You’ve seen it in old movies, vintage photos, and maybe even at a themed party or two. That iconic voluminous style sitting tall on the crown of the head screams 1960s glamour. But what exactly do you call that fabulous hair bump from the sixties?
The answer isn’t quite as simple as you might think. This signature style goes by several names, each with its own slight variation and backstory. Whether you’re looking to recreate the look for a special occasion or you’re just curious about vintage hair trends, understanding what this style is called—and why—makes for a fascinating dive into beauty history.
The Beehive: The Most Famous Name
When most people picture a 60s hair bump, they’re thinking of the beehive. This is the most recognized name for that tall, rounded, conical shape piled high on top of the head.
The beehive got its name in a pretty straightforward way. When hairstylist Margaret Vinci Heldt created the style in 1960, she added a bee-shaped hat pin as a finishing touch. A reporter from Modern Beauty Shop magazine looked at the creation and said it looked just like a beehive—and the name stuck.
Heldt originally modeled the style after a fez-like hat she owned. She’d been asked by editors at Modern Beauty Salon magazine to design something that would capture the spirit of the coming decade. What she created became one of the most enduring hairstyles in fashion history.
The beehive is characterized by hair that’s backcombed or teased to create volume, then lightly smoothed over to create a sleek outer surface. The longer your hair, the higher your beehive can go. It’s positioned more vertically on top of the head, creating that distinctive cone shape that made stars like Audrey Hepburn and Brigitte Bardot absolute icons.
The B-52: An Alternative Name with a Military Connection
Here’s something you might not know: the beehive is also called the B-52. This nickname comes from its resemblance to the distinctive nose of the Boeing B-52 Strategic Bomber aircraft.
The comparison makes perfect sense when you think about it. Both have that rounded, protruding shape that juts forward and upward. The name became popular enough that the 1980s band The B-52’s took their name directly from the hairstyle, which band members Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson wore proudly.
This military-inspired nickname adds an interesting layer to the style’s identity. While the beehive might sound soft and feminine, calling it the B-52 gives it an edgier, more rebellious vibe. It’s the same look with a completely different attitude.
The Bouffant: A Close Cousin
Now, here’s where things get a bit confusing. Many people use “bouffant” and “beehive” interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same thing.
The bouffant is the broader, puffier cousin of the beehive. While both styles involve teasing hair for volume, the bouffant creates width rather than height. It covers the ears at the sides and creates a fuller, rounder shape all around the head.
The bouffant came first, dominating the 1950s before the beehive took over. Think of Jackie Kennedy’s signature style—that’s a bouffant. It’s more horizontal in its volume, creating a cloud-like fullness that frames the face.
The beehive, by contrast, shoots upward from the crown. It’s more dramatic, more vertical, and more concentrated in one specific area. Both styles sometimes overlapped in the early 1960s, which is why people get them mixed up.
If you’re creating a bump at the crown of your head while keeping the sides relatively smooth and close, you’re making a beehive. If you’re puffing out the entire top and sides of your head, you’re going for a bouffant.
The Half-Up Bump: A Modern Interpretation
Fast forward to the 2000s and 2010s, and you’ll hear people talk about “the bump” or “bump it up” hairstyles. This modern take on the 60s style became wildly popular, especially for proms, weddings, and everyday wear.
This version typically involves creating volume at just the crown area while leaving the rest of the hair down. It’s a half-up, half-down style that captures the essence of the beehive without committing to the full vintage look. You’ll also hear it called a “poof” or “hair poof.”
The bump became so popular that an entire product line emerged to make it easier. Bumpits—those plastic inserts you’ve probably seen in infomercials—hit the market in 2008. Created by Kelly Fitzpatrick-Bennett, a former hairdresser from California, these simple tools let anyone create instant volume without mastering the art of teasing.
Snooki from Jersey Shore made the modern bump her signature look, bringing it back into mainstream consciousness. Her version was bigger, bolder, and distinctly early-2010s—worlds away from the polished elegance of Audrey Hepburn, but undeniably rooted in the same concept.
Regional and Cultural Variations
Different communities and regions have had their own names for this voluminous style. In some circles, you might hear it called the pouffe (or pouf), a name that actually dates back much further than the 1960s.
Marie Antoinette and French noblewomen in the 1700s wore elaborate pouffes—towering hairstyles built up with cushions, metal frames, and all manner of decorative items. While the 60s beehive was far more modest by comparison, the basic concept of elevating hair away from the scalp connects these styles across centuries.
The Ronettes, the iconic girl group from the 1960s, helped popularize the beehive in the music world. Lead singer Ronnie Spector recalled that they came from Spanish Harlem where “we had high hair anyway,” and they just made it even higher with lots of Aqua Net hairspray. Their version became known for its dramatic height and perfectly sculpted shape.
In African American communities, versions of voluminous upswept styles have their own rich history, including the rounded afro that gained prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of the natural hair movement.
The Pompadour Connection
While we’re sorting through names, it’s worth mentioning the pompadour. This style involves sweeping hair upward and back from the forehead, creating volume at the front.
The pompadour is technically different from a beehive or bouffant, but they’re all part of the same family of voluminous styles. You can combine elements—like a pompadour front with a beehive back—to create your own signature look.
Elvis Presley made the pompadour famous for men, but women wore variations of it too. The key difference is where the volume sits. A pompadour emphasizes the front and forehead area, while a beehive centers the drama on top of and behind the crown.
How the Beehive Is Created
Understanding what goes into making this style helps explain why it has so many names and variations. The technique centers on backcombing, also called teasing or ratting.
