Short Hairstyles That Stunned The World This Past Decade
There were a number of short hairstyles that stunned the world this past decade. And these styles proved that gone are the days when women were expected to keep long, luscious hair like the haircuts many models have rocked on magazine covers. Over the past ten years, ladies have been ditching their long locks for short new 'dos. As women everywhere look to the media for inspiration on which new haircut they should rock next, pop culture fans began seeing women with shorter and shorter cuts that made powerful statements. Not only was this trend of short haircuts super cute, but short hair is a lot more practical for the mom who has only minutes to primp and style for the day, the busy businesswoman with back-to-back meetings, and even the awe-aspiring actress who is constantly having to change her hair to fit a new role.
Here are short hairstyles that stunned the world this past decade, which are sure to provide you with some major inspo.
Emma Watson's pixie cut was one powerful short hairstyle
At the start of a new decade came many new changes for Emma Watson. The young actress was starring in different genres of films outside of the Harry Potter franchise and was on her way to achieving world domination in the entertainment industry. And, as all women know, with major life changes like this comes a major haircut to go along with it. In 2010, Watson debuted a fresh pixie cut, which was a huge change from her long curly locks that her character Hermione Granger had. "It was the most liberating thing!" Watson told Entertainment Weekly. "The stylist just grabbed the back of my hair and took a whole ponytail of hair out. It felt amazing. I love it."
Though many women thereafter were inspired to chop their long locks after Watson had, her short hairstyle was met with lots of backlash at first. She said she hadn't told anyone she planned to cut her hair and decided to get the drastic new hairdo alone. "I went to the salon alone and I left alone," she told EW. "I knew everyone was going to have an opinion, and I couldn't deal with it." Well, we loved it!
Kylie Jenner's blue 'do is a short hairstyle to remember
In 2014, Kylie Jenner decided to chop her long black locks and begin fresh with a bold new bob — that also happened to be blue. "One day I was just like, 'I'm going blue,'" she told E! News, regarding her short hairstyle. She had been previously experimenting with hair chalk to add some cool colors, but now wanted some more permanent color.
Considering the debut of her blue 'do came right before sister Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding, it wasn't so surprising that her family wasn't the happiest with the teenager's daring decision. "My mom was like, 'You look like a Skittle.' I was like, 'I'm gonna have this for two years now that you said that,'" Jenner said.
The stylist behind her blue 'do, Daniel Moon, told E! News that the color only lasts between two to four weeks, which gives clients the opportunity to experiment freely with wild hair colors. "Kylie Jenner has this attitude and is confident in her style. Youth culture has always influenced fashion," he said. "This is what is happening now." Since then, the young billionaire has been known to try out countless daring 'dos.
Taylor Swift's curl-less short hairstyle marked a turning point
When Taylor Swift first entered the music scene, the young country sensation was known for her curly blonde hair. At the 2016 Grammys, Swift decided to debut a completely new 'do (via Taste of Country). She had cut off her long locks and seemed to have purchased a straightener. However, she told Elle that having straight hair wasn't her choice. She had gotten to the point where her curls were just no more. "Your hair can completely change texture," she said. "From birth, I had the curliest hair and now it is STRAIGHT. It's the straight hair I wished for every day in junior high. But just as I was coming to terms with loving my curls, they've left me."
With the addition of bangs to her short hairstyle, the singer had completely transformed her look along with her music as she was now headfirst into the pop scene versus her predominantly country roots. It seemed that she was making changes to many aspects of her life. "Fashion is all about playful experimentation," Swift said. "If you don't look back at pictures of some of your old looks and cringe, you're doing it wrong."
Lucy Hale's beautiful bob was a stunningly short hairstyle
Lucy Hale spent a number of years in the role of Aria on Pretty Little Liars. Her daring teenage character, who had pink highlights at one point, gave Hale major inspiration over the course of seven seasons. "One of the reasons I really liked playing her is because ... she didn't follow the rules. She was cool, but it was effortless," Hale told W magazine. She added, "She was actually someone I'd look up to because she did things not for anyone else but just for herself."
When Hale cut her long brunette waves into a lob in 2014, there seemed to be no going back. Over the course of the decade, she continued to cut it. A short hairstyle seems to always come with the confidence to continue cutting it even shorter and shorter! However, Hale's hairstylist, Kristen Ess, said she recommends taking it slow before making a major cut. "I think it's good to feel out shorter lengths before going for the full chin-length chop," she told InStyle. "It's a serious commitment."
