Versions, the Barber Order and Styling

The short answer

A quiff is the haircut where the front stands up.

The Book of Barbering defines it as “hair swept up and back from the forehead, building height and volume at the front while the sides stay shorter”, and Wikipedia describes the modern-day quiff as “longer hair at the front of the head, receding into shorter hair at the back with a trimmed back and sides”.

In Wikipedia’s history the style combines the 1950s pompadour, the 1950s flattop and sometimes a mohawk, was “a staple in the British Teddy Boy movement”, and became popular again in Europe in the early 1980s and again in the 1990s. The modern version, in the Book of Barbering’s description, pairs the front lift with a fade on the sides and a matte finish.

What separates it from the pompadour is where the height goes, and that is the first decision.

Key rule: Height at the front, texture behind it, short sides, and a blow-dryer before the finishing product.

Quiff, pompadour, faux hawk and the rest

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The Book of Barbering draws the line by where the height goes. Its pompadour guide has the pompadour sweeping hair “upward and backward from the forehead, creating a continuous wave from front to crown”, and its quiff guide says a quiff “only builds the height at the front, leaves texture and movement through the rest, and finishes matte”.

Reuzel, the pomade maker, calls the quiff a “pomp without pretense” that can “be worn a bit less orderly than your classic pomp”, which is the same distinction from the styling side.

Our pompadour guide covers the polished version, and our guide to tapers and fades explains the sides.

The quiff versions, and what to ask for

Face shape, hair type and hairline

The quiff adds height at the front, which is the one variable to match to the face.

Oval and square faces can wear most versions; the Book of Barbering’s note is that “square and oval faces can wear almost every version”.

In its matching, a round face suits a taller front over a high fade, and an oblong face suits a low, compact quiff with a touch more weight at the sides and a mid fade rather than a high one.

Thick, wavy and curly hair hold a quiff with little help; the Book of Barbering says thick hair “holds height with almost no product”. Fine straight hair holds one with mousse at the roots, a blow-dry and a light clay, kept at the longer end of the three-to-four-inch range because, in the same guide, it “needs more material to fake volume”.

A receding hairline is a mixed case, because a quiff lifts the hair off the forehead and shows the corners; with early recession, a front kept textured and slightly forward rather than swept clean back is the gentler option, and our guide to haircuts for a receding hairline covers which cuts work.

A beard can balance the height; the beard styles guide and the face shapes guide cover the proportions.

What to tell the barber

Three parts: the length at the front in inches, the sides, and the finish.

The Book of Barbering’s three are “a fade type for the sides, a length in inches for the top, and a matte or shiny finish”, and it adds two habits, bringing a photo and being honest about whether you will blow-dry, because a barber will then cut the quiff “shorter and more compact” for a man who will not.

A complete order: “a textured quiff, three and a half inches at the front, graduating shorter to the crown, mid skin fade, point-cut, matte.”

Ask for the front to be left slightly longer than the crown and point-cut for a textured quiff, so it lifts and separates; the Book of Barbering keeps a blunt cut for the polished version, where a clean surface is the point.

For the cuts next to the quiff, see the slicked-back hair guide, the Ivy League and the men’s haircuts hub.

How to style a quiff

A quiff is made with heat and set with product, in that order.

Step one: towel-dry until the hair is “damp, not dripping”, which the Book of Barbering calls its 70% rule, so the hair still takes direction.

Step two: work a root-lift product through the front, a mousse or a sea-salt spray at the roots or, in Reuzel’s method, a grooming tonic worked through from scalp to ends.

Step three: blow-dry the front up and back with a round or Denman-type brush, pulling the hair away from the forehead as the air hits it; Reuzel’s instruction reads “Blow dry using a Denman-type brush to push back and stand it up”.

Step four: once the hair is dry, work a fingertip of product through it from the back forward, a matte clay for the modern quiff or a medium-hold pomade for the polished or rockabilly version; Reuzel adds its pomade “Once hair is completely dry”.

Step five: shape the front with the fingers, push the sides in, and finish with a blast of cold air from the dryer to set it; hairspray is optional and only for a long day.

The Book of Barbering puts the routine at five minutes once it is practised, and its warning is that product “only holds the shape you’ve already created; it can’t create lift on its own”, so the dryer is the step to keep.

Which product for which quiff

The modern quiff is a matte cut: a clay or a paste with medium hold, worked in with the fingers after the blow-dry, gives lift without shine and can be reworked during the day.

The rockabilly quiff is a pomade cut, combed through. A water-based pomade usually rinses out in a normal wash, an oil-based pomade generally takes repeated washes or a clarifying shampoo, and hold and shine vary with the formula; Reuzel’s guide offers one pomade for “a shiny rockabilly look” and another for “a greasier, biker-just-in-from-the-highway style”. Our guide to hair products compares them by hold and finish.

Fine hair needs a pre-styler more than a finisher: mousse or a root spray on damp hair, then the dryer, then the lightest possible clay; a heavy pomade tends to weigh a fine-haired quiff down.

Thick hair holds height easily, so keep a firmer clay for hair that is stubborn or coarse, which is where the Book of Barbering reserves firm-hold products.

A flexible-hold hairspray sets a quiff for a long day or wet weather, and the Book of Barbering warns that a maximum-hold spray “turns a textured quiff into a helmet”. One finisher is usually enough, since a second layered on top can make the hair look heavy, and where a tub specifies damp or dry hair, follow the label.

Growing into a quiff

Scalp hair grows about 15 cm a year in the figure given by the StatPearls medical reference, roughly half an inch a month, so from a one-inch crop the front needs about two months to reach two inches, four to reach three and five to reach the three-and-a-half-inch working length.

Keep the sides cut every three weeks on the way, ask the barber to leave the front, and blow-dry it up and back from the start so the routine is practised by the time the length arrives.

Wear it as a textured crop at an inch and a half, a short quiff at two, and the full quiff at three; if a stage on the way feels awkward, a fresh fade at the sides keeps the cut looking deliberate.

Is a quiff high maintenance?

Medium: five minutes of styling on the mornings you wear it up, plus the Book of Barbering’s schedule of “Edge and fade cleanups every 2 to 3 weeks, and a full top reshape every 4 to 6”, with a weekly clarifying wash to clear product build-up.

On days you do not style it, the front of a longer quiff tends to drop towards the forehead, which is why the short and textured versions are the practical ones; of its three-to-four-inch cut, the Book of Barbering says “Miss a morning and it still looks intentional.”

Common questions