Man buns, comb-overs and box braids are just a few of today’s hot hair trends.
By Rieva Lesonsky
Do you sell beauty products or own a hair salon, barbershop or spa? Then you’ll want to know about the latest hair trends according to Google, which analyzed millions of searches and YouTube videos about hair and hair products.
The two top hairstyle trends, as reported by Advertising Age, are the “man bun and comb-over.” Both are predicted to get even bigger next year, and while the comb-over has been growing in popularity since 2011, the man bun is a recent phenomenon.
Google says the popularity of the comb-over is not inspired by Donald Trump (hard to think men would aspire to that hair style), but rather driven by young men who still have all their hair searching for hairstyles like those of David Beckham and Justin Timberlake.
A Google managing director told Ad Age that searches related to men’s hairstyles are “the most prominent things” found in Google’s hair research, which is surprising, and added he thinks “the market is just in the beginning of picking up.”
This is buoyed by the increase in sales of products needed to perfect the short-on-the-sides, long-on-top comb-over, such as hair pomade and styling gel. Ad Age says more men are buying sponge wax, light cream, sea spray and styling powder in order to style their man buns.
On the woman’s front, hair color is hot, but the once sizzling ombre trend is cooling off, and being replaced by balayage, a “softer look” where the hair color is more saturated at the tips. (My hair stylist balayaged my hair months ago.)
Google also reports purple is likely to be the hot hair color for 2016 (inspired by Katy Perry) and that box braids and goddess braids are in demand.
