Ice square head: Exploring the latest hair styling trend

By Charlie Sawyer

Published Oct 17, 2023 at 04:47 PM

Reading time: 1 minute

37367

If you’ve ever been someone who internally cringes when they watch a stranger run their fingers through their hair, the excessive use of gel leaving their fingers glistening—this latest hair trend might not be for you. TikTok has birthed yet another bizarre new look: the ice/square head haircut.

Long forgotten are the days of the jellyfish haircut or fairy hair tinsel, in their place is a new craze involving excessive amounts of hair gel and an apparent lack of gravity. In August 2022, hair stylist Ahmad Friseur began uploading numerous videos onto his TikTok, which featured clients with enormous amounts of hair gel shaped on top of their scalp, resulting in a moulded block that resembled ice.

The first video that Friseur uploaded using this technique on 19 August received over 80 million views and 5.4 million likes. I’m assuming he immediately recognised the impact this bizarre style was having on users as almost overnight his page transformed into a shrine to the frosted look that ultimately became known as ‘the ice haircut/square head haircut.’

@ahmad.friseur

#foryou #fypシ #fyp

♬ Bounce When She Walk - Ohboyprince

What followed was a cascade of innovative ice hair art using large quantities of gel. Friseur created hats, mohawks, towers, and pigtails—all by using his holy grail product to sculpt new ideas. The internet’s new favourite barber even moulded the skin of a watermelon onto someone’s pre-gelled head.

@ahmad.friseur

#foryou #fypシ #viral #fyp

♬ Life Is Good (feat. Drake) - Future

The natural next step for Friseur was to start including a range of props in his hair gel fantasy. This included a collection of yellow cylinder sponges, two pairs of blown-up black latex gloves and half a dozen googly eyes that were stuck at the end of seven gel towers constructed to stick out of a client’s head.

@ahmad.friseur

#fypシ #viral #foryou #fyp

♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey

In his most recent video, posted on 15 October 2022, Friseur created what someone with trypophobia (fear of holes) would consider their worst nightmare by sculpting gel into two mounds which can only be described as giant hole-infested sideburns.

@ahmad.friseur

#foryou #fypシ #tiktok #viral #trending

♬ original sound - บักสีดา101

Even if you’re not quite yet sold on the ice haircut taking over TikTok, it cannot be denied that barber Friseur may be single-handedly keeping the hair gel industry afloat.

Keep On Reading

By Monica Athnasious

Boris Johnson joins TikTok and leaves commenters begging for a ‘hair tutorial’

By Malavika Pradeep

Introducing the jellyfish haircut, a gender-neutral style making waves on TikTok one layer at a time

By Harriet Piercy

Mullets are making a comeback. Here’s why you might soon sport the haircut

By Eliza Frost

How The Summer I Turned Pretty licensed so much of Taylor Swift’s discography for its soundtrack 

By Charlie Sawyer

Will Greta Thunberg reach Gaza safely amid Israel’s aid blockade?

By Eliza Frost

What is Shrekking? The latest toxic dating trend explained 

By Charlie Sawyer

Meghan Trainor is not responsible for eradicating fatphobia. But her fans also have a right to be upset

By Eliza Frost

Netflix is predicting your next favourite show based on your zodiac sign 

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Could the next pope be Black? Peter Turkson’s papal bid could rewrite over 1,500 years of Vatican history

By Charlie Sawyer

Trump grants white South Africans refuge after ending legal protections for Afghans facing deportation

By Charlie Sawyer

22-year-old groom arrested after police find 9-year-old bride at staged Disneyland wedding

By Eliza Frost

How Jet2holidays and Jess Glynne became the sound of the summer

By Charlie Sawyer

Why has the new sculpture of a Black American woman in Times Square prompted mass outrage?

By Eliza Frost

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 proves we’ll never be over love triangles

By Charlie Sawyer

Harry Potter TV series crew bewildered over production’s strange decision on location to film iconic scene

By Charlie Sawyer

UK women who miscarry could face home and phone searches following new anti-abortion police guidance

By Eliza Frost

All the Tea on the new app that lets women vet men and date safely

By Eliza Frost

Taylor Swift is engaged to the boy on the football team, Travis Kelce 

By Abby Amoakuh

BLACKPINK’s Lisa faces backlash after wearing civil rights icon Rosa Parks on her crotch at Met Gala

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Kim Kardashian’s Paris $10 million heist: grandpa robbers tell all as trial begins