10 Butterfly Haircut Variations You Need to Know About (2024)

The butterfly haircut is easily an early contender for the hottest haircut of 2024. This dynamic haircut beautifully blends long and short layers and balances a high-shine finish with a solid texture.

We saw a lot of the butterfly haircut all over our social feeds last year. But it always involved fairly long, straight, overly “styled” hair. And that left us wondering… what happens if you’re a short hair girl? Or have shoulder-length hair? Or have a head full of curls?

After much thought, here’s what we concluded: the heavily layered butterfly haircut is even better on different hair lengths and textures. We’ve rounded up a few examples of our favorite new ways to wear the butterfly haircut. Take your pick!

What is a Butterfly Haircut?

The butterfly haircut is all about nailing that perfect blend of dynamic movement and subtle texture. The ’90s inspired haircut involves lots and lots of layers that give you ample volume.

The traditional butterfly haircut is often seen as a longer version of the shag, with shorter layers framing the face and longer layers along the rest of the head. To nail this look, styling is key — you need to ensure you’re using the right products and tools to get the full effect (scroll to the end of the article for tips on how to style a butterfly haircut).

But we’re going to explore what a butterfly haircut could look like on different hair lengths, and without excessive styling. Below, we’ve picked 10 ways to wear the butterfly haircut that embraces its heavy layers, but in a modern, fresh way.

10 Butterfly Haircut Variations We Love

1. Butterfly Haircut for Fine Hair

If you’ve got fine hair, don’t let the photos of models with ultra-thick locks put you off this haircut. The butterfly cut is a great choice for anyone with fine hair. In fact, it’s kind of the perfect fit. That’s because the butterfly haircut can give your fine hair the volume boost it needs, with little effort.

Tip: For even more volume, we love the and Conditioner combo. Both products are specially formulated for fine hair to give it more volume, both in the short and long run, with continued use.

2. Butterfly Haircut on Straight Hair

This layered cut is pretty on straight hair, even if it’s just been air-dried. We encourage enhancing any waves or bends your hair may naturally possess by spritzing on some texturizing spray. We like the TRESemmé Dry Texture Finishing Spray that helps revive texture and can be used on dry hair (perfect for a mid-day hair refresh!).

3. Short Butterfly Haircut with Curtain Bangs

Here’s how a butterfly haircut would translate to shorter hair. Though you may have less length to play with, incorporating a few layers can enhance the style. Rather than opting for chin-length hair around your face, we suggest considering curtain bangs to introduce an extra dimension to the layered look.

4. Butterfly Haircut for Curly Hair

The butterfly haircut is stunning on naturally curly hair. The cut will add shape to your mane, and take off any excess bulk. A wispy, curly fringe makes for a cute addition to the look.

5. Butterfly Haircut for Medium Length Hair

A butterfly haircut can beautifully complement shoulder-length hair by adding texture and movement. Here, it’s been lightly styled with waves.

6. Strawberry Blonde Shoulder-Length Butterfly Haircut

We love this wispy, strawberry blonde version of the shoulder-length butterfly haircut. Do you know what would take it to the next level? An adorable hair accessory.

Read: Hair Bows Are Trending — Here’s How to Wear Them

7. Butterfly Haircut with Bangs

Can’t do without bangs? Almost any fringe style you can imagine could be paired with the butterfly haircut and look fantastic. Think: a full, thick fringe, edgy micro bangs and everything in between.

8. Butterfly Haircut for Short Curly Hair

This cut on short, curly hair looks a lot like the shag — probably because the butterfly haircut borrows heavily from the shag haircut, in terms of its layers and volume. Get inspired by the look above to scrunch up your curls with some mousse and make the most of their texture.

9. Butterfly Haircut Unstyled

No heat tools? No problem. Here’s what the butterfly cut on long hair would look, if left unstyled. We’re fans.

10. Butterfly Haircut for Long Hair

How stunning is this layered cut on dark hair? For a piece-y effect like the look above, use a leave-in styling treatment through the lengths.

How to Style the Butterfly Haircut

One thing you might notice about any images of the butterfly haircut is how ‘done’ this style looks in every single photograph. Before getting intimidated by a style that requires so much styling maintenance, consider these products and styling hacks to save you time and help you achieve those salon-quality results on the regular:

Say goodbye to frizz.

The butterfly haircut features signature layers that might be shorter than you’ve gone before. It’s essential to keep frizz at bay when styling a haircut with this many layers. Otherwise, the shorter layers will be likely to pop up, and you will quickly lose the shiny, swooped effect.

Lately, we keep coming back to Nexxus Ultralight Smooth Frizz Defy Cream Serumto keep frizz at bay. This creamy serum instantly adds shine and smoothness to our strands. And it doesn’t hurt that it smells amazing too!

Add mega-volume to your roots.

It can be really challenging to try and recreate the volume your stylist achieves when blowing out your hair after a haircut. A lot of that volume is due to expert blow-drying techniques, but there are also products that can give your roots a boost!

We have been turning to Suave Root Lifting Volume Boosting Spray over and over again. Spritz this boosting spray in your roots before you blow-dry for a magnificently voluminous finished look.

Add a dose of texture.

Finally, use a few veils of the mist of TRESemmé One Step Volume for Flat Hair to add some texture to your strands. This one-step styler is one of TRESemmé’s latest releases and it adds an instant dose of texture to your hair. This will balance that silkiness you achieved with the serum perfectly and create a finished look that’s full of movement.

Are you thinking about trying out this haircut? Be sure to take some pictures and tag us over @AllThingsHairUS!