If you’re someone who likes the idea of a shag or a wolf cut, but keeping your length is a must, the Octopus Haircut could definitely be for you.
What exactly is the octopus haircut? What are the features of this style? How should I style it at home? Can this can’t work with wavy or curly hair?
We’ll be going over these questions and more to help you understand the key features of this haircut and what products will help you style and maintain this look at home.
Our model for today is Miss Elise. And as you can see, she has a grown out one length haircut. She definitely wants to keep her length. But she is open for some fun, she wants some volume. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
I’ll be adding a ton of layers all over, disconnected from the bottom or the length, and then adding extra separation and wispiness to those lengths. So that overall, you get the outline shape much like an octopus.
I’m going to be adding way more layers on the top, maintaining length, but we obviously got to get rid of those dry looking ends. That is a must.
I will add a swoop that really brings out the framing and the face.
Now let’s get into the haircut.
But first, let’s wet her hair down. Now we can begin.
After you get out of the shower or wash your hair and towel dry it, you’re going to want to detangle it.
So I’m grabbing one of my favorite products by Matrix called Miracle Creator. It is a leave in treatment, it’s got over 20 benefits. You just simply spray it in your hair after you get out of the shower. And then work it through with a fine tooth comb or a brush.
And it’ll help maintain shine, moisture and integrity of the hair as well as offer great protection against thermal styling.
I will be setting this hair cut up with a center part. And now I’m moving over to the side where I can observe the upper recession area.
This will help me determine a section for the swoop, which will eventually blend into the rest of the face framing.
I’m going to start this haircut by creating a new length. In the industry we call this a baseline. So what I’m trying to do here is create more of a ‘U’ shape.
I’m going more of a soft angled approach. And I’m going to use what’s called point cutting. I’m just basically cutting with the points of my shears, this one creates a much softer line.
Once the hair is dry, I’ll be getting into the next cutting technique. And this cutting technique will give all the extra separation and the length that we’re looking for.
This technique is particularly amazing.
For those of you who have super dense hair, it might be long, but the weight of it alone is enough to give you a headache, especially when you put the hair up. Here we go.
We’re going to start chopping away. I know it looks aggressive. But it is effective. You can see here how soft and wispy the ends are how much movement is created there and texture.
All those ends are visibly separated on their own much like the tentacles of an octopus, hence the name of the haircut.
Now we move into the top, it’s divided front and back. But we will start with the very front piece first because we are going to be setting up the face frame.
I’ve decided to go slightly off center go with a lower cheekbone length. This way it’s not a full fringe and it’ll still be movable from side to side and she can get that curtain bank field without committing to a full bank.
I’ve swung it slightly over to one side. We’re going to be again using that point cut method just softening up that line. And this will be the beginning and the guideline essentially for the rest of the face frame.
Now that the length is cut, it’s time to give it some more purpose and direction. We’re going to be adding some layering here. As it falls it just naturally swoops over on its own.
Next I’m going into layer the top of the crown. There’s a disconnection there. I’ll be leaving that about one to two inches disconnected. Because as the hair falls, it will all visually blend beautifully as I finish up all the layering on the top portion here.
Now you can see the dramatic effect of all the layering on the top. And then you can see that length. I’m going to be combing through here to smooth it out.
Now I’m taking the corner of that front portion and just simply sliding my shears down blending and further framing the face and neck that blends all the way down into the length. And there we have it.
All of this is now visually blended in. Now I’m going to add the High Amplify Foam Volumizer to the top portion. Now you can do this on dry or wet hair but I did decide to slightly dampen the hair first.
And here you go. Have a generous golf ball size, mix it around in the hands and apply thoroughly root two ends. This especially, is going to work well with all those brand new layers that we put in on the top and in the crown is after all, we want to bring out the volume.
It’s blow dry time. So what I’m doing here is I’m using a fairly large round brush. But first I want to make sure I apply heat through the nozzle and really concentrate on pulling out the roots.
Once you feel most of the moisture is out of the hair, I am rolling the brush backwards away from the face. But I am pulling towards the face. This will give you a great smooth effect but helps enhance and show off all the layering that was put in the haircut.
Now for the crown area, roll the brush away. But pull it towards. It creates a really nice rounded effect in that crown giving tons of volume right behind that will be the support system for those layers. They’re slightly disconnected.
But you get that really nice rounded effect right down into the tentacle like length. It’s almost as if High Amplify and these layers were made for each other. It’s easily expandable as far as the volume goes just with your hands.
And if you just want to have it a little bit more subtle, you can tone it down. But it still holds its shape very well.
All the features of the haircut maintain the length. It’s super soft and wispy and separated throughout the ends, heavy swoop and round voluminous shape on top. No lack of volume in the crown for this one.
This was used with a one and a quarter inch barrel on medium heat just to give a little extra life. The hourglass shaped stays and you can see some life has been brought to those tentacle like ends.
The face frame, the swoop really shows off the features here shows off the jawline, those lips and opens the neck up as well.
One of the most amazing things about this haircut is it is truly one of the most versatile longer hairstyles today.
And as promised, I haven’t forgotten here is the same shape done on super curly hair. Look at all that volume.
All right, that wraps it up for the Octopus Haircut trend.
Samantha is a hairstylist with over 12 years of color and stylist experience. She enjoys using her knowledge to create what her clients really want when they sit down in her chair. Her passion is creating unique looks that her clients feel great in.