80's Hairstyles

The popular fashion icons of the 80’s who sported some of the wild and weird 80’s hairstyles that I can fondly recall were Madonna, Boy George, Michael Jackson, Bananarama and even Princess Diana. Such was their star status, that probably even something frumpy would look uber cool when flaunted by them. Of course, nothing ever deterred the large fan following yuppies of such groups or singers that blindly followed every change executed by them.

Michael Jackson created quite a stir with his mind-blowing music and dance moves. Obviously, there were many yuppies ever eager to dress like him. The Jheri curl was one such 80’s hairstyle that was sported by quite a few celebs in that era. This curly look was very much in vogue and most Afro Americans did this with great élan. Here, the wet hair look was found to be really appealing and thus even our very own MJ had something similar to the Jheri curl in one of his videos.

Big hair continued to remain as one of the style statements in the 80’s. This was not completely new as the beehive look was already in vogue in the 70’s. Big was definitely beautiful in terms of hairstyles in the 80’s and this was further popularized by rock groups such as Bon Jovi and Gun’s ‘N’ Roses. If you can recall some of their videos where even the straight haired Axl Rose and Jon Bon Jovi sported a huge hairdo in some of the music videos. If you take a peek at most of the videos of that era, you can have an idea of the huge hairstyles that were in vogue. The hair in such cases was teased a bit and fluffed up. This was done with the help of mousse. Such mousse also had glitter or sparkle added to it to get a wild and wacky look.

The mullet was flaunted by many in the 80’s. This was distinguishable because it was short on the sides and long at the back. Mullets was one such hairstyle for men, which was even worn at work. Lionel Richie is one such musician who was known for his Jheri curl mullet.

Sideburns had almost disappeared from the scene but by 1984, the sideburns which were thin and shorter than the original kinds, came back on the fashion scenario. For girls, the frizzy look was really in. Hair was frizzy and feathered as well. The feathered hair looked as if the hair had been tossed around carelessly by the wind.

Yet another group that made waves due to their hairstyles was called A Flock of Seagulls. It was Mike Score, the lead singer who was known for his hairdo, which was later used in the popular sitcom ‘Friends’. Here, the hair was short on the backside and long in the front with very long strands of hair that went way out on the front side of the face, in a swooping direction. This kind of hairdo is bound to elicit gasps now, and cause one to think what exactly were people thinking in the 80’s period!

Hair also was had quite a few bursts of colors, loud and outrageously so! Frizzy hair with shades of red and gold were dominant in the 80’s hairstyles scenario. Spiky punk hair was also seen in the fashion circuit of the 80’s. It was the early 80’s that saw Mohawks rise in its popularity. Use of hair sprays and hair dryers helped to add more body to the hair. Hair was worn long in the 80’s period.