Last year I put together a list of descriptive words for food. This year I thought a descriptive list for hair might help you when starting to describe your characters. I included colors, and words of items that adorn the hair. There must be more words, so let’s work together on this. Please leave new words to add in the comment’s section. Thanks!
Afro
Angled
Ash
Asymetrical
Auburn
Balding
Bandore
Bangs
Bevel
Bias
Bleached
Blended
Blunt
Bouncy
Brindle
Brown
Bump
Barrett
Barrett’s
Bed head
Beehive
Big hair
Black
Bleached
Blonde
Blow dry
Blow dryer
Bob
Bobby pins
Bonnet
Bouffant
Bouncy
Bowl cut
Braids
Bright
Brunette
Brushed
Bun
Busby
Bushy
Buzz-cut
Cap
Carmel
Carrot top
Chestnut
Chignon
Chocolate
Choppy
Clasps
Clipper-cut
Clips
Coarse
Coiffure
Coiled
Colored
Combs
Comb over
Conditioner
Copper
Course
Corkscrews
Cornrows
Coronet
Cowlick
Cream rinse
Crew cut
Crimped
Crimper
Cropped
Crown
Curlers
Curling iron
Curly
Damaged
Dandruff
Dark
Dense
Devilock
Diffuser
Dimension
Dingy
Dish-water blonde
Dirty blond
Do
Downy
Drab
Dreadlocks
Ducktail
Dull
Dyed
Ebony
Elasticity
Emo
Even
Face-framing
Fade
Fair
Fair-haired
Fall
Faux-hawk
Fine
Flat iron
Full
Feathered
Finger wave
Flaming
Flattop
Flaxen
Flip
Flowing
Follicle
Forelock
French Knot
French Twist
Fringe
Frizzy
Frosted
Fuzzy
Gel
Ginger
Glisten
Glossy
Golden
Gossamer
Greasy
Grey/Gray
Groomed
Guiff
Hairdo
Hair extensions
Hairpiece
Hairpins
Hairspray
Hanging
Hat
Hat-hair
Healthy
Headband
Helmet
Highlights
Hi-Top
Honey blond
Hood
Jheri Curl
Kinky
Knotted
Lackluster
Layered
Limp
Light
Lock
Long
Loose
Lowlights
Luminous
Lush
Lustrous
Luxuriant
Mane
Messy
Miter
Mohawk
Mop
Mousse
Mud gutter blond
Mullet
Nap
Nappy
Natural
Oily
Pageboy
Paste
Part
Peach Fuzz
Permanent
Permed
Pigtails
Pixie
Plait
Platinum
Pomade
Pompadour
Ponytail
Porous
Powder
Puffed
Rat’s nest
Rattail
Ratty
Razor Cut
Redhead
Ribbons
Ringlets
Resilient
Rubber bands
Rusty
Sable
Salt and pepper
Sandy
Scarf
Scissors
Scrunched
Scrunchies
Shag
Shaggy
Shampoo
Shape
Shaved
Shears
Shimmering
Shiny
Short
Shoulder-length
Sideburns
Silhouette
Silky
Silver
Singed
Skinhead
Sleek
Slick
Smarmy
Soft
Spicey
Spikes
Spiked
Spikey
Springy
Spirals
Split ends
Spray
Strawberry blond
Straggly
Strand
Straight
Streak
Stringy
Stripped
Stubbly
Supple
Sun-streaked
Style
Tangled
Tapered
Tasselled
Tawny
Teased
Tendrils
Texture
Thick
Thinning
Tiara
Tight
Tinted
Titian
Tone
Top knot
Toupe
Touseled
Toque
Towhead
Tress
Trim
Turban
Un-even
Up-do
Unkempt
Upswept
Virgin
Voluminous
Wavy
Weave
White
Widow peak
Wig
Wild
Windblown
Windswept
Wings
Wiry
Wispy
Wooly
Agent Scott Treimel says all his manuscripts have a girl with curly hair. Maybe this will help give your protagonist a different look. Hope this helps.
