The new, wispy Beatles cut allows versatile styling options
Hair by Xena Parsons for Xena’s Beauty Company, NYC Photo by Tom Carson Production: Global Hair & Fashion Group
Regardless of the their age or attitude, most men will want texture for spring, because it’s versatile, and it suits the new longer lengths. While businessmen will favor refined old Hollywood—think tapered Mad Men cuts and the serious styles of Cary Grant types—younger guys will still only pretend not to have Bieber fever by calling their style “Beatlesque.” Urban ethnic guys will grow it a tad beyond skin-fades, while others will continue to give props to the Mohawk, Low Hawk and Faux Hawk.
According to Redken for Men consultant, Jenny Balding, who gets top props for men’s cuts at NYC’s Cutler Salon, a trend we’ll all be seeing for spring/summer is a longer top with a disheveled look all around.
“Bradley Cooper's hair is a perfect example of this,” says Balding. “The look is longer through the top and slightly shorter at the back and sides. It’s heavily texturized to create an unkempt finish, which keeps the look very versatile.”
Paul Wilson, American Crew’s artistic director, says curl and volume will make the strongest texture statements. “The combination of these two are the underlying trend in men's texture right now,” notes Wilson. “It's curl that defies gravity—something existing that has been loosely manipulated.”
Ouidad, who owns namesake salons in NYC and Santa Monica, CA, says the mohawk also remains popular. “Basically, it’s a strip of hair of varying length, starting at the forehead or further back and running to the back of the head,” notes Ouidad. “It can be long, short, spiky, wavy or any other creative shape. Usually, it’s a couple of inches wide, but that can also vary, depending on the desired look.”
You need a little extra length for any type of texture play, which is why the trends are intertwined. At Xena’s Beauty Company in New York City, Framesi educator Xena Parsons says that slightly longer tops and softer, wispier edges are the hallmark of the mod-feeling, Beatles-length look, and that it’s created, in part, with slide cutting.