Looking for the newest haircut trend of the year?

Meet the wolf haircut that has blown up TikTok and Instagram with its choppy layers, volume, and texture.

Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish were one of the first to flavor all the benefits of woolfy low maintenance looks, which are suitable for formal or informal events. However, more and more celebrities and influencers are adopting the wolf hairstyle – so, right now, you’ve got the chance to be one of the wolf haircut natives standing at the beginning of the new hair trend era.

What exactly is a wolf cut?

@yana_pisarenko

The Wolf Cut is social media's hottest hair trend that is currently taking TikTok and Instagram by storm. Right now it’s spreading worldwide from the eastern countries – South Korea and Japan.
A wolf haircut is essentially a shag cut filled with volume and wispy layers, usually with shaggy bangs.

Actually, it’s a kind of mixture of mullet and lob haircuts, though the majority of wolf hairstyles feature rather long hair.
This style is light, with voluminous roots and thinner ends, the layers are usually starting at the chin level and follow down the length.

The wild wolf style will work best for women with fine thick hair as the soft flexible layers make the whole cut more alive and fresh. But! We’ve got some options for girls with other textures too. Just scroll down.

Is It Hard To Achieve This Hairdo?

@thebeautyplace_chile

Just like a mullet style, a wolf cut can vary from short shoulder or even chin-length to much longer layers. Thus, if talking about the length, it’s not an issue at all: you don’t have to wait for ages until your locks are long enough.

As for the cut itself, it’s done in a couple of easy steps: after the hair is washed and blow-dried, the stylist cuts in layers for that desired depth and messy volume. Thus, the top section will be more shaggy, while the ends go thinner. What you need to decide on at this stage is if want to keep the bangs or cut them completely.
The next stage is styling, and it can sometimes be a bit more challenging than the cut itself (depending on what effect you wish to get). So, we’ll tell about this part in the next section:

This is how you style a wolf cut

@2dyefor

If the layers are cut right, your wolf hairstyle won’t be too hard to style. Having spent 2-3 minutes in front of the mirror every day, you’ll end up with a flawless voluminous wolf haircut. Here are the basic steps to follow:

• Keep it clean and fresh
• Brush the hair out in the morning
• Slightly sprinkle the locks with water and spread a pea-sized amount of hair gel across the top section with your hands OR use a texturizer at the roots with a light mousse all over the length and blow-dry the hair slightly combing it with fingers
• Style the bangs around the face up to your liking
• Remember to style the lower layers away from your face, don’t curl them inwards (thus, you’ll get a face-framing effect)

The Trendiest Wolf Cuts of 2021

@trintamais_

Wolf cut with a deep mullet

@skipdoeshair

The first thing you should know about the wolf hairstyle is that if your strands are naturally textured, curly, or wavy, this cut won’t do a lot of hard work for you. It’s enough just to rough up your hair with hands and optionally mist in some texturizer – that’s it. All you need is to get a similar deep mullet with shorter layers and enjoy your trendy look.

Curly Wolf Cut

@trintamais_

So bold, so rebellious, so juicy, and so playful – this curly wolf cut idea does keep up with the latest Instagram and fashion trends. Stack the curls on top and trim them toward the bottom, add a choppy shortened fringe, and spice up the whole look with catchy silver accessories.

Cropped Wolf Cut

@lauren_g.hair

While younger women with naturally textured hair types almost don’t care about the styling procedure, ladies with straight and sleek hair won't do only with wash-and-go. Straight hair will be flat unless you style it. If you’re not into complex hairstyles, try rocking similar beachy waves with hair foam for everyday events.

The Long Wolf

@bluetitlondon

While most wolf styles are offered for short or medium hair length, to rock a really long wolf mullet is a real challenge, but it will definitely bring you to light. The trick is that the longer the hair is, the more extreme those choppy layers will look. Also, with such a length, you’ll be able to switch to a high ponytail or a half-up for everyday wear.

