When walking around the mall, I always see a lot teenage kids wearing outrageous haircuts and hair colors. Then I think back on my own time when I experimented with my own hair. Well, back then, emo wasn’t called emo. It was just branded as strange, weird and other stuff like that. When I sported my hair then, I got the customary raised eyebrow from from both my classmates and my professors. Now, I just comment to myself, ‘These kids stole my ‘do!’
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There are no concrete rules to create a true emo haircut. To have an emo haircut is to wear your individuality in the most prominent place possible — your head. There are, however, aside from the basics (emo hair is usually black or died black) some common components:
Fringed bangs. Worn short or long, fringed bangs are pushed, combed or gelled to the side of the face, covering, or slightly covering one eye. Most emo bangs are highlighted with a contrasting color, ranging from pure white to anything neon. The style is flexible: colors are not confined to the bangs – emo’s often sport highlights or high contrast.
Another key feature of the hairstyle is layering. An emo haircut almost always has layers and at times, they are not evenly cut. Layers can be done in several ways: one is by dividing your hair and cutting it different lengths; another by cutting your hair downward, following the contour of your head, for a very sleek, head hugging layer. Some wear layers in a more radical way by having one side long and the other short.
Spikes are also a frequent part of the emo style. Usually, these are done by putting gel on short hair, pulling up the strands, and letting them dry as is. This gives the hair a very unkempt look. They can be as tame as a ‘just woke up’ hair spike to ‘these are deadly weapons’ kind of spikes. The kinds of spikes you can achieve depend on hair length and the bonding strength of your hair gel, hair cement, or hair spray.
The most important part of an emo hairstyle is the individual’s personality. Emo hair is an expression of the emotional state of the wearer.
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Hey, great overview on emo hair. I liked your last sentence: “The most important part of an emo hairstyle is the individual’s personality. Emo hair is an expression of the emotional state of the wearer.”
That’s key. To me, Emo hairstyle is like an art form for expressing the inner self.
Dying hair with black or dark brown color also adds to the emo look.