Kathy
Writing and Illustrating 
My hair is thick, curly and a pain in the bottom. These words are the polite words I use to describe it. Course, stubborn, pinging, flappy and sticking out all over the place like a witches birch broom.
Maureen. http://www.thepizzagang.com
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By: Maureen Hume on January 28, 2010
at 4:24 am
Maureen,
Excellent description. I bet it is pretty, too.
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on February 8, 2010
at 2:30 am
yes i agree with this. Are you on hangouts ?
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By: umair on July 24, 2017
at 7:50 pm
No, not aware of hangouts.
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By: Kathy Temean on July 25, 2017
at 1:07 pm
Auburn and Rat’s Nest
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By: Yousei Hime on January 28, 2010
at 9:30 am
Yousei,
I’m laughing. How could I forget auburn? That was the color of my hair for most of my life. Now it has lighten to Strawberry blonde.
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on January 28, 2010
at 1:36 pm
Cute post!
anita
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By: anitanolan on January 28, 2010
at 10:08 am
Thanks!
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By: kathytemean on January 28, 2010
at 1:31 pm
Tousled
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By: stilladreamer on January 28, 2010
at 11:20 am
Good word! I’m running out the door for the SCBWI conference. If I can get on line, I will answer your questions about “Exclusive submissions.” If not, I’ll answer it on Sunday.
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on January 28, 2010
at 1:34 pm
feathered
peach fuzz
bobby pins
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By: Kayeleen on January 28, 2010
at 12:20 pm
Kayeleen,
Thanks! These are great ones to add. I’ll do that when I get back from the SCBWI conference in NYC.
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on January 28, 2010
at 1:32 pm
Her hair is deep brown, the color of chocolate.
His hair is a golden color she has never seen before, like the color of the sunset on the sand.
Lol! Hope you like these because I’m really using them!
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By: Mimi Cross on January 28, 2010
at 6:01 pm
I just love this list. It’s like a categorized thesaurus! Hey! Do they MAKE categorized thesauruses? I do have Descriptionary, but that’s not the same thing. I also wish there was a way to get that book that psychiatrists used of all the different personality types; there was some wonderfully ridiculous amount of descriptive words that I thought would be perfect when fleshing out character’s characteristics.
Donna
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By: Donna Marie on January 28, 2010
at 7:26 pm
I love these kind of lists, Kathy. It is fun to break away from the traditional and common descriptions and try something new. Thanks for taking the time to list them.
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By: Darlene Beck jacobson on January 29, 2010
at 5:31 pm
Darlene,
Thanks! I’m up in NYC at the SCBWI conference. Hope to have a lot of good information to share when I return.
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on January 30, 2010
at 12:08 am
Kathy, I’ve thought of you several times since yesterday, hoping you’re having a great time at the conference! I was actually wondering if you were going to post here! You are the epitome of a multi-tasker, woman! lol Enjoy!
Donna
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By: Donna Marie on January 30, 2010
at 11:23 am
what about New Jersey Big Hair?!! Ha ha!
Loved the list, Kathy — You’re the best!
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By: Connie on February 4, 2010
at 11:14 pm
Hey Kathy, love all your lists. How about Flat Iron and/or Flat-Ironed
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By: Terri Clark on June 8, 2010
at 9:39 am
Terri,
Like when women would iron their hair to make it straight?
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on June 17, 2010
at 12:37 am
Hey Kathy,
Yes. Girls and salons are using what is called the flat iron to straighten their hair. It is very popular. I thought it would be a good addition to your list. I know my 14 y/o grand daughter and her friends would not be without one. I use one myself.
Thanks for your informative site. I check it almost every day for your updates. I’m a new author and have found many helpful imformation here. Keep up the great work. Please!
