octopus hair

Octopus Hair: What is it and How to Get this Awesome Look

It's time the shag meets the mullet.

Shag and mullet haircuts have been two of the most popular styles over the past year. There’s no doubt about it, choppy styles are definitely the way to go if you’re wanting a new haircut this year. While both styles are trending, why not combine them into one? Enter: Octopus hair.

Octopus hair is a style that incorporates the choppy layers of a shag with the top-heavy look of a mullet. This style is edgy and the cascading layers are what gives the cut the “octopus” look. Keep scrolling to learn more about this style and find out how to get the look.

All About Octopus Hair

Whether you want to just find out more about the style or you’re dying to try it and want to know exactly how you should ask your hairstylist for the cut, we’re here to help you out.

girl with black octopus hair
Try a shaggy-meets-choppy octopus haircut.

What is Octopus Hair?

So, we know that octopus hair is a combination of trendy shag and mullet hairstyles. However, the cut truly earns its name thanks to the layers. An octopus haircut hair is the same longer length that a mullet has with short choppy, angled layers towards the top and cascading down. Each layer is curved in, which is what creates the look of octopus tentacles. This style is also commonly paired with bangs. Anything from piecey fringe to blunt bangs to curtain bangs can be incorporated here.

How to Ask for Octopus Hair

We get it, it can be intimidating or just completely confusing when figuring out how to ask for a specific haircut. When explaining octopus hair, let your stylist know you want to keep the length, but want short choppy layers. Make sure you say that you want the layers top-heavy like a mullet, but with the choppiness of a shag haircut without having a drastic difference in length at the front vs back of your hair, which is commonly seen in a mullet. As always, it never heard to bring a photo (or three) for reference.

Who is This Haircut Best For?

girl with choppy octopus layers
Choppy, curved in layers create the octopus look. Photo Credit: @salsahair

A style like this will be the most successful on straight or wavy hair types. If you have straight hair, this will make it easy to show off the variation between layers. However, if you’re hair is wavy, this cut will help accentuate the natural texture in your hair.

Maintenance and How to Style this Look

We love an easy wash-and-go style, so if you’re anything like us, you’re in luck! The octopus hair is very low maintenance and involves minimal styling effort. This is one of those looks where you can apply a small amount of air-dry cream, like Suave Air Dry Cream Heat Free Styler, throughout damp hair and you’ll be good to go.

If you’re wanting to amp up the texture of your strands, use a spray like TRESemmé Dry Texture Finishing Spray. Spritz this throughout your strands and then lightly scrunch your strands to enhance their texture of them. This will help give a messy, textured look to the haircut which is exactly the look we’re going for.

 

For everyday care, you can never go wrong with a volume shampoo and conditioner when sporting this cut. We love TRESemmé Fiber Full Volume Shampoo and Conditioner because it helps provide lightweight hydration will adding an extra grip to your strands, which helps promote extra lift and body to your hair.

Will you be trying out this trend? Share your octopus haircuts with us on Instagram @AllThingsHairUS.

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