The Biggest 2026 Hair Trends? Height, Texture, and a Little Drama

If New York Fashion Week is any indication, 2026 is shaping up to be a very good year for hair. For the fall/winter 2026 season, designers traded the sleek, subtle styles of seasons past for volume, texture, and romance. We saw sky-high wigs at Collina Strada, pearl-pinned braids at Alice + Olivia, bouncy, flipped-out blowouts at PatBO, and perfectly imperfect ponytails at LoveShackFancy. Of all the styles spotted throughout the week, the common thread was hair that felt expressive and a little undone. Each look had just enough polish to make someone say, “Your hair looks so good today,” while still asking, “Did you wake up like that?” From bombshell body to bridal-inspired updos, the message is clear: Bigger, softer, and more playful hair is officially in.

Ahead, find the four biggest hair trends to know for 2026, straight from the NYFW runways and the pros behind the scenes.

Ultra-High Volume

If you’ve been honing your teasing skills lately to mimic ’80s volume or happen to have a bumpit lying around from your Jersey Shore era, you’re in luck: winter 2026 is all about air-grazing stands and the creative ways you can embrace it. At Collina Strada, models rocked structural, towering square-like wigs that added insane inches to their heights. Meanwhile, for the models at the Gabe Gordon show, hairstylist Davey Matthew teased up every hair type for styles that looked “fluffy, high-impact, and intentionally undone,’’ he explains. Then Anna Sui brought poofs back in full force, with celebrity hairstylist Garren creating “a Bardot-inspired top knot and natural texture.” Think Snooki, but runway chic.

Braided Strands

According to the runways, when it comes to updos, we’re veering away from slicked-back styles and into bridal territory. At Alice + Olivia, Lacy Redway created two styles: a loose Dutch braid and a woven braided bun, both adorned with pearl and crystal pins. The look resurfaced at Cult Gaia, where Evanie Frausto wove three braids around the models’ crowns; at Rio, Kien Hoang took a grungier approach with two bold French braids. The lesson? Braids are elegant, effortless, and easy to recreate. Plus, at a time when bobs are all the rage, Redway offered a simple piece of advice. “In the grow-out stage, when you’re at an awkward length and don’t really know what to do, you’re going to want to braid it.”

Bubbly Blowouts

A classic blowout can make anyone look effortlessly cool and perfectly polished. The PatBo fall/winter 2026 collection was inspired by the expressive spirit of 1970s Brazil. Mandee Tauber, Oribe’s principal artist of global design, translated that vision to a sleek, feminine blowout full of body. The secret to keeping the hair from falling flat was subtly flipping the ends. “The ‘bubble blowout’ is beautiful and soft with rounded, bouncy ends,” celebrity hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos tells ELLE.com. “I love how it adds movement to the overall look. It has a little bit of a lived-in feel and is naturally stylish,” says Giannetos.

Bed Head Chic

Not touching my hair after I roll out of bed? Now this is a trend I can get behind. At LoveShack Fancy, undone hair became fun and flirty. Barely-there low ponytails were affixed with extra-large tulle bows for a feminine flair. “[Think of] the girl who loves a party but equally loves her poetry; the kind of girl who wakes up in the morning with the bow that she had on last night and puts a ballet flat on while running out the door to get a coffee,” says the show’s hairstylist, Brent Lawler. We saw similar low, loose ponies at Proenza Schouler, created by Holli Smith, plus tons of undone waves throughout the week.