Crew cut

A crew cut is a short haircut.

The hair on top is short. It is longer at the front. It gets shorter toward the back.

The sides and back are also short. This style helps people stay cool. It was named for people who row boats. Short hair stays out of their eyes. It is a very easy look to keep.

Many people still like this style today.

A crew cut is a short haircut.

The hair on top stands up. It is longest at the front. It gets shorter toward the back. This shape can look flat or rounded.

The sides and back are also cut short. This style is easy to care for. It was named for people on rowing teams. These athletes wore short hair so it would not blow into their eyes. They used oars to row boats. It was hard to brush hair away while rowing.

In the 1920s, students liked this look. Many men in the military wore it during World War II. Some call a longer version an Ivy League cut. A version with a very flat top is called a flattop. Barbers use tools like clippers or shears to make it. They can use a comb to help get the right length. This cut works well for thick hair that stands up.

A crew cut is a short and easy style.

The hair on top stands upright. It is longest at the front hairline. This part is often called a short pomp. The hair gets shorter as it moves toward the back. This change in length follows a slope. The hair at the back is the shortest. This shape can look rounded or flat. It can even look like an arch.

This style is great for people with thick hair. Thick hair stands up very well. It is a popular look for men. It is often used as a summer haircut. This helps keep people feeling cool in the heat.

Barbers use special tools to make this cut. They use electric clippers or shears. They follow a few steps to get it right. First, they do the edging and the siding. This creates a taper on the sides and back. The hair on the sides is usually medium or short.

Next, the barber works on the top. They might use a method called shears over comb. This means they use a comb to set the length. Then they cut the hair above the teeth of the comb. They can also use a freehand method. This means they hold the clipper at a certain distance from the scalp. The barber chooses a shape that fits the person's face.

This haircut has a very interesting history. Long ago, it was called a short pompadour. It was also known as a brush cut. People have worn this style since the mid-1700s. Other languages have different names for it. In French, it is called coupe à la brosse. In German, it is called Bürstenschnitt. In Russian, people call it ёжик, which means hedgehog.

Before 1921, barbers had a hard job. Electric clippers with motors did not exist yet. Trimming a perfect pompadour took a lot of time. This made the style very difficult to create back then.

The name "crew cut" comes from college sports. It likely describes the hair of university crew teams. These teams include schools like Harvard and Yale. It also includes Princeton and Cornell. Rowers in these boats need short hair. The hair must not blow into their faces. Rowers hold oars with both hands. This makes it impossible to brush hair away. In 1895, the Yale football team changed their look too. They wore close-cropped heads instead of long hair. This happened around the same time as the first helmets.

Many different versions of this cut exist today. A very short version is sometimes called a butch. A longer version is called an Ivy League. The flat top crew cut was very popular in the 1980s. This version has a top that looks like a flat plane. It can be level or sloping. Some people also call these styles buzz cuts. The crew cut was very common during World War II. Many men kept the style after the war ended. It went away for a while in the 1960s. Then, it began to come back in the late 1970s.

A crew cut is a specific type of short haircut characterized by hair that stands upright on the top of the head. This hair is graduated, meaning it changes in length across the scalp. It is longest at the front hairline, where it forms a short pompadour, also called a short pomp. The hair becomes progressively shorter as it moves toward the back of the crown. In a side profile, the outline of this top hair approaches a horizontal line. This style is often chosen by men who want a low-maintenance look. It is also frequently used as a summer haircut to provide a cooling effect.

Barbers use a specific sequence of steps to design a crew cut. They begin with edging, siding, and topping. Edging and siding together create a taper on the sides and back of the head. This taper is usually cut to a short, semi-short, or medium length. To shape the top, a barber may use a method called shears over comb. In this process, a comb is inserted into the upright hair to set the desired length. The barber then uses clippers or shears to sever the hair just above the teeth of the comb. Another method is called freehand cutting. In freehand cutting, the barber does not use a comb or a guard to set the length. Instead, the distance the clipper blade is held from the scalp determines how much hair is cut.

There are several distinct variations of this haircut. A very short version, where the top hair is cut to a uniform length, is sometimes called a butch cut. A longer version of the style is known in the United States as an Ivy League or Ivy League crew cut. Another major variation is the flat top crew cut, often just called a flattop. In this version, the hair on top is graduated to create a flat plane. This plane can be level, upward sloping, or downward sloping relative to the forehead. All of these styles, including the butch and Ivy League, can be categorized as types of buzz cuts.

The history of this style reaches back to at least the mid-18th century. Before it was called a crew cut, the style was known as a pompadour or a brush cut. Different cultures used their own names for the look. In French, it is called coupe à la brosse, which means "cut like a brush." In German, the term is Bürstenschnitt. In Russian, the style is called ёжик, meaning "hedgehog." Before 1921, barbers found the short pompadour to be one of the most time-consuming styles to trim. This was because electric clippers with motors in the handle had not yet been invented. The widespread use of motorized clippers changed how quickly these precise styles could be created.

The term "crew cut" likely originated from university rowing teams. These teams include members from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Cornell. Rowers need short hair so it does not blow into their faces during a race. Because rowers hold oars with both hands, they cannot easily brush hair out of their eyes. This style stood in contrast to the long hair worn by football players. In 1889, Princeton football players began wearing long hair to protect against head injuries. However, in 1895, the Yale football championship team appeared with close-cropped heads. This shift helped long hair go out of style for football and coincided with the appearance of the first helmets.

The popularity of the crew cut has shifted through many decades. It was especially popular among college students in the Ivy League during the 1920s and 1930s. During World War II, many men received G.I. haircuts, which included the crew cut. A significant proportion of these men continued to wear the style as civilians after the war. As long hair became the popular trend in the mid-1960s, the crew cut lost its popularity. It continued to wane through the 1970s. However, the style began to return in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the 1980s, the flat top crew cut was the most popular version of the style.

When a barber designs a crew cut, they must consider the individual's physical features. The final shape of the top hair is chosen to complement the person's face shape and skull shape. The barber also looks at the frontal hairline and other facial features. For example, the short pomp at the front can be made higher, lower, wider, or narrower. It can also be arched or flattened across the forehead. The upper sides can be given more or less volume depending on the customer's instructions. This allows the haircut to be customized to fit different head shapes, such as a widow's peak.