Ryan Gosling is a handsome and talented American actor in Hollywood who has enthralled fans since appearing in The Believer in 2001. Since then, he’s rocked the silver screen in popular films like Barbie, La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, The Gray Man, The Notebook and Crazy, Stupid, Love.
The attractive blonde star has become well-known for his impeccable acting skills, charming personality, fashion sense and stylish hair. Gosling’s haircuts are timeless and elegant looks that exude understated confidence, sophistication and masculine simplicity, making his choices noteworthy.
From his low-maintenance buzz cut to longer textured hair, Gosling blends a classic approach with modern flair to achieve fresh, captivating styles.
In this article, we will explore some of Ryan Gosling’s best hairstyles, covering his most iconic looks and discussing how to recreate these cuts at your next barbershop appointment.
Ryan Gosling’s Iconic Hairstyles
Messy Crew Cut with Beard
Ryan Gosling’s messy crew cut is a classic, low-maintenance hairstyle that looks effortlessly masculine and alluring. He often rocked this no-nonsense look in the early noughties, pairing a choppy top with cropped sides for a youthful, boy-next-door feel. The key to this style is asking for a typical crew cut with an inch or so left on top. Style it by raking a texturizing matte pomade through the top to avoid an overly preppy look.
Classic Ivy League
Charming and chic, Gosling embraced the preppy Ivy League hairstyle at the La La Land premiere in 2016, looking all grown up with this sleek and collegiate look. The short, simple cut offers impressive styling versatility, taking the star from the red carpet to the film set without adjustments to his locks. His thick, longer hair on top is swept to the side to create a soft part, while the scissor-cut sides are cropped short for a clean, meticulous finish.
Long Brush Back
Gosling’s longer brush back in the opening scene of La La Land offered a lightly textured, relaxed look. The minimal styling reflected Sebastian’s carefree and experimental lifestyle and matched the stubble around the cheeks and jawline. You can get the same subtly elegant style with a classic medium-length cut, styling cream and a fine-toothed comb to brush the hair backward. Use the fingers to tousle and shape the hair for a looser look than Gosling’s.
Short and Tousled
Along with lightening his locks with highlights, Gosling experimented with a functional, short and tousled cut at The Gray Man premiere. The hair is kept short around the head and gets natural dimension from cropped sides and choppy layers. Light stubble prevents this cut from looking too youthful while pulling focus to the star’s strong chin and jawline.
Dapper Comb Over
Gosling’s timeless comb over captured attention at the Ides of March premiere. He modifies the classic cut with a slightly looser texture across the top, achieved with a medium-hold, matte pomade. Ask your barber to point-cut layers through the top if you want to see more distinction between your strands.
Textured Platinum Blonde Hair
In Barbie, Gosling showcased a textured platinum blonde hairstyle to channel his inner Ken, demonstrating he’s no stranger to experimentation with a trendy bleached curtains look. The choppy layers create a piecey feel through the top, while the clean, cropped sides offer a timeless look that doesn’t pull focus.
Side Swept Long Hair
In early 2024, Gosling appeared at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival wearing his hair long, swept to the side and layered. The messy, combed-over style featured highlights and an undone, easygoing look all around. The honey-blonde highlights give the top extra dimension that complements Gosling’s tanned skin and stubble beard.
Youthful Modern Side Part with Cropped Sides
A modern side part always impresses, and Gosling keeps this neat style looking crisp with cropped sides. His natural blonde locks are tamed with a strong-hold gel and lightly spiked at the back for extra texture. The cropped sides offer a clean-cut look against the playful top, making this a haircut that suits everything from upscale press events to Hollywood parties.
Buzz Cut
A sharp, traditional buzz cut showcased Gosling’s more rebellious side. He often paired this style with a beard for balance and kept the length around the head uniform for a militaristic look. His robust features and bright baby blues made the cut look sharp but not severe, perfectly complementing his natural blonde locks. Ask your barber to leave some length on top to create this grown-out, buzzed look.
Short Spiky Hair with Beard
This short, low-maintenance cut was a significant departure from the star’s earlier, unkempt spiky styles. Gosling spikes the hair toward the direction of the side part to retain structure at the front and keeps the back and sides short and scissor-cut. Get the look by teasing the top hair with pomade or wax and experiment with direction around the back for a slightly rebellious feel. A beard is the finishing touch that gives the punkish hairstyle a manly touch.
Ivy League with Classic Tapered Sides
Gosling looked remarkably fresh and clean-cut at 2014’s Cannes Film Festival, pulling off a sharp Ivy League hairstyle with tapered sides. In contrast to his timeless looks, the star styled this variation loose and likely used a matte pomade to add texture without weighing down his locks. The taper injects this classic cut with modern flair, creating just enough visual interest to capture attention.
Medium Shaggy Hair with Highlights
Bangs aren’t always a feature of Gosling’s medium-length hairstyles, but this shaggy hair with highlights combo is intensely flattering. The bright highlights bring out his deep blue eyes, and he avoids veering into surfer territory by switching a clean shave for light stubble. The bangs get texture from pomade, but you can use a sea salt spray for a more relaxed, disheveled look.
Edgy Buzz Cut
Gosling’s early styles were incredibly varied, and he buzzed off his locks in the mid-2000s to open himself up to edgier roles. The cut is precise and militaristic, and the star often paired the sheared top with a masculine goatee for balance. Get this style by asking your barber for an all-over, uniform buzz cut with a short guard. Frequent trims are all you’ll need to keep the buzz looking fresh.