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By: Terri Clark on June 22, 2010
at 9:00 am
mouse brown
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By: Chelsea on October 4, 2011
at 8:11 am
the pictures are unrepresentative. needs to add some pictures of African-American and middle-eastern women too since clearly their hair textures are described
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By: jodi on November 11, 2011
at 2:15 am
You forgot shaggy. 😀
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By: Dynamite on December 15, 2011
at 7:42 pm
I am writing a book, a sort of dynastic love story starting in a housing commission suburb in Sydney in the 1950’s. He met a girl at a dance called Michel and she had a nick name “Pretty Mickie” as there was a song of that name around a bit earlier on.
Now she had the best hair he had ever seen, it was jet black and shining with health and her curls were lush and were all the same, The curls were all the same that is, I described them as regular curls but that isn’t quite what i am looking for, I’ve used a thesaurus and i can’t find a good word.
Incidentally he took her home after the dance things got quite pashionate but it turned out she was getting over a the break up of a long term romance and so was he; and she had parted from her lover for the same reason he had, religion; and they were on different sides of the divide. She was Italian Catholic and he was Scottish Protestant.
If it helps she looked very much like a Spanish senorita and he was a typical celtic young man about town.
Regars Ian
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By: Ian on March 30, 2012
at 7:01 pm
Ian,
Good luck with the book. If you ever find that perfect word, please let us know, so I can add it to the list.
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on April 3, 2012
at 12:46 am
Hi, I don’t mean to be rude, but you forgot the word “forelock” and it’s a pretty good hair-related word too! 🙂 Ooh, and “Titian”!
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By: Vanilla16 on May 22, 2012
at 4:23 pm
Vanilla,
No you are not being rude. You came up with two words that I probably never would have thought about. Good additions!
Thanks,
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on May 22, 2012
at 9:34 pm
I don’t know if it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else
experiencing problems with your site. It appears as
though some of the text in your posts are running off
the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them
too? This might be a issue with my browser because I’ve had this happen previously. Kudos
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By: biwa-altenkrempe.de on December 20, 2012
at 12:57 pm
Biwa,
I don’t see what you are seeing. I will check it out on some other browsers. What are you using? Thanks for letting me know. I could report it to WordPress if it doesn’t clear up for you.
Hope 2013 is a great year for you,
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on December 20, 2012
at 1:44 pm
Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed! Very useful info specially the last part 🙂 I care for such info a lot. I was looking for this certain information for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.
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By: www.apparelcycle.com on December 22, 2012
at 4:40 pm
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By: Balayage Atlanta on February 8, 2013
at 2:06 pm
This blog has been a huge help to me and my friends!
Thank you!!
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By: Lorri.Perri on February 15, 2013
at 2:11 pm
agreed
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By: kayla on April 16, 2013
at 9:45 am
burned is another word and curly hair rocks!!!!
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By: kayla on April 16, 2013
at 9:44 am
very good
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By: amir on June 30, 2013
at 1:40 am
Hi,
It’s good work though I can’t always imagine all (more than half, really).
I think one of the latest words you may add is “cockscomb”.
A.T.
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By: Andy Kettey on September 27, 2013
at 3:38 pm
Fishtail Braid….Rapunzel Bun (this is for VERY long hair; it is rather like a beehive, but it is one long braid wrapped around and around.
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By: Madi Wormington on October 14, 2013
at 3:52 pm
Angled
Ash
Asymetrical
Bevel
Bias
Bleached
Blended
Blunt
Bouncy
Brindle
Brown
Bump
Carmel
Coarse (not course)
Colored
Conditioner
Clipper-cut
Cream rinse
Damaged
Dimension
Dingy
Dish-water blonde
Dull
Elasticity
Even
Face-framing
Fine
Flat iron
Full
Grey/Gray
Healthy
Limp
Light
Long
Lowlights
Luminous
Natural
Paste
Porous
Powder
Salt and pepper
Scarf
Scissors
Shears
Short
Silhouette
Springy
Tapered
Tight
Tone
Top knot
Un-even
Up-do
Virgin
Voluminous
White
I’m a hairstylist, I hear it all (:
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By: kelly on November 9, 2013
at 11:03 pm
Kelly,
Wow! Thanks for adding to the list. This is great!
