Hollywood Hairstyles That Are Unlikely To Make A Comeback

Some old Hollywood hairstyles were certainly glamorous, but they were also difficult to maintain. From teasing combs and hair nets to pins and sprays, styling your hair back in the day was more like a part-time job than a quick way to elevate your outfit at the last minute. While there are some classic Hollywood hairstyles that have come back and left a mark, others have fallen out of favor for good reason.

Hollywood icons were once known for their signature hairstyles, but in recent years, all that seems to have changed. The rise in social media means celebrities are no longer the trendsetters they once were. As contemporary hair trends continue to favor easy-to-wear hairstyles and minimalism, they have left little room for the return of vintage-inspired looks featuring carefully sculpted pin-up curls or statement hairpieces. A newfound appreciation for the "clean girl" aesthetic has helped popularize slicked-back buns and proved that, regardless of their comeback potential, some voluminous hairstyles are not as timeless as they once were.

It's safe to say that the Hollywood hairstyles that are easy to maintain and require little effort to style are among the vintage hair trends that deserve a comeback. However, while there are some Hollywood hairstyles perfect for women to try today, others can leave you looking decidedly outdated. As with fashion, some hairstyles had their defining moment many decades ago, and honestly, it's better to keep it that way.

Victory rolls were far more than a glamorous hairstyle during WWII. In fact, the hairstyle actually symbolized patriotic hope. Victory rolls emerged as a major trend in the 1930s and 1940s, when hairstyles such as pin curls, waves, and updos were popular, and Hollywood stars like Vivien Leigh donned their own version of the hairstyle in hit films like "Gone with the Wind." Leigh wore her hair in overly sculpted victory rolls for much of the mid-to-late 1930s and early 1940s. In "Gone with the Wind", pictured above, her brunette locks were carefully rolled into bouncy ringlets that added dimension. Her victory rolls were the focal point of her outfit, and her dark locks undeniably captured attention throughout the film. 

In recent years, victory rolls have become one of the most popular vintage hairstyles for costumes, rather than everyday wear. Instead, mainstream beauty trends have popularized easy-to-wear hairstyles. In fact, overly polished curls were even listed among the outdated hairstyles in 2025. "[T]he over-polished, tight spiral curls achieved by using small-barrel curling irons are just starting to feel passé," Maria Jones, hairstylist at CoverClap, exclusively told Women.

The hairstylist went on to explain that, rather than overly sculpted updos, wearers should experiment with effortless curtain bangs and unbrushed looks. "To those who want to stay in fashion, I recommend studying modern, easy-to-wear images. The long layered shag with curtain bangs, for example, is a great fit because it forms such a great framing of the face and looks wonderful with various textures," Jones advised.

The beehive hairstyle dominated hair trends in the 1960s. Towering high on the wearer's head, the beehive hairstyle required commitment and a considerable amount of time to sculpt into a rounded bouffant. While the voluminous hairstyle certainly made its own mark, it became a popular trend after hairstylist Margaret Vinci Heldt created the beehive for Modern Beauty Shop magazine.

The hairstyle became a phenomenon, thanks to Hollywood stars such as Audrey Hepburn and Brigitte Bardot, who wore the hairstyle on and off screen. Bardot was a particular lover of the beehive hairstyle, pictured above. In it, her voluminous blond beehive reaches for the sky. She completed her look with face-framing curtain bangs and bold dark eye makeup that blended seamlessly with her statement hairstyle.

In recent years, the rise of the "clean girl" aesthetic has helped popularize slicked-back buns. The tight hairstyle is beloved for its seamless appearance, and this new love for perfection has made the return of the beehive hairstyle very unlikely. The towering beehive remains a niche look, and as contemporary hairstyles become increasingly tighter and flatter, it currently has no place in fashion. While Amy Winehouse briefly revived the hairstyle by making it part of her signature grunge image in the 2010s, the renewed love for minimalism and sleek styling also makes it highly unlikely that the beehive hairstyle will make a comeback.

Known as the kind of haircut your mom would chop for you using a pair of kitchen scissors, the bowl cut actually made waves as a hair trend in the 1970s. While it was originally known as a unisex pageboy hairstyle, the hairstyle featured blunt bangs and curved edges, which ultimately gave it the nickname "bowl cut." Believe it or not, the hairstyle made such an impact in Hollywood that French singer Mireille Mathieu was actually known for her bowl cut throughout the era.

As a loyal wearer of the bowl cut, almost every photograph of Mathieu in the 1970s shows her donning the hairstyle. Mathieu's brunette locks were carefully sculpted into a rounded micro-bob that fell slightly below her ears. Her bowl cut also featured heavy bangs that had been cut to give her a U-shaped fringe.

Nowadays, Mathieu's hairstyle is often referred to as "the mushroom hairstyle." What's more, the bowl cut has also been described as "the unkindest cut" in recent years by Mental Floss. While the hairstyle has long been known for its distinctive appearance, its ability to change appearances has not always been viewed favorably. In 2021, actor Zendaya tried to bring back the hairstyle by wearing a blunt overly-rounded bowl cut for an InStyle photo shoot. Despite making headlines for her hairstyle, Zendaya was praised for still looking stunning while donning the controversial hairstyle.

Jane Fonda is a master at many things, but in the early 1970s, a combination of her blunt shag and mullet helped pave the way for contemporary wolf cut trends. "The mullet we know today actually originated in the early 1970s starting with Jane Fonda's iconic mug shot," hairstylist Jason Lee, owner of Jason Lee Salon, told 29Secrets. Fonda wore her hair in a bluntly chopped shag that featured three distinctive layers.

The wolf cut-shag-mullet spectrum is nuanced, but it's fair to say Fonda's shag provided part of the blueprint for modernized wolf cuts. However, unlike the contemporary hairstyle, Fonda's shag featured a choppy fringe and thick sideburns that cascaded along her jawline. "This was a hairstyle conceived during an era where women were standing up and fighting for their rights, and men were playing with the concept of modern-day masculinity," Lee explained.

The wolf cut was reimagined and embraced in its modern form for a brief stint in 2021, but it was not at all similar to Fonda's 1970s shag. As contemporary hair trends become favored for their lack of upkeep, it seems the chance to revive Fonda's iconic look came and went. "It requires way too much maintenance and styling to look perfect and the shape really only suits certain face shapes," Janelle Chaplin, GlossGenius user and Owner of Original Mineral NYC, exclusively told Women. "This year will have a lot more classic easy-to-manage styles, which I recommend instead."

In 1986, Cher had an incredibly iconic hair moment when she attended the Academy Awards wearing a faux hawk with dramatic spikes. The hairstyle also helped Cher make another major fashion statement, as her larger-than-life hairstyle was paired with a glistening black gown featuring triangular hems and an embellished headpiece designed by Bob Mackie.

In recent years, the Met Gala has featured some elaborate hairstyles, but few have been as vividly memorable or celebrated as widely as Cher's faux hawk with dramatic spikes. While it's likely that dramatically spiked hairstyles will continue to capture attention, they are unlikely to ever become a mainstream hairstyle due to their high-maintenance nature. Although the mohawk made a comeback in 2025, the modernized take on the hair trend was far less dramatic and did not come close to matching the extravagance of Cher's memorable look.