You take sections of hair and comb backward from the ends toward the scalp in short, quick strokes. This tangles the hair at the roots, creating a cushion of texture that holds volume. The more you backcomb, the bigger your style can get.
Once you’ve built up enough teased hair, you gently smooth the top layer over it. This creates that polished, sleek outer surface while hiding the ratted texture underneath. It’s like building a little nest of hair that you then cover with a smooth shell.
The whole structure gets secured with bobby pins and then shellacked with hairspray—lots of hairspray. We’re talking industrial amounts. This is why vintage photos show such stiff, immovable hairstyles. They weren’t going anywhere.
The longer and thicker your hair, the more dramatic your beehive can be. Some women in the 1960s achieved truly towering heights, with beehives adding 6 inches or more to their overall height.
Modern Products and Shortcuts
Not everyone has the patience or skill to master old-school teasing techniques. That’s where modern hair helpers come in, and they’ve introduced even more names into the mix.
Bumpits are probably the most famous. These plastic inserts come in different sizes and colors to match your hair. You section off the top portion of your hair, clip in the Bumpit against your scalp, then smooth your hair back over it. Instant volume, no teasing required.
Hair sponges, padding inserts, and foam bumps all serve the same purpose. They’re essentially shortcuts that let you fake the volume that would traditionally come from backcombing. Some people swear by them, while purists insist on doing it the traditional way.
Clip-in hair extensions designed specifically for creating bumps have also hit the market. These come with hair already attached, so you’re not just adding structure but also extra fullness.
These products have spawned their own vocabulary. You might hear someone say they’re “using a bumper” or “putting in their bump piece.” It’s the same concept, just modernized for our convenience-loving era.
Celebrity Influence and Style Evolution
Names for hairstyles often come from the celebrities who make them famous. The beehive is no exception, with its identity shaped by the women who wore it best.
Audrey Hepburn’s beehive in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) remains one of the most iconic examples. Elegant, sophisticated, and perfectly sculpted, her version embodied refined glamour.
Amy Winehouse brought the beehive roaring back in the 2000s with her sky-high, deliberately messy take on the classic. Her version was so distinctive that when people saw photos of her, they’d sometimes simply call it “the Amy Winehouse hair.”
Marge Simpson might be the most recognizable fictional character with a beehive. Her impossibly tall blue hair is a playful exaggeration of the style, but it keeps the beehive in the cultural conversation decades after its heyday.
Brigitte Bardot wore a softer, more tousled version that’s sometimes called the “Bardot bump.” Her approach added sex appeal and a more natural, undone quality to the typically polished beehive.
Why So Many Names Matter
You might wonder why we need to know all these different names for what’s essentially the same concept—big hair on top of your head. But the distinctions actually matter when you’re trying to communicate what you want.
If you walk into a salon and ask for a beehive, your stylist will picture something very specific. Ask for a bouffant, and you’ll get something different. Request a modern bump, and you’ll end up with yet another variation.
Each name carries its own connotations, too. “Beehive” sounds retro and vintage. “Bump” sounds casual and contemporary. “B-52” sounds edgy and cool. You’re not just describing a shape—you’re conveying an entire vibe.
When shopping for hair accessories or watching tutorials online, knowing the right terminology helps you find exactly what you’re looking for. Search for “1960s beehive tutorial” versus “how to do a hair bump,” and you’ll get completely different results.
The Cultural Significance
The beehive and its various names represent more than just a hairstyle. They’re markers of specific moments in fashion and cultural history.
The original beehive of the 1960s represented optimism and looking forward. It was bold, it was new, and it defied the more conservative styles that came before. Women were literally reaching higher with their hair.
When the style fell out of favor in the 1970s in preference for long, straight, natural-looking hair, it reflected changing attitudes about beauty and authenticity. The hippie movement rejected the artifice and maintenance that beehives required.
The periodic revivals of the style—in the 1980s with The B-52’s, in the 2000s with Amy Winehouse, and in the 2010s with Jersey Shore—each brought their own interpretation. The structure stayed similar, but the meaning shifted each time.
Regional Terminology Differences
Depending on where you live, you might hear different terms for this style. In the UK, “beehive” is the dominant term, and it’s understood to mean that tall, conical 60s style.
In parts of the southern United States, “big hair” is sometimes used as a catch-all term for any voluminous style, including beehives and bouffants. “Church hair” or “Sunday hair” might describe the polished, sprayed versions women wear to services.
In fashion and editorial contexts, you’ll hear “bumped crown” or “teased crown” used to describe modern interpretations that don’t go full retro. These terms feel more technical and less tied to a specific era.
Wrapping Up
So what is the 60s hair bump called? The most accurate answer is the beehive, with B-52 as its edgier alternate name. But you might also hear bouffant (though that’s technically different), pouffe, bump, or poof depending on the specific variation and who’s talking about it.
The beauty of this style lies not just in its dramatic visual impact but in how it’s evolved and adapted across decades. From Marie Antoinette’s elaborate 18th-century pouffes to Margaret Vinci Heldt’s 1960 creation to Snooki’s 2009 bump to TikTokers experimenting with vintage looks today, the concept of lifting hair high above the head has remarkable staying power.
Whether you call it a beehive, a B-52, a bump, or just “that thing they did with their hair in the 60s,” this style continues to fascinate us. It represents glamour, confidence, and the willingness to take up space—literally adding inches to your height and commanding attention when you walk into a room.
Next time someone asks you about that tall vintage hairstyle, you’ll have all the terminology you need. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll be inspired to tease up your own modern take on this timeless look. After all, everything old becomes new again—especially when it looks this good.
