Your blueprint to the trendy Manbun Undercut hairstyle

It’s no surprise to many of us long haired guys that long hair has become a trending hairstyle since 2013 as the man bun hairstyle and the man bun undercut hairstyle became the go-to hairstyles for so many young guys and no-so-young guys. The last time that long hair had been minimally popular had been during the crazy 1980s when rock bands would sing power ballads with long hair; the 1980s were in fact the era of “big hair” for both men and women and you would not catch any decent rock band member with short hair or without crazy long hair.

Back in the 1980s, men’s hair had to be long, big and shaggy; truly, this decade was the perfect decade to have long hair as a guy and most long-haired guys miss this decade even though many of us were only toddlers at the time. But, fear not, the eccentric long-haired spirit of the 1980s has continued to live on till this day, especially by those wearing man buns.

With the last time that long hair was popular being so far back in time, it made sense that long hair would become popular again somewhere in the 2000s or 2010s. Part of having long hair as a guy is associating yourself with fellow long haired dudes and making social acquaintances if not beautiful friendships. Thus many of us have, in the past, talked about when long hair would become a mainstream “thing” again as it was about time that it did. So when 2013 rolled in and Jared Leto made long hair and the man bun hairstyle a popular hairstyle, we were hardly surprised (although the long hair community as a whole embraced the newly-acquired popularity of long hair).

Man bun vs. Man bun undercut

So 2013 was the year of the man bun. Indeed many guys were rushing to hair salons and barbershops to ask their hairdressers and barbers how to grow a man bun. I know this because this is exactly what happened at our hair salon as well as in all hair salons that I know of from knowing their owners or staff. Since the start of the 2010s, a new urban-tribe movement had started; they were the “hipsters”. Hipsters took pride in being dapper and in wearing hairstyles that were slightly extreme, old-school and unorthodox. The first hipster hairstyle was the slicked back undercut, which was made popular by actor Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody in Boardwalk empire. Two years later in 2013, the slicked back undercut hairstyle had become too popular and so hipsters took on a new flagship hairstyle: the man bun.

In simple terms, a man bun hairstyle is just a ball of hair (i.e. a bun) that is tied on the top of the head. Hair buns in men are nothing new and they have been a very-comfortable hairstyling option for long haired men for centuries, if not millennia! However, the most-common location for a bun has always been on the lower part of the head and not on the top of the head, and thus the new hairstyle trend in 2013 known as the man bun spiced up this old-school hairstyle by laying the bun on the upper part of the head. Such a simple change in hairstyle location made the regular hair-bun style a “must-have” hairstyle for both hipsters and anyone who likes to follow the latest long-hairstyle trends for men.

Some two years later in 2015 after the man bun rise to popularity, the man bun became a victim of its own success, and the hairstyle as a whole was sacrificed by trend-setting hipsters for a cleaner and sharper bun style: the man bun undercut.

What is a man bun undercut hairstyle?

The man bun undercut hairstyle is the perfect blend between the slicked back undercut of 2011 and the regular (full) man bun of 2013. While a couple more hairstyles have been iconic in the hipster community as of 2015, hipsters and trend-setting dudes didn’t want to give up their long hair just yet. Ergo, the man bun undercut was born as a nostalgic blend of two hipster hairstyles that had made their mark in social culture worldwide.

As many of you know, growing hair long is an arduous process that requires patience and care, especially if you happen to have curly hair. As the regular man bun hairstyle become more and more popular, those same guys who made the hairstyle popular knew it was time for a change, but, after having endured a long time of hair growth, it just didn’t make sense to cut all of one’s long hair to start a new men’s hairstyle trend. So the idea of buzzing an undercut on the sides and back of the head while retaining a long mane on the top of the head was born.

The main difference between the regular man bun hairstyle and the man bun undercut hairstyle is that the former has long hair all across the scalp, while the latter only has long hair on the top of the hair as the sides and back of the head are buzzed short in an undercut haircut. Furthermore, since only the hair on the top is kept long in the man bun undercut, that means that you don’t have to grow your hair to the minimum hair length of a man bun (twelve inches) and you can instead get away with the minimum hair length for a top knot which is six to eight inches. All in all, you’re saving yourself close to a year’s worth of time waiting for the hair to grow longer if you go with a man bun undercut!

How to get a man bun undercut

To explain the man bun undercut, I first need to explain what’s an undercut haircut. It still amazes me how much bad advice there is online for haircuts like the undercut and how many guys come to our hair salon using the wrong hairstyle names that they read in some random website. There are only a few websites on the whole of the internet that I would deem as good resources for men’s hair, but I’ll leave that out for another article in the future. Rest assured that, at least, you’re here in the right place for long hair!

