It was the cut that started it all.
When “Friends” burst onto the TV scene in 1994, it was probably unimaginable to its creators that a show about six twenty-somethings would change the landscape of hair and fashion for millions of viewers.
Brien Buxton has been styling hair at Baton Rouge’s Avalon Salon for three years, during which he has noticed television’s direct influence on hair trends, most notably with Jennifer Aniston’s hair styles as Rachel on “Friends.”
Buxton said Rachel’s last cut, which he described as a wavy, beachy look, was very popular with women in the Baton Rouge area.
“[Trends] trickle down from New York and eventually make their way here a few months later,” Buxton said. “Baton Rouge isn’t so cutting edge.”
Buxton said the current trend of hair fashion is a messy, less fixed look, something Sarah Akeroyd, an education freshman, agrees with.
Akeroyd said she has noticed the “bed head” look, often accomplished with the use of a paste or pomade, on men and women.
“I’ve been seeing more buzz cuts,” said Colton Fontenot, an accounting junior and 2004 Homecoming King. “Not Mr. Clean, but short.”
Fontenot said while he does not pay that much attention to hair trends, he likes to change his hair style periodically.
“Your hair describes you and the group you hang out with,” Fontenot said. “It’s part of your personality.”
Buxton said the biggest factors in the most popular haircuts are texture and movement.
In the five years Buxton has been styling hair, he said “Friends” has been the biggest influence on hair.
Shows such as HBO’s “Sex and the City,” have had more of an impact on fashion than hair, he said.
Akeroyd said the show has made her want to purchase a pair of Manolo Blahniks, the brand at the center of the show’s main character’s shoe fetish.
Buxton said shows such as Fox’s “O.C.” are not setting trends, but rather following established fashion trends and the trends set by more influential shows, like the show that started it all.