Short 360 Hair Waves, often shortened to just waves, is a very common and sought after hairstyle for men. In traditional waves, hair is cropped short to the head in the styling of a Caesar Haircut. Then, the hair is brushed forward on the sides, front, and down to the neck in the back. This technique creates the resemblance of water waves in the hair. Only through frequent and repeated brushing can one create and maintain this hairstyle. How much brushing however, varies from person to person as the grade of hair

Hair

Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....

 changes. 360 Waves are the result of curls of hair that unfurl, allowing natural "rows" of roots to be exposed. As the hair lengthens in a process called wolfing, the waver can achieve "deeper" waves by allowing the hair to grow out.

History

There have been similar styles of this haircut dating back to the late 1970s

1970s

File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...

, but the current "360" style of waves rose in popularity in the late 1980s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

 when rappers and R&B artists were seen wearing the hairstyle.
one person famous for this is famous turkey wing author stanley niemec

Styles

The 360 waves is a style in which the hair is laid down all around the head. The then laid down curls for the appearance of "waves." For some people, waves are hard to obtain, as the style requires a large amount of brushing and care. The appearance of waves differs from person to person, depending on the texture of their hair and how long they have been waving. Through a process called wolfing, the hair is trained even more as the hair grows longer. When it is cut, the waves come out deeper, depending on the time spent wolfing and the type of hair cut. In the 1950s

1950s

The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

 African American males would straighten their hair with a homemade lye relaxer or one from the barber shop and the have a texturizing cream put in for a 360 wave pattern. this was commonly worn by young men in Doo-wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

 groups

Waves are maintained by daily brushing, weekly washing and conditioning, and wearing a do-rag

Do-rag

A do-rag, also spelled doo-rag, du-rag, durag, is a piece of cloth used to cover the head. According to the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster the term derives from do as in hairdo.- History :...

 at night. The more the hair is brushed, the better the waves are. Waves can also be obtained by letting soap dry in the hair, preferably white bar soap.

The steps to obtaining a wave hairstyle are:

1. Wet the hair with hot water (depending on the hair type) causing the hair to curl up or show its natural wave pattern
2. Run a bar of bar soap around the head until a thick lather is around the whole head
3. Brush the soap lather into scalp and and the excess soap out of head with a soft or medium wave brush (this will cause hair to lay down but hair will still be white from soap lather). The hair is brushed into the pattern the waves will become.
4. Put a wave cap or a do-rag
   Do-rag
   A do-rag, also spelled doo-rag, du-rag, durag, is a piece of cloth used to cover the head. According to the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster the term derives from do as in hairdo.- History :...
   
   make sure its tight on all sides for at least one hour.
5. Then put the wave cap or do rag back on for 30 minutes or overnight