Recommended Productsīefore you try and deep dive into the shallow end of the pool, make sure you’re fully equipped to get the job done. From rockabilly guys with their baseball jackets and creepers, to early hip-hoppers and their sky-grazing high-top fades, it was the youth tribes that were responsible for turning this sensible, military hairstyle into the bold fashion statement it is today. “ doesn’t really pop up in the UK until the later 1950s, but if you look at a lot of photography from the States during that period it’s particularly prevalent.”įrom here, the flat top was picked up by various subcultures, which wore it proudly as a symbol of rebellion. When they were demobbed many of them kept it short, especially stateside.

“A lot of normal guys were conscripted into the forces and got used to seriously short hair.

“I think we can safely say from the end of the Second World War,” says Joe Mills, owner of Joe & Co.

So, when and how did this practical, military cut make its way out of the forces and into the subcultures? Its shorn back and sides offered all the practicality of a buzz cut while the patch of hair on top enabled it to sidestep the ‘white trash’ connotations that a fully shaved head carried with it at the time. History Of The Flat TopĬreated for the military, the flat top crew cut quickly became one of the most popular armed forces trims in the United States.

Granted, this approach hasn’t quite worked for Kim Jong Un, but we can probably all agree that he’s a fairly extreme example. This can include anything from traditional military crew cuts, right through to the high-top fades of the eighties hip-hop community.įlat tops are usually taken short on the back and sides, narrowing and elongating the shape of the face, meaning that If you’ve got a peanut head, this classic cut may just be your new best friend. It should be fairly self-explanatory but just in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, a flat top, in the broadest sense, is any haircut where the hair has been cut or styled to look flat and level across the top of the head. So get your spirit level at the ready and discover how to embrace one of barbering’s most interesting and challenging creations. With the right approach, you can sport this throwback cut without your style credentials falling, er, flat.

Flat top