Vocabulary notes
shoulder-length adj shoulder- length hair reaches down to your shoulders, e.g. She had shoulder-length brown hair.
thick adj if someone’s hair is thick, they have a lot of hair, e.g. She ran her fingers through her thick brown hair. Ant. thin, e.g. Your hair is getting very thin.
thin v [I] if someone’s hair is thinning, they have less hair than they used to, e.g. a tall man with thinning hair
sleek adj straight, shiny and healthy-looking, e.g. a young man with sleek dark hair
spiky adj hair that is spiky is stiff and stands up on top of your head, e.g. short black spiky hair
neat adj carefully arranged and looking nice; Syn. tidy; Ant. untidy, e.g. His hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail.
loose adj hanging freely rather than being tied back, e.g. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders.
fringe n [C] short hair that hangs down over your forehead, e.g. a tall girl with straight brown hair and a fringe / The girl wore her hair in a fringe.
parting n [C] BrE the line on your head made by dividing your hair with a comb, e.g. a centre parting / a side parting
bun n [C] a hairstyle in which a woman’s hair is tied in a tight round ball at the back of or on top of her head
dreadlocks n [pl] a way of arranging your hair in which it hangs in thick pieces that look like rope
shave v [I, T] your hair is shaved if it is cut off very close to the skin
balding adj (used of a man) beginning to lose the hair on the top of their head, e.g. a balding man in his mid-thirties
bald adj (used of a man or his head) someone who is bald or whose head is bald has little or no hair on the top of their head, e.g. a bald man / You are going bald. He has a large bald patch.
recede v [I] (used of a man or his hair) if your hair recedes, you gradually lose the hair at the front of your head, e.g. He was in his mid-forties, with a receding hairline. He’s receding a bit. His hair is receding at the temples.
EXERCISES
Transcribe and translate the words:
Hairstyle, medium length, shoulder-length, straight, wavy, curly, sleek, spiky, neat, tidy, untidy, loose, fringe, plait, ponytail, bun, dreadlocks, bald, receding,
Match the descriptions to the pictures:
short hair
curly hair
long hair
bald
wavy hair
shoulder-length hair
Match the hair styles to the pictures:
A ponytail a fringe a centre parting a side parting tied back dreadlocks spiky shaved
IV. Give English equivalents of the following Russian words:
лысый, лысеющий, с залысинами на висках, с хвостом, с пучком, с косами, с челкой, с пробором, волосы до плеч, распущенные (волосы), зачесанные назад, прямые, волнистые, кудрявые, лоснящиеся, густые, редкие, редеющие, чистые, грязные.
V. Decide whether these sentences are true or false:
1. If your hair is sleek, it looks good. 2. Spiky hair doesn’t look neat. 3. Young girls like to put their hair in a bun. 4. Elderly ladies prefer to wear their hair in dreadlocks. 5. Nowadays women are not allowed to wear their hair loose in public places. 6. If your hair is receding, you are losing the hair on the top of your head. 7. Men don’t usually wear their hair tied back.
8. A person’s hair thins with age.