Origins of Haircuts

Hairdresser cutting hair — Photo: Lestertair/Shutterstock

Q: Hi. I have an assignment in my class to research about Who, Where and When did the following haircuts start: Full Layers, Square Layers and Round Layers. Can you help me please? Thanks.

And what is a Perimeter Length in haircutting? Thanks so much. Hope to hear from you as soon as possible. Thanks.

A: As for the origins of such things as Full Layer, Square Layer and Round Layer haircuts, these are very difficult to determine and I would recommend that you consult specifically with your instructor about source materials he or she would like you to use.

Some hairstyles are easily traceable because of their prevalence or emergence in specific periods of history, while others are always in contention because of the similarity to styles from other periods. This is the difficulty with etymology of hairstyle terms, where different styles can be known by multiple terms.

There are some specific examples of styles that are traceable. The pixie cut (a gamine-short style) was created by Sassoon salons in the 60s, and the classic bob was created back in the late 20s early 30s. But other styles like the mullet which were popular in the 80s, have been claimed to have originated as early as the Middle Ages with Charlemagne.

The explanation of the Perimeter Length in a style is easier, because it's a concrete term. The perimeter length refers to the length of the hair around outer line of the style. Most bob styles fall to the chin and therefore the perimeter length would be only a few inches, while a long layered style may have a perimeter length of 8, 12, or more inches depending on the length of the hair.

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See also:

Names for hairstyles

The origin of spiked hair

How to cut square layers or box layers

Can you explain the terms square, round, concave, and convex layers?