Getting an undercut

An undercut haircut is a hair-clipper haircut that used a single hair-clipper length to buzz the sides and back of the head. What this means is that all the hair on the sides and back of your head are buzzed with the same length all across the areas of the head to be buzzed in the undercut. An undercut is not a taper haircut, a fade haircut or an executive haircut, so please bear this in mind as time and time again I come across advice online that gets the undercut completely wrong. Understandably, however, many guys who go to a hair salon or barbershop to get a haircut, cannot tell the subtle differences between some of the buzz cuts. As an example, here’s a man bun hairstyle with a taper haircut (not an undercut!) done on the sides of the head with a hair clipper:

Compare the hair on the sides of the picture above with the hair on the sides of this picture below; the hair in this second picture below is not tapered and is instead buzzed evenly and with no gradual length decrease.

In the referenced man bun undercut picture above, notice the sharp edge formed where the long hair on the top of the head meets the buzzed hair on the side (and back) of the head; this is known as the “disconnected haircut line” or the “horizontal temple line”, which I will be explaining further down in this guide. For now, just stay with those two names.

I should say, though, that there’s no need to split hairs (no pun intended) when it comes to the undercut. So, to make it as straight forward as possible when giving yourself an undercut, just grab your hair clipper, choose your desired clipper length (see the next paragraph) and off you go to pass the hair clipper through the sides and back of your head. Done!

The hair clipper length for the undercut haircut varies between a number zero and a number five. A number zero length is achieved in a hair clipper by not using any attaching clipper lengths; a number zero haircut is sometimes call a “bare” haircut or a “blade” haircut since you’re basically buzzing your hair with the bare minimum for a men’s haircut (i.e. no extra hair-clipper lengths). Then, you have the number five length as the longest hair clipper length to be used in an undercut. A number five clipper length usually comes as an attachable length in the form of a guiding comb or a hair-clipper guard. With some hair clippers, you can instead select the haircut length by changing the internal setting of the hair clipper. Whichever way your hair clipper allows, it won’t matter and changing hair-clipper lengths is extremely easy and fast.

As said in the previous paragraph, you want to choose any hair-clipper length that is within the range of a number zero and a number five. A number zero length in a hair clipper will give you very short stubble and make your undercut look like a bald haircut, also known as a whitewall haircut or “whitewalls”. On the other hand, a number five length will give you a buzzed hair length that doesn’t show your scalp but the length is still short enough to make your man bun undercut stand out nicely. When it comes to the man bun undercut, try to not use a hair clipper length longer than a number five as that way you will ensure the best aesthetics for your man bun.

Giving your man bun an undercut haircut

Right, so now that we know what an undercut haircut is, it’s time to now apply the undercut to the man bun!

Most likely, you will getting a man bun undercut while already sporting a regular man bun. So, the first thing to do is to use scissors to cut the hair on the sides and back of your head to a very short length that is shorter than half an inch. Ideally, you should be using barber scissors known as “shears” and which you can buy online at very-cheap prices. If you don’t have barber shears or can’t get them, then just use kitchen scissors or sewing scissors to cut the hair on the sides and back of the head.

Now, the undercut haircut is what I call a “temple” haircut, which means that the hair below the horizontal line of the temples is to be buzzed in the undercut. This horizontal line is also known as the disconnected haircut line or as the haircut perimeter. The horizontal temple line basically separates the hair on the top of your head from the hair on the sides and back of your head. This line is an imaginary line that starts at your left temple, goes across the sides and back of your head horizontally and then meets the right temple; everything below the horizontal temple line is to be buzzed in the undercut.

Here a picture that neatly illustrates an undercut haircut with the disconnected haircut line starting at the temple. In this instance, the disconnected haircut line was curved as such was the preference of the customer, but the line still illustrates how an undercut is to have everything below the line of the temple buzzed. For the record, the hair on the top is styled in a Samurai ponytail (i.e. a Samurai undercut) and not a man bun.

For those who aren’t aware of where the temples are situated, I’m posting a picture below to give you an idea of its location. The location from which to start the horizontal line in your left temple is an approximate location, and you can have the horizontal line set a bit higher or a bit lower on the temple area of your head.

Essentially, the temples in your head are situated at the corners of your forehead’s hairline, right where the hairline begins to change direction so as to accommodate the sides of your face. Here’s another picture depicting the level at which the temples are found.

If you have long hair already on the sides and back of your head as mentioned earlier, you will first cut the hair below the horizontal temple line to a length shorter than half an inch. Then, you will choose your preferred hair clipper length (between a zero and a three) and just buzz away!

Tips to get the best man bun undercut hairstyle possible

As you’ve been able to read above, getting an undercut for your man bun is dead easy. In fact, the undercut is one of the few hair-clipper haircuts for men that can be done at home without having to visit a hair salon o a barbershop. Buzzing your own undercut will give you a better feel for your own hair and you will learn to appreciate the customizing of your man bun and of your long hair. If you don’t have long hair just yet, you can trust me when I say that, once you have grown your hair over the six-inch length mark, you will learn to appreciate your hair in a way that was simply impossible when you had shorter hair.

