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2200+ 5 star reviews
IN THIS ARTICLE
Like everything good in beauty, whatever comes back is meant to be; much like the best parts of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. And for those of us with thin hair, a lot of those best parts are found in the iconic hairstyles of the 80’s.
With a hair weight that leaves a lot to be desired in volume, we’re bringing textured curls, feathered layers, a bit of over-accessorizing, and crimping into 2023 territory with help from some more contemporary hair hacks: halo hair extensions.
Ahead, we’ve rounded up the 10 most fine hair friendly 80's hairstyles that are trending in celeb beauty. Promise you won’t have to get into the more regrettable choices of yesteryear if you’re looking to rock these iconic hairstyles of the 80’s.
Need thickening hair extensions? Shop halo hair extensions here.
We’ll opt out of the toxic hairsprays and perm chemicals and show you how amazing these ‘dos can be for fine and thin hair types. Not to mention how to tweak them to work for a more contemporary (less crunchy) look.
Read Next: The Best Hair Extensions For Fine Hair
Nothing quite says 80’s hairstyle quite like the puffiness of a traditional perm. Beloved for how it semi-permanently added textured curls and bounce to otherwise straight hair, this hairstyle was (and still is!) a damaging style choice especially if you have very fine hair.
That’s why we’re taking some tightly coiled inspo and bringing these dreamy curls into touchable territory. Instead, use tighter heatless curling methods overnight like bantu knots, pin curls, and flexi-rods to set your safer, gentler, damage-free “perm”.
Not many beauty comebacks have been quite like Debbie Harry's effortless shag. Granted the wolf cut that you’ve seen Miley rocking is a mix of 70’s shag and the 80’s mullet hairstyle, we think the wolf cut is definitely no biz, all party.
The key to pulling off a modern mullet is to keep it short and choppy in the front and long, layered, and subtle throughout ends. This 80’s hairstyle is actually pretty perfect for halos too because the multi-layers help your halo blend it perfectly (as long your halo is layered slightly as well!)
Embrace the 80’s hair-losophy of the bigger the better. From Dolly Parton updos to waves to heat-straightened ends, hairstyles of the 80’s always found volume up top. To make thin hair look thick, you’ll want to tag in some helpful products and tools to get max volume here.
A halo hair extension is great here because it won’t require tapes or clips to attach where you need volume to grow! It can sit amongst your hair so you don’t lose any fullness by pesky attachments.
Product-wise, we suggest finding a volumising dry shampoo, volumising powder, and/or a good lifting mousse if you’re working with damp hair. To get volume at the root, some great options for styling are velcro curlers, a Dyson Airwrap or heated round brush, or this viral overnight blowout that uses flexi-rods and socks:
@yeshipolitoo Airplane blowout on an overnight flight lol 💁🏼♀️ rolled the bottom part backwards bc of limited space. You can see the way the curls go inwards that way. #airporthairstyle #grwmplaneedition #overnightcurls #overnightblowout #blowouttutorial #heatlesscurls #heatlessblowout #heatlesshair #hairtok #leggingcurls #heatlesscurlstutorial #overnighthairstyles #blowout #hairblowouthacks #hairblowouttutorial ♬ original sound - Yesenia Hipolito
The hairstyles of the 80’s definitely loved finding any way for those of us with straight hair to find texture. And for fine hair that’s really what we need to be doing to build fullness! Crimping hair included a heated styling tool (a crimper) that left sawtooth zigzag marks in your hair which physically expanded strands and added tons of texture and volume.
While you don’t need to use this tight of a crimp to grow fullness, the tighter the space between the zigzags the bigger your hair will get! Try using a waver or wave-styling tool which is a wider spaced take on the classic crimping iron.
Read Next: How To Use Heat Protectant Spray (Because You're Prob Making These Mistakes)
The accessory that defined the hairstyles of the 80’s: the scrunchie. This super easy, non-damaging, cooler big sister to the hair tie has barely ever left the beauty stratosphere, but it’s definitely showing up in big ways like XL sizes, velvets, prints, and of course the silk scrunchie.
Besides tying back ponytails and plaits, a silk scrunchie is the best 80s accessory for how non-damaging it is for fine hair types. If you’re not already using protective sleep styles to protect hair while you sleep, adding a silk scrunchie into your bedtime beauty routine is crucial to better protect and help hair grow while you sleep.
Want to protect hair even more while you sleep? Shop The Pillowcase: the first pillowcase made JUST for hair.
Another enigmatic 80’s hairstyle, the side ponytail has varying degrees of wearability if you don’t want to go full home-workout. We love a high, voluminous ponytail (more on how to get that below) that’s a couple inches off to the side. It makes for a perfectly shoulder-cascading pony that looks natural and way less like you glued it to the side of your head.
If you didn’t already know, you can make any ponytail with halo hair extensions. Just remove the wire, attach a bobby pin to one end of the halo weft. Then secure and wrap around the base of your natural hair’s pony and secure with another bobby pin.
Super heightened roots are one iconic aspect of 80’s hairstyles, but we have to include blowouts too of course! Blowing-in-the-wind fullness carried over from the Farrah Fawcett 70s and didn’t really die down until the 90s. Even then, a red carpet was never complete without voluminous, thick ends in either curls, waves, or loose body.
For a modern take on this hairstyle of the 80’s, look to blowouts, halo hair extensions, and tools like the Dyson Airwrap. Because halos are made for adding fullness first, these are your secret weapon to all-over body. You can style in any way and they blend seamlessly especially with a wave.
Read Next: How to Curl Your Hair in 6 Different Ways
When the outfit IS the accessory, that’s when you’re doing the hairstyles of the 80’s right. Statement headbands are no exception to this accessory rule: padded, bedazzled, oversized, scarf style headbands are all fab ways to elevate your hair when you don’t want to do much else.
For more athleisure without an air of Jane Fonda, a black wide headband is a perfect transitional statement headband to go from workout class to brunch to a night out. And for more of a statement statement we suggest a large padded headband with your hairline pushed back for that truly 80’s vibe.
The 80’s loved a bang–and it’s only second to their love of volume–so you can see how these two ended up together. If you had curly hair, you made your bangs bigger with teasing and setting. And if you had straight hair (and somehow didn’t already have a perm), pin curling overnight was an easy fix for bangs that only wanted to be curly sometimes.
Blown out bangs are pretty major at the moment, but veer more 60s and 70s. For an 80’s curly bang hairstyle, we suggest curling with a smaller barrel curling iron. These are especially sweet for updos where curly ends are present too!
Read Next: 8 Silk Pillowcase Benefits For Hair
Us and everyone who has graced social media in the last three years will attest: the claw clip is a flawless accessory! Which is why it’s spanned from the late 80s, into the 90s, and beyond in the form of perfect red carpet updos and run-out-of-the-house styles. Simply, no notes for this low-maintenance, hold-everything, comfy clip.
And if you haven’t already, you should always pop your halo in for loads more piece-y hair to fall through your clip. Just place your halo as usual and go about your claw clip. Bonus points for curling ends!