Shaggy & Voluminous Wolf Cut Hair

@hairby_giorgia

This shaggy and voluminous top portion of the cut twists the whole look in a wild way. To bring balance to the look, try out dramatic blonde hair color. This combination of deliberate mess with more hair on top and a rather feminine white shade is an absolute game-changer. By the way, Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus styled their wolf cuts in the exactly same way.

The Lob Wolf

@reyhairstylist

This is how the signature cut for 2022 looks in collab with a lob on straight and smooth Asian hair. Bangs and visible disorder build this tapered wolf cut. Also, the peekaboo colors help to create dimension and make a deeper visual effect, which is an awesome trick for straight hair.

Mullet Wolf Haircut With Bangs

@hairbyjoec

Choppy bangs are literally an integral part of today’s wolf haircut. Fashion is cyclic and hair trends have a tendency to come back again and again. So, if you decide to adopt a good old wolf haircut, you can’t ignore those thick bangs that double the effect and frame the face so nice.

Short Wolf Cut

@s0ft.burst

Since a wolf cut can fairly be far from an easy-to-style haircut for some hair types, it’s so popular to wear this cut short. Thus, you don’t have to struggle with the length and can be more focused on the shape and volume you build around the crown. Keep things cute by highlighting the lower layers at the bottom with a contrasting blonde.

Hot Spicy Red Short Wolf Hair

@gabbyglammhair

Oh, no doubt, this red fox is an absolute rules-breaker. The texture with layers is still here, but they’re introduced with an untypical wet effect and a messy side part. But it’s just one of the ways of how you can style your shaggy wolf cut on a day when you want it worn in a special way.

Gorgeous Light Blonde Wolf Hair

@hairby_giorgia

Don’t wanna dive completely into an image of a rebellious teenager with a classic wolf hairdo? Opt for a softer nod to the shape with light flirty waves and a few choppy layers around the crown.

Straight Wolf Cut With Curtain Bangs

@jennjoseph1

Layers give dimension and volume to straight hair. This modern shag aka Korean wolf cut is matched with another trend of the year – the curtain bangs. To style a cut like this, you’ll need to spread some product on hair with palms and give the necessary volume with a round brush and a blow-dryer.

Wolf Style Haircut Natural Hair

@trintamais_

The natural texture of your hair determines the way you need to style the wolf cut – yep, whatever it is, you do need to style it anyway. Even for such a carefree wolf hairstyle like in the photo, you’ll have to spend a little time touching it up so that the hair doesn’t fall flat. We recommend using a small amount of texturizing cream as an option and work it through your locks with your hands.

Dark Brown Hair With Highlights Wolf Hairstyle

@ellienorski

Some wolf cuts look like a micro bob inside of a mullet, and this is one of them. Actually, this whole hairdo could look much more trivial and boring, but the pop of green in the bang made this wavy mullet really fun.

Long Blonde Wolf Haircut Design

@elevatehair

This long blonde wolf haircut represents a dramatically opposite variation of the style we got used to. This spiky shag with extremely short bangs and long straight hair emphasizes the two levels of the hairstyle and combines teenage rage with tradition.

Feminine & Elegant Wolf Haircut

@ilritoupdateyourhairstyle

The present-day transformation of the Joan Jett haircut from the ‘80s can have so unpredictable consequences. For example, you may end up not only with rebellious shag gen Z hairstyles, but also surprisingly, with loose waves weave hairstyles. So feminine and elegant… so, a wolf haircut doesn’t limit you to only one image in perspective.

Full-fringe wolf cut

@copperhairdesign_

The more volume you decide to give to your wolf cut, the more distinctive your fringe should be to keep the balance. Thus, a full fringe along with cropped shoulder-length wolf cut will visually narrow the face especially flattering girls with round face shapes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wolf cut and mullet the same?

No, not really.

The wolf cut does borrow some elements from the mullet but they’re definitely not the same. Mullet dates back to ancient times and comes from the Western culture, while the wolf cut started much later in Asia. This new mullet-like look ​​was popularised by K-pop idols in the late 2010s and was equally adopted by men and women.

If compare a mullet to a wolf cut, the latter is more versatile, it’s friendly for more hair textures.
While a mullet features “business at the front, party at the back”, a wolf cut is all about the party and layers everywhere.

