Most popular men's haircuts in 2026: the fade leads at 14%, the buzz cut follows at 12%

Key findings

1. The fade is the most popular men's hairstyle in the US at 14%, followed by the buzz cut (12%), the classic boy cut (10.5%), long layers (8%) and the side part (7%), in a January 2025 survey of 7,100 adults^[1].
2. The fade was the top style in 23 states and the buzz cut in 16, so the two short styles together won 39 of 50 states (menhaircuts.net count of the published state list)^[1].
3. Gen X men were more likely than Gen Z men to name the buzz cut, 19% against 12%^[1].
4. Google's fastest-rising US haircut searches of 2024 were led by the alpaca haircut, the warrior haircut and the old money haircut, with "low fade haircut men" in fourth place^[4].
5. Pinterest's 2026 Men's Trend Report shows searches for "soft wolf cut men" up 1,154% and "Korean two block haircut men" up 212%^[2].
6. Booking platform Fresha reported a 400% rise in searches for Korean comma hair and a 175% rise for the buzzcut over the past year^[5].
7. The average American man has had the same hairstyle for 7 years, and 55% have never considered changing it, in a 2025 poll of 2,000 men^[3].

Download the infographic

The headline numbers from this report as one tall image (1000 x 1500 PNG), sized for Pinterest, slides and posts. Free to reuse with credit.

Download infographic (PNG)

What is the most popular men's haircut in 2026?

The most recent large US ranking comes from a survey commissioned by Hims and run by the research firm Culture Co-op. It was fielded online in January 2025 among 7,100 people aged 18 to 65, including 100 respondents in every state and a nationally representative sample of 500^[1]. Both men and women were asked to name their favorite men's hairstyle.

The fade came first with 14%, and the buzz cut was second with 12%^[1]. Together those two short, clipper-based styles took 26% of all answers^[1]. The classic boy cut (10.5%), long layers (8%) and the side part (7%) completed the top five, while the pompadour was the least popular style overall at 3%^[1].

This is the closest thing to a national popularity count that is public right now. It measures stated preference, not what men actually wear or book, so it should be read next to the search and barber data further down this page. If you want the details of the top style, our fade types guide explains the low, mid, high, skin and taper versions.

What is the most popular men's haircut in each state?

The same survey picked a winner in each state. The fade led in 23 states, including California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania^[1]. The buzz cut led in 16 states, including New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Virginia and Wisconsin^[1].

A handful of states went their own way. The classic boy cut won in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, New Hampshire and New Jersey, with New Jersey showing the strongest preference at 17% in Hims’ published state data^[6]. Vermont and South Dakota chose long layers, and in Vermont 20% picked that style against 8% nationally^[1]. Alabama and Hawaii chose the side part, and Arkansas and North Dakota chose the slick back^[1].

Which men's haircuts are people searching for most?

Google's Year in Search lists show which terms grew fastest, not which got the most searches. Google defines its trending lists as the queries with the biggest increase in search interest over the year compared with the year before^[7]. That makes them a good signal for what is new, and a weak one for what is common.

In the US haircut category for 2024, the alpaca haircut ranked first, followed by the warrior haircut, the old money haircut, "low fade haircut men", the French crop and the textured crop^[4]. The broccoli head haircut and the textured fringe also made the top ten^[4]. Most of the list is men's styles built on short sides and a fuller, textured top.

Over the long run, Google says the most-searched haircuts since Google Trends launched in 2004 are the bob, the mullet, the undercut, the pixie and box braids, in that order^[8]. Two of those five, the mullet and the undercut, are mainly men's cuts. Our guides to the textured crop and the French crop cover two of the 2024 risers.

Which men's haircuts are rising fastest in 2026?

Pinterest's 2026 Men's Trend Report, published in September 2026, points to softer, longer and more textured shapes. Searches for "soft wolf cut men" rose 1,154%, "modern wolf cut men" 553%, "curly wolf cut men" 245% and "modern mullet men" 223%^[2]. Korean styles are also climbing, with "Korean two block haircut men" up 212% and "textured two block" up 126%^[2].

Pinterest says Gen Z men now make up more than 62% of male monthly searches on the platform, so these risers lean young^[2]. Percent changes this large usually start from a small base, so they show direction rather than size.

Booking platform Fresha published its own search ranking in October 2026. Korean comma hair rose 400% year over year, the buzzcut 175%, the flow haircut 173% and the textured shag 164%^[5]. The induction cut, the Caesar cut and the Korean two-block each rose 83%^[5].

Is the buzz cut more popular with older or younger men?

The buzz cut skews older in the Hims survey. Gen X men chose it 19% of the time, against 12% for Gen Z men^[1]. Gen Z men were more likely to say they plan to spend more on their hair this year (24% against 14% for Gen X) and more likely to have tried hair growth medication (35% against 24%)^[1].

Fresha's 2026 data tells a similar story from the search side. A Fresha spokesperson linked Korean-inspired styles mainly to Gen Z, while Gen X showed renewed interest in classic cuts such as the buzz and the induction cut^[5]. Millennials, in Fresha's reading, lean toward modern fades and flow cuts that borrow from the 1990s and early 2000s^[5]. See our buzz cut styles guide for the guard lengths behind each version.

What haircuts do barbers say men ask for most?

Barber-side numbers are scarce, but UK trade title Modern Barber has polled its Instagram audience of barbers each season. In its Winter 2023/24 poll, 48% said the skin fade was their most requested cut, 41% said the taper fade and 11% the burst fade^[9]. In the same poll, 89% were still getting requests for mullets and 72% for burst fades^[9].

