorn up the sides and back and then brushed forward at the front. It's pretty awful looking to be honest.

I wonder will longer, more natural hair on guys make a comeback, after the extreme styles we've witnessed in recent years?

Yeah big beards seem to have peaked in 2014/2015 - clean shaven has become much more common in the last 6 months I reckon.

That haircut you describe all teenagers as having is one I would have loved to have as a teenager 10 - 15 years ago but alas fashions were more conservative then in many respects. I remember during the 2000s if I saw footage from the early 90s of lads with undercuts I thought it looked horrible :P I wonder will the haircuts worn universally by young lads these days be looked on with bemusement in a few years - which goes back to my point of wondering why these particular hairstyles are so stubborn to change.

I've noticed the norm for lads in their 20s and older has become to have maybe a 2 on the sides at shortest and often longer where a year or two ago every lad had the same tight fade at the sides, which looked good at the start but eventually just looked really boring when every lad had it.

One thing I will say is that it must be heart-breaking for men who are losing their hair to be losing it nowadays when every young lad has the most anti-bald haircut going - shaving off all the hair that bald people can grow and leaving a big heavy head of hair where bald people can't grow it.

gozunda

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Most men nowadays have a variation of the same haircut ie. tight at the sides, heavy on the top with the fringe either long over the forehead or else pushed up into a quiff.....

You mean like this?



I believe that style has been around a bit longer than you imagine - here's a picture of some young lads in Ireland around about 1521 - that's comes in as about 500 years give or take a few ...

eviltimeban

Deleted User wrote: »

One thing I will say is that it must be heart-breaking for men who are losing their hair to be losing it nowadays when every young lad has the most anti-bald haircut going - shaving off all the hair that bald people can grow and leaving a big heavy head of hair where bald people can't grow it.

As someone who fits the bill, not really. I don't really like that hairstyle anyway. If I had hair myself I would probably grow out a more natural, slightly longer style. And alternate between doing that and just getting a blade 8 all over!

I shave my head every day, it's the only sensible thing to do when you are bald. The bald head / beard look is very common however, so my preference now is to be clean shaven on the face and head!

Spirogyra

Is it fair to say that menn's hairstyles are a bit boring ?limited in scope I mean >, In general mean ,no wishing to label everyone ?

LirW

When I went to the barber with my son in some shops they only know like 1 haircut. Lads come in and say: Haircut please, get the standard, pay a tenner and off they go. I started taking my son to fancier barbers, they seem to do it so much better.

It's a pity that my son's school and also the local secondary would only allow boys to have pretty short hair. He'd like to have slightly longer hair, covering the ears.

eviltimeban

LirW wrote: »

When I went to the barber with my son in some shops they only know like 1 haircut. Lads come in and say: Haircut please, get the standard, pay a tenner and off they go. I started taking my son to fancier barbers, they seem to do it so much better.

It's a pity that my son's school and also the local secondary would only allow boys to have pretty short hair. He'd like to have slightly longer hair, covering the ears.

Yeah I never understood why the length of one's hair would affect one's ability to learn.

Spirogyra

eviltimeban wrote: »

Yeah I never understood why the length of one's hair would affect one's ability to learn.

It's about conformity and wanting everyone to look the same.

Looking at boys from my old school ,there does seem now to be greater freedom. A few boys do seem to have longer and even coloured hair. Boys in my day were very rigidly censored regarding hair. A year or so ago I was in the hairdresser. A boy with only slightly 'long hair' was there with his mother. Forced by the school to 'cut it'. Neither parent nor child were happy.

Andy Magic

They have been the same because if your different you get the p!ss ripped out of you or get called a skanger..