Haircut

See also: Haircut (finance)

Unlike other animals, human beings of many cultures cut their hair, rather than letting it grow naturally. A haircut normally describes cutting head hair, rather than other body hair such as pubic, facial or underarm hair.

Hair styles are often used to signal cultural, social and ethnic identity. Hair styles in both men and women also vary with fashion.

There is a thriving world market in cut human hair of sufficient length for wig manufacture. In less developed countries, selling one's hair can be a significant source of income - depending on length, thickness and color, wig makers have been known to pay as much as US$40 for a head of hair. In the United States, cut hair of at least 10 inches length may be donated to charity.

Groups of people who do not cut their hair:

Nazarenes
Sikhs
others?

Types of haircut:

Afro -- curly hair allowed to grow out equally all around, popular with African Americans, but worn by others
Beatle cut -- after the fashion of the early Beatles, long all around, neatly cut, very new to Americans at the time, but not an uncommon British haircut. During the height of Beatlemania Beatle wigs were sold.
Buzz cut -- also called a butch cut, short all over
Bob -- short woman's cut, first popular in the 1920s, considered a sign of a liberated woman.
Bowl cut or Moe, after the Three Stooges character
Crew cut, similar to buzz, originally worn by college rowers in the 1900s to distinguish themselves from football players, who had long hair (to supplement the inadequate helmets of the time)
DA -- for "duck's ass", combed long on sides, parted in back, also called ducktail or southback. The parting in the back caused the hair to stick up, hence the name.
Devilock -- Short in back and on sides, long in front.
flattop -- just as it says, when combined with DA, called a Detroit
khokhol, chochol,chachol - a Slavic name for a longer tuft of hair left on top or on the front side of the otherwise cleanly shaven or shortly cut man's hair. Also used as a derogatory name for Ukrainians (by their historical haircut); some Ukrainian (family) names are derived from this word.
Mohawk -- both sides shaved, buzz cut in the middle
Mohican -- both sides shaved, longer in the middle
Mullet -- short on top, quite long on sides
Pompadour -- big wave in the front, named for Madame de Pompadour aristocratic fashion leader of pre-Revolutionary France, mistress of Louis XV of France, Elvis Presley had one.
Shaven head or skinhead -- not always a political statement
Short back and sides -- "boy's haircut"