20 of the Most Embarrassing '90s Beauty Trends
You know you loved those butterfly clips.
You know you loved those butterfly clips.
Harsh Highlights
A few well-placed highlights can totally brighten up your face, but brassy blonde streaks all over your head often do the opposite. These days, most folks like to keep their lightening game on the more subtle side.
Center-Parted Bowl Cuts
Dear every boy in the '90s who wore this haircut: What were you thinking? Bowl cuts can actually look cute sometimes (case in point: Jennifer Hudson's new hair), but parting them down the center and letting the hair look all floppy? Oof.
Pigtails on Adults
If you are an adult human, please repeat after me: Pigtails are never a good idea.
Frosted Tips
It's great that guys decided to get in on the hair dye game, but why did they all opt for this type of awful bleaching pattern?
Heavy Lower Liner
Nothing makes your eyes look smaller than donning heavy lower lid liner, yet we all opted to do thick black liner all around of our eyes for all 10 years.
Casual Tiaras
Remember when everybody suddenly started wearing tiaras to school dances, proms and, if you were a celebrity, red carpet events? Oh boy. Folks, don't wear a crown unless you're an actual royal.
Face-Framing Pieces
There is no other way to describe this style besides "high ponytail with two front strands."
Tribal Armband Tattoos
It was basically a prerequisite for boy bands in the '90s to admit at least one member with a tribal armband tattoo. (Bonus if he had a tribal sun, too.)
Gelled Curls
Adding a little gel into your hair to hold your style is great. Making it straight-up crunchy by dumping a truckload into it is significantly less great.
Overzealous Perms
Going wild with the perm supplies was a bad habit of celebrities and normal folks alike in the '90s.
Soul Patches
What was the purpose of this itsy bitsy patch of hair on men's chins? Was it there to keep their bottom lip company? To cover up chin blemishes? To deter all women ever? We need answers.
Eyebrow Gems
Atop her wildly thin eyebrows, Gwen Stefani's '90s look often involves teensy tiny gems.
Butterfly Clips
Butterfly clips were a staple in the hair routine of every '90s girl despite being profoundly unflattering.
Bandanas
If you were a teenager in the 1990s, you probably wore a bandana like Danielle Fishel — a.k.a. Topanga from Boy Meets World — and it probably (i.e. definitely) looked ridiculous.
Drastically Asymmetrical Haircuts
These cuts can look great, but when you take it as far as Naomi Campbell did in the '90s, it just looks like someone made a mistake.
Plucked-to-Death Eyebrows
It's okay, Drew — we all thought it was a good idea to go tweeze-crazy back then.
Zig Zag Hair Parts
Parting your hair in a zig zag pattern supposedly makes it look thicker, but it really just looks like you don't know how to use a comb properly.
Frosted Lipstick
Highlighting your lips can make them look fuller, but loading them with shimmery, opaque lipstick looks dated and odd.
Big Poofy Ponytails
The perfect style for when you want your eyes to look like they're two-thirds of the way down your face.
Pastel Hats
Sure, Clueless is a cult fave film, but let's be honest: Matching your pastel hat to your pastel jacket to your pastel skirt (or hat to your matching polka dot tops and pants) is one '90s habit that needed to be left behind.
Sam's enthusiasm for makeup is only rivaled by their love of all things relating to cats. In their spare time, they enjoy watching scary movies, putting avocado on everything, and seeing how many shades of the rainbow they can dye their hair before 30.
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