Anyway, here are some extra tips for your man bun undercut hairstyle:

• Try to buzz your undercut with an extra (second) mirror so that you can easily track all the angles of your head without having to twist and bend your body into funny shapes to see those hidden angles in the undercut. A small hand mirror will suffice, and you can get this type of mirror for a couple of bucks at your local store or online.
• Keep your man bun tied when buzzing the undercut. While rare, you may actually buzz some of your long hair by mistake if it’s left loose and dangling!

• By keeping your long hair on the top tied into a man bun, you will be able to see the disconnected haircut line (i.e. the horizontal temple line) much better. Grab all the hair on the top of your head and tie it tight into a single bun. If your hair is not long enough to be tied into a single bun (e.g. if your hair is only four inches), then you can either tie a single bun on the center of your head or tie two buns on the top of the head instead of one (one bun close to the forehead and another bun close to the vertex area of the head, which is the back of the top of the head and where a manbun usually sits).

• There’s no need to tie the hair on the top of the head specifically into a bun when buzzing your undercut. You can also tie your hair into a regular ponytail or into a braid or plait.
• Invest in a good hair clipper! Cheap hair clippers have a very-short lifetime when compared to the high-quality hair clippers from brands like Oster, Andis and Wahl. A reasonable price to pay for a good hair clipper is between fifty and two-hundred dollars. Stick to the aforementioned hair-clipper brands and you won’t go wrong.

• Giving yourself an undercut with a hair clipper will take you five to ten minutes once you get good at buzzing your own undercut. It will take you a little bit longer in the beginning for your first couple of undercuts, but after four or five self-undercuts, you will be able to buzz your undercut in five minutes sharp!
• Try to get a pair of barber shears which you will use to trim the hair on the top of your head. Once you reach your desired long-hair length (e.g. twelve inches), you can easily trim and maintain your long hair with some high-quality shears. While you can use kitchen scissors to cut the hair on the sides and back when trimming your long hair so as to prepare the hair for the undercut, trimming you long hair (i.e. the one to be tied into the bun) with kitchen scissors will destroy the aesthetics of your man-bun as the hair strands will remain trimmed asymmetrically.
• If you don’t have long hair yet, then I suggest that you get an undercut haircut already and continue to grow the hair on the top. Re-touch your undercut every two to four weeks with your own hair clipper as you let the hair on the top grow without cutting it at all. Only cut the hair on the top once you’re satisfied with the final hair length that you’ve achieved. A good hairstyle to use while growing your hair to get a man bun undercut is the slicked back undercut.

• Don’t use greasy hair products (e.g. pomade) or sticky hair products (e.g. hair gel) to style your man bun; instead, use either a leave-in conditioner or a styling cream. Moreover, you can choose to not use any hairstyling product to tie your man bun and simply go “au naturel”!
• Keep your man bun undercut fun by changing the shape of the bun (e.g. into a ponybun) or by braiding the hair on the top (or some of it). Whatever you do to enhance or spice up your manbun, do not even think about chopping it off!

• You may lower the disconnected haircut line further down the sides and back of your head. While the manbun undercut looks its best when the disconnected haircut line is at the level of the temples, you can freely choose the level/height of your disconnected undercut line.

• You may shave your undercut with a razor instead of buzzing it with a hair clipper. A shaved undercut is called an “undershave”, and you will perform an undershave in the same manner as you’d do if you were shaving your face (i.e. use plenty of shaving cream and shave first with the grain and then against the grain). Use a safety razor for the undershave and not a straight razor (for safety reasons).

Conclusion to our man bun undercut hairstyle guide

Unlike what most guys with short hair think, long hair (in men) has a wide range of cool hairstyles to choose from, and the man bun undercut is a clear example of a neat minimalist twist to an already iconic hairstyle as is the man bun. A man bun undercut is extremely easy to do as the actual undercut haircut can be done by yourself at home in a couple of minutes once you grease the groove of buzzing through the sides and back of your head.

As a professional hairdresser, I strongly recommend that, if you grow bored of your long hair or of your regular man bun, you then go and grab a hair clipper and give yourself an undercut; the change in the way that your hair (and head) looks will be well worth it and will freshen up your style and image without having to resort to extreme (and somewhat irrational) measures such as cutting your lustrous long locks. It only took Jared Leto some fifteen minutes to realize the mistake that he had made when he chopped his long mane in 2015 as he had “gotten bored of it”. So, when in doubt, grab a hair clipper and get that undercut going!

That’s it as far as this man bun hairstyle guide goes. If you have any questions or comments, then please leave them below and I will do my best to answer any questions or reply to any comments concerning the man bun undercut.

Guide last updated: 2nd September 2015