Danai Gurira's bold Black Panther look was an iconic short hairstyle
With a new role in Marvel's Black Panther, Danai Gurira's character required a completely new look — a shaved head. "In theory, I loved it. In theory, it sounded amazing," she told The View. Gurira loved the vision the director had in mind for her in the film, but, as soon as they started to shave her hair, she panicked a bit. "I thought I was ready. I thought, 'I can take this. I can take this,' but you start to see those chunks fall to the floor," Gurira said on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
When she had finished getting her buzzed cut, it was time to have tattoo-style designs shaved in like the rest of the army that she leads in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film. To her surprise, the crew told Gurira that they needed to shave her hair even shorter to accomplish the look they wanted. "I've had a short cut for a long time, but there's a big difference between a short cut and dolphin-smooth bald," Gurira said.
However, Gurira's powerful short hairstyle was one that grew on her. "You just roll out of bed. You cannot have a bad hair day."
Kaley Cuoco's producer-approved pixie cut proved to be a headline-making short hairstyle
A short hairstyle was something that actress Kaley Cuoco had wanted for a long time, but her character's long hair on The Big Bang Theory had stopped her from pursuing it. "When we wrapped this season, I literally went the next morning," Cuoco told Ellen DeGeneres in 2014. It started out as a shoulder-length cut, but quickly turned into something much shorter — a pixie cut.
When the show's producers found out about the big chop before filming of the new season began, they immediately reached out to Cuoco. "There was a lot of talk about do extensions and, oh, something else," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I had a talk with the writers. ... I said I think it would be a great change for Penny and the show, and they were really cool about it and on my side, and they wrote it in, so I got lucky." We're glad they did!
Miley Cyrus' short hairstyle garnered major attention
Miley Cyrus was known for her super long locks as the sweet and sassy Hannah Montana, but Cyrus showed the world a bold change to her music and her look over the past decade. It all started in 2012, when hairstylist Chris McMillan posted to Instagram a photo with scissors to Cyrus' top knot. "Good bye bun," he teased fans everywhere. Sure enough, Cyrus later tweeted out a photo with her hair in a pixie cut. About her short hairstyle, Cyrus told E! News, "You will never see me with long hair again! ... It's so easy and [I] don't need to wash it. It looks better grungy and not washing it."
Since then, the young star has been known to take major risks with her style. "I still really want to be an entertainer and show up in my own way and I don't want to look like anybody else," she told NME in 2017. "With the short hair thing, it was an androgynous, sexy feeling, which is what I want people to feel like. I don't wanna be over-feminised, but I'm not masculine either — I'm just myself."
Cameron Diaz had a sob-worthy short hairstyle
It's not every day that a haircut that began as a terrible misunderstanding turns out to be a major world stunner. However, that's exactly what happened to Cameron Diaz in 2012. "There was a little misunderstanding," she told The Tonight Show with Jay Leno of her trip to the salon and her surprisingly short hairstyle. "I said, 'I just want a little bit off.'" Unfortunately, the hairstylist cut off a bit more than that. "And I just burst into tears," Diaz said
In 2019, Diaz looked back at her bob and laughws. "I was probably a little crazy at the time too, which is why I wanted to cut all my hair off," she told InStyle. Of her 2012 self, she said, "When you're going through those periods of times ... just a lot of emotions, or where you have to cut off all your hair because you're starting over. I'm just starting over."
Charlize Theron got a short hairstyle for Mad Max
Before Mad Max: Fury Road was released in 2015, the director had a terrible time deciding how to style his leading lady, Charlize Theron. Turns out, the bold bald look was actually Theron's idea.
"I had done a press junket. My hair was really fried. And I had a night where I thought, 'You know what? What if we just shave it?'" she told Entertainment Weekly. The new short hairstyle made her character in the film so much fiercer, and, looking back, the haircut had its effects on Theron's personal life as well.
"After that, I was 20 minutes early to everything in my life," she said. "It was unbelievable, like how much time we spend on our hair. ... There's something very freeing in that, for sure, definitely. And there's always something nice when you kind of take that importance of your femininity and make it about something more than just your hair."
Katy Perry didn't originally wish for this short hairstyle
Katy Perry has always been known for her bold style choices ever since she stepped into the musical scene, so the stunning pixie cut she debuted in 2017 came as no surprise to the world. However, the way Perry's short hairstyle came about was by complete accident. "Sometimes your hair falls out when you go too blonde, so that's the way I handled it," she told Ellen DeGeneres.
It wasn't necessarily the way Perry had thought she would be entering back into the spotlight after her break earlier that year. "Changing my hair definitely was the biggest physical transformation I have experienced as a woman," she told Paper Magazine. "When you don't have long hair, you really can't hide behind it. Everything is exposed."
