All about Japanese hairstyles

To take a look at hair in the various postwar decades throughout much of the world, I am covering Japanese hairstyles first. 

Hime cuts 

Modern Hime cuts are probably the longest running hair trend in Japanese history. They might’ve begun their lives in the late 1960s, until taking a major stride from the early 1970s onwards. Such cuts of both the first and second generations come in many sizes. 

In other words, Megumi Asaoka is the one big Japanese talent who has spawned a generation of curtained haircuts! Her trademark hairstyle, the Megumi cut, codified the hime cut family revival in the first place. 

People have indirectly been imitating and doing Hime cuts or any relative thereof since the 1970s thanks to Asaoka herself and the more workout friendly Saori Minami. 

The Saori cut, which defined Minami’s early career, does have rarely seen medium size front bangs, but has otherwise been popularised internationally by Chichi in both Dragon Ball and at least early-mid DBZ, which means it’s also called the Chichi cut. 

A more angular variant, called the Sayoko cut after the late model and actress Sayoko Yamaguchi, is better known for being worn by Kaya Daidouji in Shin Megami Tensei’s Devil Summoner spinoff series. 

Hybrid mullets  

Of the critter and food themed hybrid mullet family, the Ukkokei mullet perm of Eri Nitta is amongst the most famous hairstyles in the bubble period of Japan. A fluffier cousin with different bangs is the Cotton Cheesecake perm, popularised in Japan by singer-songwriter Chisato Moritaka. 

The Lionhead perm of Shizuka Kudo is a hairstyle which was unexpectedly popular in early 1990s Thailand since tokusatsu, Doramas and lakorns co-exist largely peacefully for decades. It is wavy, with bangs (inspired by those of Lionhead rabbits) that can be straight or curled up.

There is also an early variant with chicken-like wings at the front named the Chicken Wing Pageboy perm, which was popularised by Akina Nakamori at the start of her career. 

Midi cuts

Famed for its day in the Japanese pop culture spotlight is the Ran cut, named for idol singer turned actress Ran Ito, which is itself a pragmatic adaptation of the Midi cut for Japanese ladies. 

The Seiko cut, which was sometimes derisively called the early 80s Burikko cut, is named for Seiko Matsuda on the first year of her multitalented career, even though it’s otherwise based on the Woodstock Pageboy cut from the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

A Midi-Hime variant has become known as the Karin cut due to being Chibi Vampire Karin’s hairstyle of choice. 

The shullets and scene shags

Of the shullets and shags for women, one of the most famous is the bubble scene shag, a haircut that was popularised by singer and actress Mari Amachi. 

A bubble punch shag, the Kentaro cut, is named for Kentaro Shimizu, the street smart yet troubled tarento and the current king of Japan’s straight to video yakuza cinema. 

There also is a wolf pageboy cut, made more internationally known by Neel Sethi as Mowgli in Disney’s live action-cgi take on the Jungle Book. Given that Tetsuro in Galaxy Express 999 has such a hairstyle, it’s also known as a long time plausible Shōnen hairstyle of choice. This likely means that it’s going to be called by two names, the Tetsuro cut in Japan and the Mowgli cut overseas.

Wolf Cuts

Wolf cuts for guys, as we know today, likely began their lives near the end of the 60s, but didn’t take a big stride or two until the next decade when multitalented actor-singer-songwriter Kenji ‘Julie’ Sawada gained a wolf cut shortly after the supergroup Pyg was disbanded. His unisex style is called the Julie cut due to his lifelong admiration of Julie Andrews. Another, more work-friendly variant may otherwise be called the Yamashita cut due to being worn by Masahito Yamashita when his career had begun.

There are other kinds of shags and wolf cuts for guys. A mixed pageboy-wolf cut was made popular by the late rocker Hideki Saijo, who used it until the mid 1980s. It’s also called the Ringwald cut after the famed actress-writer Molly Ringwald. 

A midi-wolf hairstyle for intelligent young guys was popularised by Goro Noguchi in the early days of his career, but is more famous outside of Japan thanks to Leiji Matsumoto’s space pirate Captain Harlock, perhaps leading it to be named the Harlock cut pretty soon. 

A cooler alternative may be known as the Street Surfer cut popularised in Japan by Toru Okazaki as Kamen Rider Amazon, worn afterwards by many kinds of street smart adventurers and book dumb young ruffians in popular youth culture during the 1970s to early 1980s. 

The long curls and rolls 

Wolf rolls are named for the now extinct Japanese wolves that used to live in the country itself. Although they’re all unisex styles in origin, they’re mainly for young women due to being a bit rougher and more tomboyish than bubble shags and other hairstyles. 

Agejo curls can come in various colours but are very hard to maintain for normally straight haired people. Still, they’re somehow more attainable for wavy haired women than many of the much more implausible anime and manga hairstyles. 

The Ebi chan roll is named for model-actress Yuri Ebihara, but is better known on tumblr as the Tsun Tsun special for some weird reason. However, on the other hand, its popularity in both 2000s and early 2010s shojo and shonen anime hits have ensured that it’s soon to become dubbed as the Tsun Tsun jellyfish roll instead. 

Surfer perms 

Before becoming all the rage in 1980s California, the wolf surfer cut was used by Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi himself in the early years of his career. It is gender neutral but used mainly by guys. 

The Sauvage surfer perm, the Japanese perm without Ukkokei chicken bangs, is like a spiritual predecessor of what’s to come, not only due to being featured occasionally in American tv but also in some tokusatsu shows, rock music and more, although it simply had to retire by the mid 1990s.  

The peppier waffle perm, popularised by Puffy Ami Yumi in the early years of their career, is a better known, quirkier 90s cousin which has its own merits.  

Twist and Spiral Perms

The Graffiti twist perm seems so relevant thanks to both manga like the Tokyo Tribes franchise and video games like the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series using it to their advantage. It also has a shorter and more toned down descendant in the Broccoli twist perm. There is also the electric spiral perm, which also has a lighter and less edgy descendant in the Reiwa spiral perm. 

Curtain cuts

A curtain cut with super long hair was popularised first by the late nightclub star Ai Iijima in early Heisei Japan, and so is known as the Ai curtain cut. 

However, the male variant is usually named the Sephiroth cut after a popular villain in Final Fantasy 7 and its own sub-franchise, so it remains better known in video games and the like. 

Jellyfish cuts 

The Jellyfish rat tail shag is a spunkier and more trendy variation of the Shōnen Jump style Mowgli cut. 

There is also a hybrid dreadlock variant made more internationally famous by Mycella from Musashi: Samurai Legend as illustrated by two different men, Hiroyuki Imaishi and Tetsuya frigging Nomura. To temper Nomura’s long term status as a flagrant trend chaser, Imaishi himself is the zapping animation master that loads of us Gen Z webbies are partly imitating for the time being, so that Jellyfish style dreadlocks, or at least Mycella’s own dreads to be exact, are the result of what happens when otherwise realistic dreads merge with a Mowgli cut.