The Harry Styles Hair Evolution That No One Asked For but Everyone Desperately Needs

When One Direction burst onto the scene in 2010, Styles was a floppy-haired teenager whose curls became iconic. His slightly messy 'do mostly stayed this way for a few years.

However, there were slight variations on the floppy curls, like when it was a little shorter and curlier for awhile.

As Styles grew his hair a little, the top got straighter, but the sides remained stubbornly curly — a look that I'm not mad about.

In 2012, we started to see a little length happening, but we could not possibly be prepared for the long-haired Styles that was to come.

The end of 2012 was really the end of curly-haired, cherubic Styles. Once 2013 rolled around, Styles really grew up, and his hair started to grow out, too.

Case in point: Styles's longer hair tamed by a beanie — just one of the many things he used to tie his hair back as it grew.

And grow is exactly what it did.

It grew so much that Styles started wearing more bandannas and scarves in his hair. This was a time I like to refer to as Headscarf Harry Days.

Thankfully, Styles didn't let his hair get out of control and mastered the tall quiff.

But then his hair just got too long for quiffs, and he hit the awkward phase of it being too long and floppy to just let go but too short to style up or tie back. More headscarves!

And then the baby bun started happening.

And when the little bun wasn't happening, a whole lot of messy hair was happening as Styles figured out what the hell to do with it.

But he got there! He beat the awkward phase and settled into luscious curls.

And the curls just kept growing into long waves, swooped off his forehead to the side.

The strands blew around behind him as he pranced around stages.

And in his downtime, Styles often pulled all of his hair up into what is arguably his best look: a full bun.

This was about as long as Styles's hair got, as he ended up cutting it a few months later. Cue the tears.

But as sad as I was to see the long hair go, I can't say a bad thing about how his hair looked after he cut it off.

Styles's shorter hair can go a variety of ways, like this slicked-back look for one.

It can also be styled a little more widely, with some volume.

At this point, it's like Styles's hair has come full circle. It's back to the shorter length we knew and loved way back when, just with a little less curl.

He even let it grow to near-early days length at the start of 2019.

But in the end, Styles chopped it back off to let his other favorite accessories shine.

Only then can the cycle begin yet again.

Despite Styles's hair rollercoaster over the years, these days it seems he's landed back with his shorter — dare we say, familiar — curls.

It's crucial for us all to remember fondly Styles's long, flowing hair because who knows if we'll ever see it again. By my account, he's been keeping his current style neatly trimmed and showing no signs of going back to his long-haired days. So, soak it all in, fam. This may be the last of it for a long, long time.