Hairstyle

A hairstyle, hairdo, or haircut refers to a styling of head hair. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although practical considerations also influence some hairstyles. Hairstyles are also influenced by various subcultures.

Factors that define a hairstyle

A hairstyle's aesthetic considerations may be determined by many factors, such as the subject's physical attributes and desired self-image or the stylist's artistic instincts.

Physical factors include natural hair type and growth pattern, face and head shape from various angles, and overall body proportions; medical considerations may also apply. Self-image may be directed toward conforming to mainstream values (military-style crew cuts or current "fad" hairstyles such as the Dido flip), identifying with distinctively-groomed subgroups (e.g., dreadlocks or punk hair), or obeying religious dictates (e.g., Orthodox Jewish payot or the Sikh practice of kesh), though this is highly context-dependent and a "mainstream" look in one setting may be limited to a "subgroup" in another.

Hairstyling may also include adding accessories to the hair to hold it in place, enhance its ornamental appearance, or partially or fully conceal it with coverings such as a kippa, hijab, or turban.

.Hairstyle process

Hair dressing may include cuts, weaves, coloring, extensions, perms, permanent relaxers, curling and any other form of styling or texturing.

.Length and trimming

Hair cutting or hair trimming is intended to create or maintain a specific shape and form. Its extent may range from merely trimming the uneven ends of the hair to a uniform length to completely shaving the head.

The overall shape of the hairstyle is usually maintained by trimming it at regular intervals. There are ways to trim one's own hair but usually another person is enlisted to perform the process, as it is difficult to maintain symmetry while cutting hair at the back of one's head. Although trimming enhances the hair's appearance by removing damaged or split ends, it does not promote faster growth or remove all damage along the length of the hair.

Stylists often wash a subject's hair first, so that the hair is cut while still damp. Compared to dry hair, wet hair can be easier to manage in a cut/style situation because the added weight and surface tension of the water cause the strands to stretch downward and cling together along the hair's length, holding a line and making it easier for the stylist to create a form.

This may cause certain problems with curly hair, which has a greater degree of unfurling when fully wet; also, different areas of the hair may curl in different degrees or directions. Cutting curly hair while wet may result in unexpected results when dry, depending how the curls coil back up. Lorraine Massey, author of Curly Girl, specializes in the care of curly hair types, and has designed a specific method for trimming curly hair to avoid these problems.

.Brushing and combing

Brushes and combs are used to organize and detangle hair, encouraging all of the strands to lie in the same direction and removing debris such as lint, dandruff, or hairs that have already shed from their follicles but continue to cling to the other hairs.

There are all manner of detangling tools available in a wide variety of price ranges. Combs come in all shapes and sizes and all manner of materials including plastics, wood and horn. Similarly, brushes also come in all sizes and shapes. There are also a variety of brushes in various paddle shapes. Most benefit from using some form of a wide tooth comb for detangling. Most physicians advise against sharing hair care instruments like combs and clips, to prevent spreading hair conditions like dandruff and head lice.

The historical dictum to brush hair with one hundred strokes every day is somewhat archaic, dating from a time when hair was washed less frequently; the brushstrokes would spread the scalp's natural oils down through the hair, creating a protective effect.

However, this does not apply when the natural oils have been washed off by frequent shampoos. Also, hairbrushes are now usually made with rigid plastic bristles instead of the natural boar's bristles that were once standard; the plastic bristles increase the likelihood of actually injuring the scalp and hair with excessively vigorous brushing.

.Drying

Hair dryers speed the drying process of hair by blowing air, which is usually heated, over the wet hair shaft to accelerate the rate of water evaporation.

Excessive heat may increase the rate of shaft-splitting or other damage to the hair. Hair dryer diffusers can be used to widen the stream of air flow so it is weaker but covers a larger area of the hair.

Hair dryers can also be used as a tool to sculpt the hair to a very slight degree. Repeated blowdrying can slowly train hair follicles towards the desired direction. Proper technique involves aiming the dryer such that the air does not blow onto the face or scalp, which can cause burns.

.Braiding and “Updos”

Tight or frequent braiding may pull at the hair roots and cause traction alopecia. Rubber bands with metal clasps or tight clips, which bend the hair shaft at extreme angles, can also have the same effect.

If hair is pinned too tightly, or the whole updo slips causing pulling on the hair in the follicle at the hair root are other scenarios that can cause aggravation to the hair follicle and result in headaches. Although many African- Americans use braiding extensions as a form of convenience , it is important NOT to keep the braids up longer than needed to avoid hair breakage or hair loss.

.An industry

Hair styling is a major world industry, from the salon itself to products, advertising, and even magazines on the subject.

.Hairstyling tools

Styling tools may include Hair irons (including flat, curling and crimping irons), hair dryers, hair rollers. Hair dressing might also include the use of product to add texture, shine, curl, volume or hold to a particular style.

.Hairstyling products

Styling products aside from shampoo and conditioner are many and varied. Leave-in conditioner, conditioning treatments, mousse, gels, lotions, waxes, creams, serums, oils, and sprays are used to change the texture or shape of the hair, or to hold it in place in a certain style. Applied properly, most styling products will not damage the hair apart from drying it out; most styling products contain alcohols, which can dissolve oils. Many hair products contain chemicals which can cause build-up, resulting in dull hair or a change in perceived texture.

.Wigs

Care of human or other natural hair wigs is similar to care of a normal head of hair in that the wig can be brushed, styled, and kept clean using haircare products.

Synthetic wigs are usually made from a fine fiber that mimics human hair. This fiber can be made in almost any color and hairstyle, and is often glossier than human hair. However this fiber is sensitive to heat and cannot be styled with flat irons or curling irons.

Human hair wigs can be styled with heat, and they must be brushed only when dry. Synthetic wigs should be brushed dry before shampooing to remove tangles, then it should be dipped into a container with water and mild shampoo, then dipped in clear water and moved up and down to remove excess water. The wig must then be air dried naturally into its own hairstyle.^[1]

.Functional and decorative ornaments

There are many options to adorn and arrange the hair. Hairpins, clasps, barrettes, headbands, ribbons, rubber bands, scrunchies, and combs can be used to achieve a variety of styles. There are also many decorative ornaments that, while they may have clasps to affix them to the hair, are used solely for appearance and do not aid in keeping the hair in place.

 

.Hairstyle as event

The editor of the New York Times Magazine describes his pages as reflecting "a place where change is not a threat, where doubt and complexity are more TRUE than certainty, and where most everything non-criminal is tolerated — except a bad haircut."^[2]

For Shoichi Yokoi, the first haircut in 28 years became his first ordinary contact with another person after living alone for many years. Yokoi hid in the forested mountains of Guam after the Imperial Japanese Army surrendered in 1944; and he managed to elude capture until 1972. The mere opportunity to sit in a barber's chair became a documented step in Yokoi's transformation from a reclusive, solitary combatant in a war which lasted for nearly three decades longer than for the rest of the world.^[3]

Yokoi's haircut was literally and figuratively life-changing. After 1972, the story of Yokoi's life became a narrative about the process of adapting to worldwide attention and the radically different role of a celebrity.^[4]

In Sikh culture, the hair of men is never cut; but some modern Sikhs are abandoning this tradition. The act of cutting hair itself takes on a significance unrelated to the corollary changes in appearance.^[5]