If you’ve spent any time in lockdown, you’ve probably realized just how crucial a good stylist is to our sanity. Both men and women have been frantically battling frizz, split ends, and rogue gray strands. While quarantine gave us a solid excuse for a few bad hair days, it can’t be held responsible for the truly terrible trends that have plagued modern hair culture. This roundup of the top 10 worst hairstyles will remind you why some looks belong firmly in the past.
Why These Are the Top 10 Worst Hairstyles
10 The Fringed Buzz Cut
A Dazed Beauty article recently christened the DIY buzz cut as “isolation’s biggest hair trend.” With endless variations, the buzz cut essentially forms an entire category of cuts. Its success, however, hinges on the wearer’s hair texture and head shape. One particular spin on the buzz cut, though, never manages to look good: the fringed buzz cut.
This style pairs a classic buzz with baby‑length bangs. FashionBean.com slammed the look, calling it “one part Chess Club president, two parts Nazi skinhead—100 percent dreadful.” While a few clever twists can rescue the concept, most attempts end up looking disastrous. Just glance at three‑time FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldo for a prime example.
If the fringe is allowed to grow out and meet the shaved area, it morphs into something equally horrendous—the Caesar cut. Though Roman emperors could get away with tiny cropped bangs, most grown men should steer clear. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, can afford the world’s best stylists, yet his hair resembles a haircut done by his four‑year‑old daughter.
9 The Beehive
Sixty years ago, hairstylist Margaret Vinci Heldt gave birth to the beehive. In the swinging ’60s, icons like Priscilla Presley, Brigitte Bardot, and Barbra Streisand flaunted the towering style, while the Ronettes boasted some of the loftiest versions ever seen.
Heldt was prompted to innovate because the salons of the day were stuck in the demure ’50s aesthetic. She recalled a call from Modern Salon magazine: “Margaret, hairstyling has gone dead; there’s nothing exciting.” Determined to shake things up, she aimed to create something that would sit atop a head like a hat, noting, “We have the pageboy, the flip, the upsweep like the French twist, but nothing is happening around the top of the head.”
Inspired by the fez popularized by Jackie Kennedy, Heldt imagined a hairstyle that would peek out from under a hat. Ironically, the final product was massive enough to dwarf any headwear. The beehive earned its name after Heldt added a tiny bee‑shaped pin as a finishing touch. In recent years, the look has resurfaced on characters like Marge Simpson, singers such as Adele, and the late Amy Winehouse, who famously quipped, “The more insecure I feel, the bigger my hair has to be.”
8 Helmet Head
For athletes, bikers, and anyone who regularly dons a helmet, “helmet hair” is a notorious nuisance. It’s not a myth—countless products and tutorial videos have been created to combat the flat, rounded shape that appears after removing a helmet. So why would anyone intentionally adopt such a look?
As the name suggests, helmet hair mimics the silhouette of a helmet: perfectly round, smooth, and universally unflattering. Urban Dictionary cheekily defines it as “a haircut that forms a perfect ‘helmet’ shape around the head itself. Many times, this can be accomplished by a horrible haircut and lack of caring in the morning tossed with a side of being a boner. This non‑trendy look is usually seen on people with the name ‘Mike.’”
In the ’50s and ’60s, women pumped up their bouffants to achieve a helmet‑like volume, teasing their hair into shape and maintaining it for an entire week. By the ’70s, the trend shifted to men, with figures like Bobby Brady, Liberace, and countless Brylcreem models sporting the rounded silhouette.
Today, the style has largely faded, though an honorable mention goes to Bobby Brady’s sister, Carol Brady, who initially sported a modest bouffant before evolving into a full‑blown helmet‑shaped shag topped with a mullet.
7 The Karen (aka the “Can I Speak to Your Manager?”)
Kate Gosselin, known from TLC’s Jon and Kate Plus 8, has faced scrutiny for many of her public choices—parenting style, a shaky Dancing With the Stars stint, and a reality show chronicling her post‑divorce dating life. Yet perhaps her most notorious decision was her haircut.
The “Karen,” also dubbed the “Gosselin,” is an asymmetrical coif that has become synonymous with the classic “Can I speak to your manager?” attitude. The style features long, sleek hair in the front, a short, spiky crown, and a shaved back—essentially three questionable cuts in one. To heighten the cringe factor, Gosselin paired the look with icy frosty highlights. She eventually abandoned the cut in 2010, only for Justin Bieber to resurrect a version of it in 2015, which failed to improve its reputation.
While we’re on the subject of regrettable highlights, let’s not forget the infamous frosted tips trend—a short‑lived fad where men bleached only the tips of their spiky hair. Thankfully, icons like Aaron Carter, Justin Timberlake, and Guy Fieri eventually moved on.