Why is a wolf cut called a Wolf cut?

Probably, the wolf cut takes its features and the name from the wild and untamed look of a real wolf. The shaggy layers of the cut slightly resemble the fur of a wolf.
Popular with both genders, the wolf cut has a shape that is so similar to the look of that real lonely grey predator.

Are Wolf cuts hard to maintain?

In the world of sustainable fashion, eco-friendly and user-friendly tendencies, a wolf cut would hardly ever become the hottest TikTok trend if it was too hard to get and maintain.
Modern fashion keeps striving for comfort on the edge with a retro vibe.

Of course, we can hardly call a wolf cut an effortless to maintain kind of style. It does require a daily touch-up investment into the look, but it has nothing to do with some huge and sophisticated ritual.

So, all you need to maintain the look is to make sure it’s texturized enough using the texturizing products every time you feel like the layers are falling flat. And also, add extra volume with a round brush when blow-drying your hair after washing it. Of course, you can go further and deeper into the styling on some special occasions, but there is no point doing it on a daily basis.

Will the wolf cut look good on me?

Well, probably, the answer is all about attitude.

The trendy wolf hairstyle will probably work for you if you’re up to experiments with retro images, into the mixture of styles, and all that fun. The majority of the wolf cut adopters are active TikTok and Instagram users under 25, but the stylists predict that this trend will break all the age limitations in the near future.

If you’re worried if you’ll be able to wear a wolf cut with some specific hair texture, relax. It works on most hair types and textures. Obviously, the layers and volume look different on different types but they work anyway.

The only case when you should be really thoughtful before getting a wolf cut is if your hair is very fine and doesn’t maintain shape at all.

@hairbykarafina

This hairstyle will work wonders for girls with round and square face shapes. Thanks to the active bangs and layers, the face visually looks more harmonious and narrow.
You can also visually soften the broad cheekbones if you add the layers framing the face.

For soft and smooth hair, opt for lightweight variations of a wolf cut with less intensive layering.
If you want to get an elegant and smart hairstyle image, ask your barber to make big but thin layers that graduate smoothly.

And, finally, a Korean wolf cut in its classic interpretation won’t look win-win if your hair looks unhealthy, too fine, and thin. In this case, we’d recommend opting for a classic one-level crop and focusing on the health of your locks instead.

Who Should Go For A Wolf Cut?

While the whole wolf cut thing is hyping and the retro aesthetic of the 70s hairstyles and makeup is everywhere, you should create a wolf hairdo if you’re a fan. Women with curls can just wear it, women with straight hair need some styling first, of course.

But, generally talking, there are lots of means and ways to personalize and adjust this trend: for example, by adding a side-swept bang, or curtain bangs, or an extremely short edgy fringe.

And despite this look has gone viral among teens first, today, there are much more stories a wolf cut tells. It looks good on dyed hair with natural roots giving extra fluffy full volume around the top effortlessly; it can work as a transition hairstyle to grow out a mullet; it will frame the face in a flattering way.

Is A Wolf Cut Pricey?

Not really.

The price can vary from $80 to $120 for most of the styles you’ve seen in our gallery (the price includes the simple cut and styling/blow-drying.)

The cut itself requires specific skills since the layers should be done in the right way and at the right angle so that they are simple to style afterward. This is one thing you should bear in mind when choosing a hairstylist.

Conclusion

The 2021 trends have revived pop-punk music, DIY hair, and angsty retro nostalgia. Well, it’s not actually a surprise that such a unique and authentic hairstyle as a wolf haircut has got viral this year too.

This hairdo is a mixture of a mullet from the ‘60s-’80s and the early 2000s teenage emo punk details. On top of that, the wolf haircut grabs curtain bangs and shortened fringe variations so that almost every fan of creative images could rock it.

This style shouts out: no matter if you have straight or curly hair, if it’s long, short, thick, or thin, a wolf hairdo has something to offer you! A bunch of choppy face-framing layers borrowed from a shag, and shorter in the front longer in the back silhouette taken from a mullet.

If you’re searching for a hair touch-up to stand out this season, just look no more.