What exactly are the lengths for an ivy league hair cut?

I wanted to get a short hair cut for the summer but didn't want to go to the extreme (shave my head or buzz). I've done both and ended up looking terrible. I heard about this one and I just wanted details.What exactly are the lengths for an ivy league hair cut?
Like any crew cut it depends on the slope of the skull to the front hairline. A typical ivy league is about 1.5'; at the frontal hairline and maybe 5/8'; at the back of the crown. By measuring the face length from the center of the front hairline to the tip of the chin and the hair in a photo, and assuming an average male face length of 8'; it is easy to approximate the lengths of any guy's short haircut. In the photos posted in another answer, one ivy league is around 1.7'; at the frontal hairline and the other has the hair all chopped up at the ends and appears to have hairs at the frontal hairline from about 1.2'; to 1.7'; . Since I cannot see this haircut being worn parted and combed to the side, I think I would refer to it as a feather crew cut rather than an ivy league, though it really is too chopped up looking to be a feather crew, which only has the very tips of the hair texturized. I have heard several older barbers refer to an ivy league as a crew cut that is just barely long enough to part and comb if a guy wants to, and it is a reasonable description. There are many other names for an Ivy League. Among them, Princeton cut, Harvard clip, Standard Crew Cut, College Cut, Olympic Cut, French Crop. A crew cut of ivy league proportions is the original crew cut as worn by Yale Crew team members in the 1920's. A crew cut was often referred to as an ivy league crew cut since it was first worn by crew team members at the ivy league Big 3-Yale, Harvard and Princeton-and from the 1920's to the mid 1950's, the haircut was very popular on ivy league campuses and at eastern prep schools. Think of the haircut Holden Caulfield wore in Catcher in the Rye. Cirrently, his crew cut would probably be referred to as an ivy league. One reason the haircut was popular among crew athletes is because the typical regular styles of the day had quite long hair on top. When rowing, a guy faces away from the direction the boat is traveling and has both hands on the oars. The long top hair of the regular styles of the day would blow into a guy's face and he couldn't take his hands off the oars to take his hair off his face. In the mid to late 1950's, when crew cuts became extremely popular among all college guys and college prep high school guys and then became quite a bit shorter than a traditional crew cut, the original ivy league crew cut started to be referred to as an ivy league or standard crew cut and the shorter crew cut became the crew cut. Many of the haircuts being referred to as a crew cut were essentially rounded flat top crew cuts as depicted on the ubiquitous ';Official Haircut Chart'; published by LB Butch Wax:


http://a.imagehost.org/0080/Haircut_Char鈥?/a>


The Ivy league on this chart is shown parted and combed to the side. In contrast, the Ivy League on the competing ';Modern'; chart is shown brushed back off the forehead to form a short pomp front:


http://a.imagehost.org/0793/Modern_Styli鈥?/a>


The ';Modern'; crew cut appears to be a sort of boxy/rounded flat top crew cut, while the flat top is a very boxy flat top but with much shorter sides than the flat top on the LB chart. The Official chart can be seen in Floyd's Barber Shop in the old Andy Griffith Shows. The Modern chart is on the wall of the Concrete Barber Shop in the Leonardo Di Caprio Film ';Boy's Life'; in the scene where his step dad, Robert Deniro, has the barber clipper him down to a way too boxy flat top for his face and head shape.


There are no exact lengths for an ivy league. Generally the hair at the frontal hairline is around 1.5';, but it can be as short as 1.2'; or as long as 2';. Th same goes for the rest of the hair on the top of the head. Like any crew cut, lengths of the top hair depend on the slope/shape of the skull. The general idea with any crew cut, including an ivy league, is that when the top hair is brushed back off the forehead to form the short pomp front, and the head is viewed in side profile, the outline of the top hair should approach the horizontal. When viewed from the front, the outline of the top hair can contour to the most complementary degree to the skull shape, as determined by the barber and customer's wishes. Of course a flat top crew cut will appear horizontal from the front as well as in side profile, when the top hair is brushed back off the forehead to form the short pomp front. The degree of the graduation in length of the top hair therefore is dependent on the shape/slope of the skull with all crew cuts including an ivy league. When a customer requests a crew cut or ivy league, most older classic barbers inquire as to the desired length at the frontal hairline and whether a customer wants the edge at the nape tapered or blocked and if he wants the back/sides short, semi short, or medium and goes from there. If a barber does not inquire as to the desired length at the front hairline and is not shown a photo and it is not a maintenance haircut, where the prior ivy league or crew cut's parameters could easily be guessed by asking how long since the customer's last haircut, the results may not be at all what a customer had in mind. He could even end up with a butch cut.


Good Luck!What exactly are the lengths for an ivy league hair cut?
Try these two websites. They show a few photos of what you may be looking for. They are pretty short, definitely a buzz cut. Looks like a number two into a number three or a number three into a number four, scissor cut on the top.
As long as it is not longer than 7 inches or shorter than 1/2 inch.