Short Classic Taper
A short, classic taper gave this Hollywood superstar’s striking features room to shine at the First Man premiere. The classic and clean crew cut left some length on top and featured closely clipped sides for a minimalistic look. He kept his locks textured with a matte pomade, wearing the short style with a connected, patchy beard for a casual edge.
Voluminous and Textured Side Part
After a few hit flicks, Gosling rocked a textured side part hairstyle, cementing his status as a Hollywood heartthrob. The top is scissor-cut into a precise part and slicked over with a high-quality pomade and a comb for a sleek finish. To modernize the look, closely crop the sides for a clean finish against the sophisticated, golden-age top. Light stubble and the star’s cheeky smile turn Gosling into a classic gent for the modern age.
Cropped Cut with Tapered Sides
Gosling’s edgier cropped cut was a nod to his bourgeoning career and refusal to be put in a typical “hot leading man” box. The tapered sides keep the cut neat and wearable, while the semi-buzz up top is a dream for lazy styling. Use a little pomade to keep the top texturized without wasting time in the morning.
Messy, Spiky Hair All Over
Early in his career, a young Gosling’s hairstyle embodied youthful energy with playful spikes, highlighting a carefree attitude. These spikes from 2004 were trimmed short and scissor-cut. The hair was pulled around with pomade or wax in all directions, giving it a messy, undone look with a bedhead vibe.
The Notebook Long Hairstyle: Shaggy and Flowing
Ryan Gosling’s long shaggy hairstyle in The Notebook made him into a heartthrob overnight. Noah’s rebellious, unkempt locks created a disconnect between him and the upper-class Allie, showcasing his free spirit. A simple, layered cut with medium or long length will help you recreate this look. To achieve the sexy windswept style, apply sea salt spray and lightly tousle your locks.
Crazy, Stupid, Love Haircut: Smooth Comb Over
Sporting a slick comb over, Gosling stripped his style back and removed excess length as Jacob Palmer in the 2011 flick Crazy, Stupid, Love. The star’s hairstyle involved a smooth side part, drawing attention to the lightly tapered sides. He held the top in place with a high-shine pomade, which matched the vibe of the polished, professional womanizer Gosling portrayed in the film. Regular trims will keep the length in check and the sides looking tight.
The Drive Haircut: Soft Comb Over with Short Sides
Gosling stole hearts in The Drive by softening his haircut and creating a neat comb over style. The short sides gave the cut a minimalistic, quietly confident look that matched his character’s dangerous edge. The whole cut is swept to the side and slicked into place, giving you a variation on an old-school Ivy League hairstyle. A high-shine pomade will make this look glossy, but you can lightly muss the locks for a more natural aesthetic.
The La La Land Haircut: Off Center Part with Scissor Cut Sides
La La Land was a smash at the Academy Awards and Gosling’s off-center part hairstyle complemented his character’s persona on-screen. The scissor-cutting across the top and around the ears keeps the look natural and pliable. While you can wear this cut short, Gosling chose a medium-length top to showcase the stylish parting. The star likely used a light styling clay to control and maintain the parting while inserting texture, giving the look a vintage, Hollywood-inspired vibe with minimal maintenance.
The Nice Guys Haircut: Medium Brush Back with Goatee
Gosling burst onto the screen with a masculine brush back and goatee in the 2016 comedy-action film The Nice Guys. The longer style was left to flop naturally and was parted slightly to the side. Gosling added texture through the hair with light-hold styling products and tousling and experimented with point-cut layers for dimension and movement. The goatee gives the look a devil-may-care feel that matches Gosling’s bumbling character in the movie.
Blade Runner 2049 Haircut: Spiky Crew Cut with Tapered Sides
In Blade Runner 2049, Gosling’s edgy crew cut with piecey texture was brought into the limelight. The style is left long enough to be scissor-cut all over, but you could easily buzz the top with clippers for a shorter look. The textured spikes on top match the futuristic vibe of the film, creating a choppy cut that requires minimal styling to maintain.
The Gray Man Haircut: Layered and Sexy
Gosling looks like a Hollywood action star in The Gray Man, sporting a CIA-worthy layered cut that looks striking in vibrant sequences. The cut is relatively free-flowing and uses long layers to bring shape and structure to the face. He pairs the look with a sharp, trimmed beard to give the entire style an effortless, masculine energy.
The Barbie Haircut: Long Platinum Layers with Textured Fringe
He might be “Just Ken”, but Gosling’s striking bleached platinum blonde hairstyle in Barbie was more than enough to rival Margot Robbie’s long, flowing locks. The actor rocked long platinum layers styled into a swoopy textured fringe for a soft, draped appearance across the forehead. If you’re taking the plunge, choose a talented stylist for the dye job and keep your blonde bright with purple shampoo at home.
Full Beard
This sexy actor has a knack for growing thick facial hair, and he often rocks a full beard when he’s not on camera. Gosling’s signature beard is often paired with a well-groomed crew cut and tapered sides for a clean, balanced appearance. Occasionally, he’ll rock a choppy, semi-buzzed style for a modern, low-maintenance look that screams modern elegance.
Stubble Beard
Paired with a comb over, Gosling’s stubble beard blends rugged handsomeness with classic elegance, complementing his carefully-curated aesthetic. The youthful and meticulous beard style looked striking on the red carpet and featured a loosely combed part with shorter hair on the sides. While he used a comb to create this sleek, slicked-over look, you can shape the hair with your fingers for more relaxed events.
