Back to School Hairstyles

Sep 22, 2017

This fall guys break out the hair gel and girls reach for the accessories in this seasons hottest back to school hairstyles.

Guys' Style

Whether your hair is long, short or buzzed, boys are going for the messy look this season. If you're the guy who wakes up with a mean case of bedhead, you're in luck! Everyone else, grab some hair gel and start taking notes!

Kris Allen's signature fade haircutCourtesy of Kris Allen

The Japanese-inspired long, shaggy look is in this season, and it's not hard to pull off, especially if you still have last year's Justin Bieber cut. Starting with clean, wet hair, place a dime-sized amount of hair gel in your hands, add a little water from the tap and rub it to distribute it across both palms and all your fingers. Then run your fingers through your hair and leave it shaggy. Once it dries, run your fingers through your hair again until it looks messy but good. Look to Owen Wilson and Ashton Kutcher's photos for inspiration.

The Japanese-inspired long shaggy lookCourtesy of Stylish Eve

If you have medium-length hair, putting in hair gel can become your new favorite morning routine. Taylor Lautner is the king of the medium-length spiky look, and depending on how he styles it, he can spike it all the way up, leave it "scruffy" and tousled, or even spike up a faux-hawk (fake mohawk, of course) on demand. Apply gel to clean, wet hair, wetting the gel in your hands before running your fingers through your hair and styling it.

Taylor Lautner's perfectly versatile mid-length spikesCourtesy of Photobucket

The Fade haircut is back for short hair, but this time, instead of looking like a mushroom head, you, too, can look like American Idol winner Kris Allen. His hair is short around the neck and ears and longer up top like a traditional fade, but with a choppy spike cut up top, the look is intentionally messy. On occasion, he has been known to leave his sideburns longer, giving a cool hipster vibe that the chicks seem to dig, or spike it up with gel for an everyday sporty look.

Girls' Style

Accessories are all the rage this season, and girls everywhere are happy about that. Put down the flat irons, curling irons and styling wands and put up your hair! Why spend the extra half hour on your hair in the AM when you can be asleep, dreaming of summer?

A softer, more sophisticated way to wear a headbandCourtesy of Seventeen

Pony up your ponytail and add a little pizzaz this season. Katy Perry's high ponytail is so last year. This year, it's all about having fun with your hair and adding more interest to the ordinary style. Whether your ponytail adds a few rings around it like in the photo above (great for tucking in stray layers) or you make one or two smaller ponies on either side, then bring them together in the back, we're talking about multiple hair accessories that come in fun and funky styles, sizes and colors. Add a twist to your ponytails for extra interest. Try a different style every day of the week!

Not just your everyday ponytailCourtesy of Seventeen

Headbands are back, of course, but this year the look is softer and more grown up. Even the preppy chicks aren't pulling back all their hair starting at the hairline. Instead, place the headband down over the top of your head, leaving the hair in front of your ears free to flow gently around your face.

Cips are big this year, too, and not just big as in popular. Big as in BIG! We love Taylor Swift's look from her Seventeen cover a while back, where she tucked a starburst clip right above her ear. If you're trying to keep your summer dreams alive, try a hibiscus flower clip instead. Going goth? Try a black rose. Feeling British? A feather fascinator will do the job quite nicely. Whatever your style or look, a clip is one accessory that can tie it all together.