World Cup excitement in Brazil is getting under people’s skin — and into their hair. In the city of Resende, located in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state, a 27-year-old barber named Washington Santos has crafted a unique hairstyle featuring the Brazilian flag as a way to celebrate his country’s pursuit of a sixth World Cup championship, known in Portuguese as the “hexa.”
The creation, which Santos calls the “Hexa Cut,” has quickly caught on with local soccer fans looking for a bold way to show their support for the national team.
Santos originally debuted the style during the 2022 World Cup, when footage of his work began spreading across social media. He brought the look back for this year’s tournament, and has since applied the colorful design to the heads of roughly 30 customers — the majority of them kids and teens.
“I wanted to create something different,” Santos said of his inspiration.
The technique is detailed and time-consuming. It starts with a standard haircut, followed by bleaching the hair to a white base. Santos then applies handmade stencils of his own design to map out the flag’s shape before carefully painting on the blue circle, yellow diamond, and green background. The finishing touches are done freehand.
Santos found his way into barbering more than ten years ago after a friend encouraged him to enroll in a barbering course offered through a local residents’ association. These days, he typically sees around five clients per week requesting the patriotic style — though that number climbs sharply whenever Brazil has a match on the schedule.
Since developing the Brazilian flag design, Santos has grown his artistic portfolio to include flags from other nations, spider web patterns, and soccer club color schemes.
During a recent visit to the shop, 27-year-old fan Gleizyane de Souza expressed her belief that the haircut could play a role in helping Brazil finally capture that elusive sixth title.
“We’re doing our part,” she said. “Now it’s up to the players to do theirs.”
