I Got The Curve Cut — & It’s The ’90s Hair Trend I Didn’t Know I Missed
There are countless things I miss about the ’90s: magazine quizzes (“Which celebrity would be your best friend?”), talking for hours on a landline phone (it just hit different), and that owning inflatable furniture was considered acceptable, not questionable. One thing I didn’t expect to feel nostalgic about, though, is the hair.
That’s because most of the ’90s styles that spring to mind are chunky highlights, which only a select few can pull off perfectly, or crimped hair — not to be confused with its modern, far more wearable counterpart, mermaid waves. Let’s not even talk about how fried our hair was. But over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed a recurring trend in the coolest salons everywhere from Los Angeles to London, and it’s all about the layers. Lots of them. And there’s a snappy new name: the curve cut.
What is a curve cut?
I first came across the curve cut in 2023 through Tyler Moore, expert stylist at Live True salon in London. Moore described it as “the perfect cut for growing your hair out while still maintaining shape and style”. He explained that it’s created by cutting the hair into a soft U- or V-shape with plenty of layers, which can give the illusion of shorter hair around the front if desired.
It also goes by another name: the C-shape haircut. Stephen Buller, a hairstylist and cofounder of London salon Buller + Rice, previously told R29 that the C-shape haircut is one of the most requested hairstyles. “C-shape layering, or alternatively and more familiarly known as face-framing layers, are often jaw-length layers or longer,” said Buller, adding that they run seamlessly through the length of the hair. “This makes the hairstyle reminiscent of the iconic ’90s Rachel from Friends cut,” Buller said.
“Curve cut” has become the more commonly used term among stylists in recent years, with the two names often used interchangeably. When it first started gaining popularity, I was growing out a bob. Fast forward to this year, my hair had reached halfway down my back, and I was ready for a change. That’s when I spotted the curve cut on Gigi Hadid, courtesy of celebrity hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos. Then I saw it again on Sienna Miller, and I knew it had to be my next haircut.
I booked in with Samantha Cusick in London, but the curve cut is renowned the world over. One of my favorite California-based hairstylists is Ryenne Snow, who, it’s safe to say, has mastered the curved layer, even making the style her own with added choppiness and texture. Meanwhile, in New York and Miami, IGK’s salons have made the curve cut something of a signature, proving that it works across all hair types, from fine hair, where the layers add the illusion of thickness, to thick, curly hair, where they can be cut to feel choppier and a little more airy. Regardless of where you are, a good hairstylist will know exactly what you’re talking about if you ask for face-framing layers blow-dried inwards to cup the face. I especially love this cut by @havenhairbne on Instagram.
What can you expect from a curve cut?
I hadn’t had my hair cut in eight months when I booked in with Daniel Winbourn, a principal colorist and stylist at Samantha Cusick, but I was adamant that I didn’t want to lose much length. It’s just as well, then, that the curve cut doesn’t require chopping too much off the bottom. Rather, all the layers are concentrated through the mid-lengths, curving around the face and neck. Some stylists also refer to it as the “curve” cut, thanks to the swooping shape of the layers.
Winbourn started by sectioning my hair and cutting at an angle so that, as the layers fell, they naturally formed a C-like shape even before being dried. He kept the front sections shorter, then refined and softened each section to ensure the layers blended seamlessly through the lengths for a rounded, inward-sweeping effect.
Winbourn also taught me that the products you use on a layered cut really matter. He worked a pump of Olaplex No.6 Bond Smoother through my mid-lengths and ends, then added a few drops of Olaplex No.7 Bonding Oil for extra polish when blow-dried, helping to seal the hair cuticle and boost shine. Both also feature heat protection, which is essential for blow-drying, while the bonding properties help strengthen hair against the manual tension involved in styling.
The final part of the cut, when my hair was dry, involved removing some weight from the hair so that the layers would sit more seamlessly and be easier to style at home using my trusty ghd Duet Blowdry Brush. Winbourn did this with thinning scissors, removing bulk from the interior of the lengths so subtly that the difference was virtually undetectable to my naked eye.
What’s the maintenance like for a curve cut?
The best thing about the curve cut is the way it grows out — pretty seamlessly, if you ask me. While the face-cupping layers may no longer curve around the face in quite the same way eventually, they still fall in a cascading effect when flicked in and out. I also use straighteners to curl the layers inward and outward to give the cut a bit more shape and movement.
If you’re not sold on regular trims to keep your layers intact, I’d recommend investing in a good bond-building product to help keep split ends at bay, as they’ll only travel up the hair shaft and undermine the shape of a sharp cut like this. Alongside the aforementioned Olaplex products, I’ve been loving OUAI’s Bond Repair Balm, which I use in place of conditioner in the shower. Thanks to smoothing silk proteins, strand-strengthening peptides, and hydrating hyaluronic acid, I can go longer between trims when I use it. It’s like it helps fuse split ends together, making them far less noticeable. My hair is much softer and easier to style, too.
If you’re skilled with a blow-dryer and round brush, I salute you. If not, I can’t recommend a hot brush enough for perfecting a cut like this. Alongside my go-to ghd tool, I love the Shark Glossi 2-in-1 Hot Tool and Air Glosser, which makes light work of blow-drying thick, frizz-prone hair, and the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS 2.0 Hair Dryer and Hot Air Brush — a new and improved version of the viral OG. The barrel is thinner, for starters, allowing you to get much closer to the root than before.
Before this cut, I eased myself in with a looser layer, but the tighter, curved iteration really is a step up. Some of my haircuts have divided my friends and family (hey, it’s my job to try all the trends!), but this one is a crowd-pleaser. More importantly, I love it myself.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
12 Cool-Girl Summer Haircut Trends To Try Now