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THE 60s:
As with virtually every other facet of youth culture, hairstyles made the big leap from relative uniformity of the previous decades into great diversity. Within the decade (1960-1969), hairstyles went through a massive amount of changes, yet again contrasting with rates of change over previous years. The most obvious changes were in mens' hairstyles, which can be readily observed via the increasing popularity of long hair in the late 60s (as well as free growth of facial hair). Another notable example of mens' cuts included "mop-tops" (early-mid Beatles reign, but later developed more unkempt styles with the rising popularity of rock and mod movements). Women generally maintained their style diversity, but a few new additions to the repertiore included the "beehive", the "Doris Day" (a slight variation on the "bob"), and the female equivalent of the unkempt and free-flowing long-haired male fashionable among hippies of the later 60s.

THE 70s:
The earlier part of the decade combined leftover late 60s hair fashion with a return to earlier contemporary and somewhat conservative styles, which carried through until the early 80s. The only significant variation was aligned to the punk movement of the mid-late 70s, which saw the introduction of wild modifications to short haircuts in both sexes. Examples of these included asymmetrical "spikes", mohawks and a vast range of dyed colours. This time also saw the introduction of total head-shaving among younger punk-oriented groups across the western world. By the end of the decade, the stage was set for much of the hair fashion seen throughout the following decade. The late 70s disco scene popularised modified styles among the Afro-American peoples (particularly in America), whilst carrying on such intersting styles from previous years including the "afro".

THE 80s:
As with the 60s/70s crossover, a similar trend occurred from the late 70s to the early 80s, where punk and post-punk hairstyles reigned supreme. The new-wave and glam movements of the 80s yielded many variations on these earlier themes, but much more variety in hairstyles began to emerge as a result of increasing splinter-groups in music and fashion. The surge in poupularity of these newer musical genres brought with them associated hairstyles. For example, heavy metal followers tended to sport long to very long hairstyles, while alternative scenes like new wave and glam rock yielded advanced variations on punk and 70s glam styles. The rapidly emerging rap/hip-hop movement also brought with it new variations among those in Afro-American communities and white urban communities alike. By the end of the 80s, there appeared to be a trend toward more retro-60s cuts, which again seemed to parallel the trends in fashion and music.

In summary, these three decades supplied more variation in hairstyles than previous years, and have also laid the benchmark for the variation in hairstyles up to the present. Such proliferation and change in hairstyles strongly reflected the fashion and music movements of those times, and have provided a rich variety yet to be rivalled in the last decade-and-a-half. Similarly, more recent times have seen many revisits of such popular hairstyles from these three decades.

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