The Best Short Haircuts for Men This Summer

The best thing about short hairstyles is that they work almost universally on all types of hair. Whether you’ve got tight curls, rigidly straight hair, or textured waves, you can modify most of these short haircuts to your liking.

Here are some of the best short haircuts that celebrities are wearing right now. You can emulate their style, tweak it for yourself, or combine a couple of them for something new altogether. Get creative.

The High and Tight

As seen on Jay Ellis

This classic features high-faded sides, with a bit of texture and volume up top. Some high and tights are higher and tighter than others. It can be gradual or abrupt, so long as the main weight shift happens mid-way or high up the head. This style suits nearly all hair textures and densities, as it balances out thinning styles by removing much of the bulk from the sides, and it pulls focus to textured and wavy styles, while preventing bulking or mushrooming on the sides for anyone with tons of hair. It’s easy to maintain too, since you just need biweekly trim ups around the sides while allowing the top to grow for a couple months.

The Drop Fade

As seen on Leonardo Nam

Unlike the high and tight, the fade is much closer to the temples here. It's a relatively quick transition from long to short. And you need to keep it clean or it will start to look messy. You may even need to visit the barber once a week if it’s especially detailed or has any harsh lines. Go for a softer blend around the drop if you’d rather visit every 2-4 weeks instead.

The Ceasar Crop

As seen on Nick Jonas

This cut showcases density and texture (the latter of which can be created with the right products). It works for all kinds of hair textures, though you need to have a full head of hair to pull this off as well as Jonas. That being said, if your hair loss is only at the front, it still might suit you, by covering up the top of the forehead where the recession had occurred. Just leave the sides a little longer to cover your temples, if you’re receding in that way. Like any faded styles, you will need to visit the barber every other week to get the sides cleaned up, though you can try a less severe fade if you’d rather get a refresh once a month. You should retexture and trim the top every 2 months.

The Buzz Cut

As seen on Maluma

While a buzz cut is the most straight-forward hairstyle, it's easy to add complexity and borrow from other styles. Have your barber give you a little more weight on top than on the sides, fade up from the sides, line up the edges, leave a little fringe at the front, or as Meluma did here, define a part by buzzing in with the clipper. All of these can be done for under $15 at the barber, and maintained biweekly for just as much, or less. This bit of complexity separates you from the guys who do their own buzz cuts and call it good. (They usually miss a spot, or press in too hard and leave behind a few patches. Whatever you do, though, make sure to consider the beard-to-hair ratio, by not letting a uniform buzz be the same length as your beard. (At risk of resembling a tennis ball.)

The Military Crew Cut

As seen on David Beckham

Anything classified as a military style is a good option for short hair—slightly longer up top, with clean sides. Keep it less than 2 inches up top, and try any combination of fading, blending, texturizing. Beckham's rocking the low fade around the ears which rises into a neatly blended crew cut up top. He could even style it down for a more Caesar style.

The Fringe Cut

As seen on Ezra Miller

"Fringe" is basically just a euphemism for “bangs.” It usually refers to just an inch-or-so of hair, swept forward over onto the forehead. It can be used to cover recession, or just as a style choice that tiptoes into Caesar territory. It can be less defined and textured than the Caesar, and done with any density or type of hair. It also can be blended into any type of trim on the sides, as Miller displays with his neatly scissor-cut style.

Originally Appeared on GQ