Booksy, a US booking app, describes the fade and taper on its men's haircut page as the most requested men's haircut style in the US, and lists a typical price of $30 to $65 for a classic or fade cut^[10]. Booksy does not publish the booking counts behind that claim, so treat it as a platform description rather than a measured share.

Outside the US, a 2024/2025 survey of 3,638 users of hair-restoration company Medihair across the US, UK, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Brazil ranked the slick back first at 19%, the crew cut at 17% and the buzz cut at 14%^[11]. That sample is self-selected and international, so it does not compare directly with the US figures above.

How often do men change their haircut?

Most men are not chasing trends. In a Talker Research poll of 2,000 US men for Sport Clips, run July 23 to 28, 2025, the average man had kept the same hairstyle for 7 years, 84% said they feel confident with their current style, and 55% had never considered changing it^[3]. The average man in that poll gets 10 haircuts a year^[3].

When asked what else they could pull off, 28% said letting their hair grow out, 22% said fully shaved or bald, and 13% each named a long middle part or a hard side part^[3]. Smaller groups named spiked hair (11%), highlights (11%), greased-back hair (10%), the mullet (8%) and the mohawk (8%)^[3].

What will the most popular men's haircuts be for the rest of 2026?

Putting the sources side by side gives a fairly clear picture. Short, clipper-based styles still hold the most people: the fade and buzz cut lead the national survey^[1], and barbers report fades as their most common request^[9]. The growth is happening on top. Search risers in 2024 to 2026 are almost all textured, fuller or longer tops: the alpaca and broccoli cuts, the warrior cut, the textured crop, the wolf cut, the two-block and the flow cut^[4][2][5].

The buzz cut is the one short style that is still climbing in search, up 175% on Fresha^[5]. For a man choosing a cut this year, a low or taper fade with a textured crop or fringe on top sits in the overlap between what is popular and what is rising. Our low taper fade guide shows that combination in detail.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology and limitations

This report combines three kinds of data, collected between October 1 and October 15, 2026. Preference data comes from the Hims and Culture Co-op survey (7,100 US adults, January 2025), the Talker Research poll for Sport Clips (2,000 US men, July 2025) and the Medihair user survey. Search data comes from Google's Year in Search 2024 haircut list (as reproduced by Fashion Trendsetter), Google's statement on the most-searched haircuts since 2004, Pinterest's 2026 Men's Trend Report and Fresha's October 2026 search ranking (as reported by BarberEVO). Barber demand comes from Modern Barber's seasonal Instagram polls and Booksy's men's haircut page. Every figure was checked against the source page. The state counts in the second chart are a menhaircuts.net count of the published state list.

Limitations

No public source measures what share of US men actually wear each haircut. The Hims survey asks for a favorite style and includes women's answers. Google and Pinterest publish growth rates, not search volumes, so a large percentage can describe a small number of searches. Fresha's figures come from a trade-press summary that does not state the region or exact period. Modern Barber's polls are informal Instagram polls of UK barbers with no published sample size. The Medihair survey is a self-selected, multi-country sample of a hair clinic's users, and its page gives both May 2024 and May 2025 as the survey date.

Every figure on this page links to its source. Numbers are reported as published; any menhaircuts.net calculation is labelled and shows its inputs. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it.

Sources

1. This is the most popular men's hairstyle in every state, Stacker (data: Hims, Culture Co-op) (2025). Accessed October 15, 2026.
2. 2026 Men's Trend Report, Pinterest Newsroom (2026). Accessed October 15, 2026.
3. How men can overcome their haircut anxiety, Talker Research (for Sport Clips) (2025). Accessed October 15, 2026.
4. Google Year in Search: Top Trending Data 2024, Fashion Trendsetter (reproducing Google Year in Search 2024) (2024). Accessed October 15, 2026.
5. K-Pop Comma to Classic Buzzcuts: What Are Men Asking Barbers For in 2026?, BarberEVO (data: Fresha) (2026). Accessed October 15, 2026.
6. Hair styles by state (data file), Hims (2025). Accessed October 15, 2026.
7. Year in Search: data methodology, Google Trends (2025). Accessed October 15, 2026.
8. Quiz: How well do you know the most-searched trends?, Google (The Keyword blog) (2023). Accessed October 15, 2026.
9. Modern Barber Trend Report: Winter 23/24, Modern Barber (2024). Accessed October 15, 2026.
10. Haircut Near Me, Booksy (2026). Accessed October 15, 2026.
11. Statistics: 8 Most Popular Male Hairstyles, Medihair (2025). Accessed October 15, 2026.

Cite, embed and download

This report, its charts and its infographic are free to reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Credit menhaircuts.net with a link to this page.

<a href="https://menhaircuts.net/stats/most-popular-mens-haircuts-2026/">Most Popular Men's Haircuts 2026: Survey and Search Data</a> (menhaircuts.net, CC BY 4.0)

Related data

• 14%of US adults name the fade as their favorite men's hairstyle (2025)Fade Haircut Statistics 2026 →
• #2 and #3the mullet's and undercut's rank among most-searched haircuts since 2004Men's Haircut Trends Over Time →
• 23states where the fade is the favorite men's haircut (2025 survey)Most Popular Men's Haircut by State →
• 211,370hair-related Google searches for Zayn Malik, the top male celebrity (2026 study)Celebrity Haircut Search Trends 2026 →

Related guides

• Fade Types Explained: Low vs Mid vs High vs Skin (2026)→
• Low Taper Fade: 48 Best Styles for Men 2026→
• Textured Crop Haircut for Men: 28 Best Styles 2026→
• Best Buzz Cut Styles for Men in 2026→
• The Complete Guide to Fades & Tapers for Men→

All men's hair and grooming statistics