6 Mall Bangs and Hair Bands
The late 1980s and early ’90s gave birth to a hair phenomenon that seemed intent on defying gravity while simultaneously draining the ozone layer. Mall hair—characterized by permed or crimped locks and sky‑high bangs locked in place with copious Aqua Net—was the go‑to look for girls of all ages. Icons like Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, and Whitney Houston embraced the towering volume, as did fictional characters from The Facts of Life and Full House.
Male rockers weren’t immune: bands such as Twisted Sister, Cinderella, and Mötley Crüe were known as “hair bands” for their equally voluminous manes. Female rockers like Vixen, Precious Metal, and Lita Ford also sported massive, teased styles.
Top 10 Bizarre Fashion Trends In History
5 The Pompadour (Quiff)
The pompadour, named after Madame de Pompadour—though she never actually wore the style—refers to hair swept upward and back from the forehead, creating a lofty “pouf.” Initially a women’s trend, it later migrated to men in the 1950s and early ’60s, where it became known as the quiff.
Classic mid‑century quiffs sported by Elvis, Little Richard, and Johnny Cash were tasteful and widely admired. However, as the years progressed, the style was exaggerated to the point of absurdity, appearing on characters like Jimmy Neutron, Teddy Boys, and Cosmo Kramer.
David Beckham helped modernize the quiff by loosening its rigidity, opting for a more tousled, textured look. Variations now include the psychobilly quiff, side‑parted quiff, textured quiff, and undercut quiff. A study of 2,000 women found that 28 % would swipe right on a man sporting a quiff, deeming it one of the sexiest male hairstyles.
Women have reclaimed the voluminous pompadour in recent years, with stars such as Alicia Keys, Natalie Portman, Gwen Stefani, and Janelle Monae showcasing the elevated look.
4 The Klute
In 1970, Jane Fonda captured both an Oscar for Best Actress (for Klute) and headlines for a rumored drug‑trafficking bust. Her hair became the talk of the town as she swapped her long blonde locks for what she called a “first hair epiphany.” The resulting cut—dubbed the Klute—looked like something a preschooler might create with scissors: a hybrid of a bob and shag, complete with blunt bangs, side‑burn‑like framing, and choppy neck‑length layers.
The Klute represented an extreme take on the shag, featuring abundant face‑framing layers. It quickly became a unisex favorite, embraced by celebrities like Rod Stewart, David Cassidy, and Mackenzie Phillips.
Today, fashion magazines are pitching a revived 1970s shag for 2020, though many hope the Klute itself stays buried in the past.
3 The Gumby
The animated clay figure Gumby, known for his angular, asymmetrical head, inspired a notorious 1990s haircut that took its name from the character. Bobby Brown debuted the “Gumby” in a 1989 music video after his barber accidentally sliced off half of his high‑top fade.
Rather than hide the mistake, Brown embraced the slanted silhouette, turning it into a trend. Over the decades, the Gumby has resurfaced on both men and women, with icons like Grace Jones adding steep angles to her sky‑high fades, Pink experimenting with bold colors, and Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira presenting their own takes.
Romanian footballer Steliano Filip showcased the style at Euro 2016, and actor Arlen Escarpeta, who portrayed Bobby Brown in the film Whitney, has been spotted sporting the Gumby even off‑camera.
2 The Mullet
Unfortunately, the mullet is staging a comeback. Whether it’s a hipster version, side‑part, pompadour‑styled, or a fade‑enhanced take, the core formula remains the same: business in the front, party in the back. Jared Leto alone has been photographed with at least a dozen mullet variations.
Some blame the resurgence on Joe Exotic, aka the Tiger King, whose influence led Gwen Stefani to trim Blake Shelton’s hair into a mullet. Women who have tried the style haven’t fared any better; a quick image search for “Miley Cyrus mullet” or “Scarlett Johansson mullet” reveals a slew of regrettable results.
Famous mullet wearers over the years include Andre Agassi, David Bowie, Joan Jett, Bono, the fictional “Joe Dirt,” and Dog the Bounty Hunter. Yet perhaps the most infamous mullet belonged to Florence Henderson’s Carol Brady, who confessed, “I was the mother with the mullet. I just thought it was the chicest thing!”
1 The Bowl Cut
The classic bowl cut turned the Three Stooges’ Moe into a comedic legend and gave Dumb and Dumber’s Lloyd Christmas a laugh‑inducing look. Many adults recall the days when their parents deemed the bowl cut a rite of passage, filling school yearbooks with photos of kids sporting the blunt, rounded style.
In the fall of 2019, fashion magazines attempted to rehabilitate the bowl cut by suggesting deep side parts, strategic highlights, or shaved sides. Timothée Chalamet famously wore a modernized version for his role in Netflix’s The King, while Charlize Theron, Rihanna, and Zendaya have each sported edgy variations on red carpets.
However, these celebrity adaptations often rely on striking bone structure; the average person is more likely to resemble Moe than a runway model. A stark example is William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., recently charged with murder for filming the Ahmaud Arbery shooting, whose bowl‑cut‑style hair looks nothing like a polished celebrity version.