How To Achieve & Style The Undercut Haircut

How To Achieve & Style The Undercut Haircut

If you’ve watched a movie or seen a soccer game any time in the last year, chances are you’ve seen somebody rocking The Undercut hairstyle. The Undercut is far and away one of the trendiest haircut options available right now – and a versatile one too. One of the earliest recent examples of a high profile Undercut is Rapper Macklemore, with many other examples throughout the 2010’s. With your options more or less left open as to length and hair type on the top, sides, and silhouette, there are many different ways you can choose to style it. The Undercut has roots all the way back to 1910, and remained popular through the 20’s-40’s, with a revival in both the 80’s and the 2010’s through current time.

Brad Pitt sporting a variant of The Undercut

What Is The Undercut Hairstyle?

As the name suggests, the Undercut is mainly achieved by having longer hair on the top than the hair on the sides. Men will use pomade to slick the hair on the top either to the sides or to the back. Shaved sides and back are a critical part of most of the variants of the undercut, so If you’re going to be rocking it, make sure to hit your barber semi-frequently to keep those sides looking short and clean. The hair type required for this cut is mainly straight, although it can absolutely be done with both curly and wavy hair as well.

An example of the Undercut with longer straight hair

How Do I Get The Undercut Hairstyle?

You’ll want to start with having your desired hair length on top (This can really be any length you want, as long as the hair isn’t so long it’s falling down all sides of your head: unless you’re going for that). Follow this with getting a shave on the sides and back of your head, buzz length is a good length to shoot for here: a fade will look great as well. Depending on the style of Undercut you’re going for, you may want to ask your barber to shave in a part on one side of your hair to maintain the ‘slicked one way’ effect.

In terms of product, pomades will work perfectly with this kind of hairstyle. A lot of the Undercut styles require a good amount of volume, so you’ll need something with the strength to hold up your hair as you like it. Depending on your hair type, it may be best to use a combination of worked-in pomade and hair dryer to get the volume, direction and size you’re going for. Read below to get an idea of all the possibilities when it comes to the Undercut.

An example of the Undercut done with curly hair

The Many Different Styles of the Undercut

There are literally tens of different ways to style the Undercut. So, if you can imagine it, it’s probably been done. Some of the best looking ones in our opinion keep it simple on the sides and experiment on the top. With all the different options, you could probably give your barber some creative liberty with this style based on your hair type and length.

1. The Undercut Fringe

A fringe is a super unique way to style the Undercut. It’s also very trendy this year and easy to style: a good barber will know just what to do. A word of caution, though: make sure your face shape works well with a fringe before committing to one!

2. The Slicked Back Undercut

This version of The Undercut Hairstyle is one of the more classic ones: it always works. Easily done by using a pomade and a comb to slick the hair straight back on the top, and accompanying it with either a fade or a buzzed length on the sides.

3. The Layered Hair Undercut

One of the best options for the Undercut is the Layered Hair Undercut. You can layer the hair on the top and the sides at different lengths to give your hair the image of volume. This is another style option where you can give your barber some creative freedom based on what will look good with your face shape and size!

4. The Dreadlock Undercut

The Dreadlock Undercut is another great option if you have the ability to dread your hair. It’s a classic as well, and one that is increasingly more popular in modern pop culture! This is always a great choice.

Conclusion

The Undercut is an incredibly versatile style that can be applied to almost every cut, length, and hair type you can think of. Not only that, but it can be made to look amazing with them all as well. If you’re looking to switch it up, ask your barber about what kind of undercut would be best for your hair and face type next time you see them!