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on November 10, 2013
at 6:26 pm
Nice list !
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By: Best Hair products on May 22, 2014
at 2:56 pm
Luxuriant
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By: Jim Williams on January 29, 2015
at 10:15 pm
Jim,
That’s a good one. I’ll add it to the list. Thanks!
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on January 29, 2015
at 10:24 pm
this is a very elaborate list…..however believe it or not….it doesn’t have the term used to describe a type of hair that is just driving me crazy…..I have said this word many times before….but now….for some reason I cant remember it….I am looking for a word that describes a mixture of blond hair with brown hair….something like dirty blond but that is not the word…I am not sure if it’s definition is a 2 tone color or a multi-tone color…but whatever it is it is not on the list….any suggestions…??.
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By: genecorpus on April 17, 2015
at 4:11 pm
Really good blog, thank you so much for your time in writing this post.
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By: Gerry Linnertz on August 2, 2015
at 3:39 pm
What a great list! I am also a faded redhead (those are natural, platinum blonde strands you see), and in my glory days, my mother said my hair was like “spun gold.”
“Ginger” is what my Welsh relatives call me.
“Rusty” was what mean boys in school called me (as in “Your brain is rusted”).
“Gingit” in Israel
“Ryzhaya bezstyzhaya” is a teasing, rhyming Russian nickname for “shameless redhead.”
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By: EB Miceli on May 9, 2016
at 6:06 pm
Reblogged this on Darly Jamison and commented:
I need to reblog these descriptions so I never lose this list! Hope you find it helpful!
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By: Darly Jamison on May 30, 2016
at 4:56 pm
Darly,
Thanks for sharing the post. I would have left you a thank you on your blog, but you don’t have it set up for comments. You should think about opening it up for comments. It will help increase your visitors.
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on May 31, 2016
at 1:24 pm
Thanks, Kathy! I’ll try it fix it. And you’re welcome! 🙂
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By: Darly Jamison on June 14, 2016
at 8:59 am
Really good blog,
Thanks so much for your time in writing this post.
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By: hairdressingintauntonsomerset on June 2, 2016
at 3:50 pm
Thanks so much for your kind words.
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on June 2, 2016
at 8:46 pm
Nice list…..I like it!!
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By: Mahikzzzz on August 16, 2016
at 8:32 am
wow your great information make me happy 🙂 i really need it your work make me comfortable anyways thanks for share this much more information about hair.
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By: shabikhan195 on August 28, 2016
at 2:08 am
I need definitions for most of these words.
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By: Marie on November 18, 2016
at 11:27 am
Back-combed
Brittle vs brindle
Brassy
Caramel vs Carmel
Gorgeous
Strong
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By: M on February 20, 2017
at 3:33 pm
Reblogged this on Lyn Horner's Corner and commented:
Excellent list of hair descriptions!
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By: Lyn Horner on May 1, 2017
at 4:34 pm
How about Baby Fine Hair. It is used to describe very very thin and straight limp hair.
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By: skritters (@skritters1) on November 3, 2017
at 8:11 pm
Thank you for the research .I was looking for the word neat and I found it in another list .
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at 4:38 am
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at 1:09 am
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at 9:54 am
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at 7:16 am
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at 10:59 pm
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at 4:26 am
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By: yasim sheikh on August 18, 2021
at 7:31 am
Great list of hair type descriptions. I especially like how you alphabetized the list. Extremely helpful indeed! A couple more descriptions I did not see on the list are: fried and over processed hair.
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By: Marcey on January 12, 2023
at 3:33 pm