How to Comb Your Hair Like Wolverine

For decades, comic book fans swore that Wolverine's haircut--with its swooping points and copious sideburns--could not be duplicated in real life. The "X-Men" movies proved them wrong, not only evoking the character with Hugh Jackman's hair, but actually making it look kind of cool in the process. The haircut is based on the 1950s duck tail, which you can tailor to look like the superhero's ... either as part of a costume or because you want to spend months in the wilderness tracking down the Incredible Hulk.

Things You'll Need

• Barber's clippers
• Blow dryer
• Styling gel
• Round hairbrush

Instructions

1. Grow your facial hair out into a set of muttonchops--long sideburns which stretch down to your chin and mouth but don't connect up to form a beard. It will take a few weeks to do this, but it's imperative for the proper Wolverine look.

2. Allow the rest of your hair to grow until it is below the mid-level of your ears and lower than the nape of your neck. That's long enough to work with.

3. Cut a horizontal guide at about the mid-ear level on both the left and right sides of the head. Then comb the hair forward and make another horizontal guide cut a tad beneath the eyebrows.

4. Cut an angled guide starting at the right ear and moving left toward the brow. Repeat the process with the left ear, moving right toward the brow.

5. Clip the hair at the crown, moving slowly from the front of the head to the back and using the horizontal guides to keep the length uniform. Move slowly across the head, sticking to the guides and taking care to blend each section of hair with the remainder.

6. Clip a blunt cut on the back of the head at the nape of the neck. Check the guides to ensure that the length stays uniform and that the blending is on-track.

7. Apply styling gel, then use a blow dryer to blow the hair upward. Brush the side hair back along the curve of the scalp with a round hairbrush.

8. Brush the fringe hair up to create the peaks which Wolverine sports, then find a set of claws and a yellow spandex costume to fight the forces of evil.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're in a hurry and can't cut the hair, you can apply Steps 7 and 8 alone to attain a reasonable facsimile of a Wolverine haircut.

• Some types of hair work better for this look than others. You may wish to use hair dye to darken yours to Wolverine's color; don't forget the sideburns as well.

References

• Hairfinder: Wolverine Hair Style
• Mahalo: Wolverine Costume