Yet in true Perry fashion, she chose to think of this initially unfortunate transformation as a positive experience instead. "People are saying, 'Now you can really see the beauty of your face," she told DeGeneres. Katy Perry's stunning transformation has only continued over the years.
Lauren Conrad's blunt bob inspired women to get short hairstyles
It all started with a lob in 2014. "It was my first real haircut in years, so it was a big change," Lauren Conrad wrote on her blog. As many women before have experienced, her short cut only led to a cut that was even shorter.
However, her transition to a short hairstyle took a few weeks. When Conrad initially told her hairstylist she wanted a bob, she refused to cut it. Looking back, Conrad understands why. "If you think you want a bob, I definitely recommend trying a lob first and seeing how you like it. It really does make the transition a lot easier and also gives you a chance to change your mind," she said.
Not only was her bob a super trendy look for the decade, but, as Conrad is a busy mama, bobs and lobs just made sense for her. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my long locks on occasion, but my current lob is easy to style in a pinch, especially since I have a little guy to chase after," Conrad wrote on her blog. Clearly, Lauren Conrad's stunning transformation has been practical — not just stylish.
Halsey's statement-making short hairstyle was edgy
A shaved head was something that Halsey had wanted for a while before debuting her new short hairstyle in 2015. Between just having entered into the spotlight and trying to gain fans, a drastic haircut was just something she was afraid to do — at first. "And I realized one day that all the reasons I wasn't doing it were really stupid," she told Byrdie. "What's this boy gonna think? Is he still gonna like me? Is he still gonna think I'm pretty? What are my fans gonna think? Are people gonna stare at me? Stupid reasons. But I wanted to do it. Nothing was stopping me except for everyone else's opinion. So as soon as I did it, I felt liberated."
It's a little hard to believe she had trouble committing to the haircut, considering the rebellious musician has always been known to be more of a risk-taker. "I'm known to be kind of reckless with my beauty decisions," Halsey told Allure. "I have to force myself to not be so impulsive." It's just hair, though, right? It grows back!
Jennifer Lawrence's pretty pixie cut was a transformative short hairstyle
Jennifer Lawrence's pretty pixie cut that she showed off to the world in 2013 was more of an impulsive decision than a deliberate choice, she's admitted. "It grew to that awkward, gross length," a brutally honest Lawrence revealed during a Q&A with Yahoo! (via ABC News). "And I just kept putting it back in a bun, and I was like, 'Well, I don't want to do this,' so I just cut it off. Not a very exciting story."
Her short hairstyle was not a big deal to her, so Lawrence was surprised to hear that other women around the world were inspired to chop off their longer locks that same year too. After all, Lawrence allegedly rocked the same look when she was just a kid. "I got a haircut on a cruise once when I was 11," she told Late Night with David Letterman in 2013. It was another impulsive decision that she had made. "I was just like, 'I'm going to cut my hair. I'm going to cut it all off.' I don't know why." She rocks it, though!
Selena Gomez's chic, short hairstyle was refreshing
Selena Gomez has been changing the length of her locks, it seems, ever since she hit the red carpet as a teen. "One of the most important things for me is my hair," she told Vogue back in 2016. She added, "It goes through a lot every day, but I try to keep it healthy." Still, even with the constant changes her always-voluminous hair goes through, the actress seems to never have a bad hair day.
In 2017, she debuted a blunt lob on Instagram, and her various 'dos only went shorter and shorter from there. In 2018, she showed off a retro-looking bob and bangs in her music video "Back to You." The stylist behind the short hairstyle, Danielle Priano, told PopSugar that Gomez "wanted the look to feel dated with a modern twist." What's even better is that it's an easy haircut to have. "It's not complicated at all to style," Priano said, noting, "It takes about 20 minutes." It has us wanting a take a trip to the salon too. After all, Selena Gomez's stunning transformation has been nothing short of inspiring!
Lana Condor got a cute and effortless short hairstyle
The character of Lara Jean may have had long locks in Netflix's popular film To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but the actress playing her, Lana Condor, made the decision to chop it all off in 2018. She posted a photo to Instagram, showing off the new short hairstyle that she was required to have for her role on Syfy's Deadly Class. "They chopped off all my hair, and subsequently also saved me so much money now on shampoo and conditioner," the young star wrote. In 2019, Condor cut off a few more inches on Instagram Live to get herself a fresh new bob once again. She told her stylist, "It feels so good! It feels so healthy and light!"
However, it sounds like Condor won't be chopping her hair any shorter like many women gain the confidence to do after they make that first big cut. "I don't know if I'd ever shave my head for a role at this point, but that could always change," she told Refinery29. We will just have to wait and see!