PART 1
ギャル
So what is 'gyaru'?
To put it short, gyaru (Japanese transliteration of word 'gal') is a subculture originated in Japan at 70's that had its peak at 90's and 00's.
The main objectives of gyaru were to rebel against the strict Japanese beauty standards and quote, 'get wild, be sexy!'
Japanese women were expected to be quiet, modest, submissive, pale and natural. To go against those expectations gals answered with fake tan, bleached hair, strong makeup and attitude! Gyaru is all about letting yourself be whom you want to be without caring about society's reaction (•̀ᴗ•́ )و
Even though gyaru started with simply rebeling the modest expectations, it quickly became an umbrella term for many substyles~! ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)˚๐*˟♡
Here is a list of the substyles every gal should know with a quick definition! I will make a saparate posts on some☆☆☆☆ later 💖;
1. Ganguro
Although the term ganguro is rarely used nowadays due to it being a blackface I think it's important to mention it as it is considered as one of the first substyles of gyaru, and a mother style to manba, banba and yamanba. Ganguro were often associated with lack of hygene and being inpredictable. The most popular brands were Alba Rosa and Cocolulu.
Appearance;
💗 Very dark tan
💗 White 'unblended' makeup around eyes,
on nose and lips
💗 Often hawaii-inspired fashion
💗 Many colorful cheap-looking accessories
💗 Platform boots
💗 Light, bleached hair
💗 Long heavely decorated nails
2. Manba
Manba ia a substyle that originated from Ganguro but has a softer and cuter type of look. Girls who dress in manba often wore softer colors and animal accents in makeup, like whiskers! (✿ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)⁾⁾ They also wore tropical, summery fashion.
Appearance;
🌟 Light to very dark tan
🌟 Bleached blonde or colorful hair
🌟 White 'unblended' makeup around eyes, on nose and lips
🌟 Decorated nails and accessories
🌟 Often hawaii-inspired fashion
🌟 Platform boots
🌟 Face stickers and animal inspired makeup but not necessarely
3. Yamanba
ヤマンバ
Yamanba is very similiar to Manba but it often contains bright colored leses and places the white makeup only on upper eyelid instead on both. It's also considered to have darker tan.
Appearance;
🌟 Medium to very dark tan
🌟 Bleached blonde often with unnatural highlights
🌟 White 'unblended' makeup on upper eyelids, nose and lips
🌟 Decorated nails and accessories
🌟 Often hawaii-inspired fashion
🌟 Platform boots
🌟 Colored contact lens
4. Tsuyome
ツヨメ
Tsuyome is a very board substyle that mainly focuses around a cool and sexy look with cheetah print, furry leg warmers and everything d.i.a! (૭ ｡•̀ ᵕ •́｡ )૭ It's often inspired by wild west too~! Tsuyome are the cool girls~!!! Most popular clothing brand is d.i.a
Appearance;
💀 Strong eye makeup with light lipstick
💀 Light to dark tan
💀 Usually bleached blonde hair
💀 Lots of cheetah pattern, fur, and leg warmers
💀 Main color base is black, white and brown
💀 Often inspired by cowgirl fashion
such as cowboy hats and boots
5. B-gal
B-ギャル
B-gal (stands for Black Gal) was a substyle very heavely based on Afroamerican culture, Hip Hop and R&B music. Girls were heavely tanning, wearing braids such as cornrows and gold jewlery to look black. Nowadays the term B-gal is often used for the real black gals. Most popular brand was Baby Shoop.
Appearance;
💫 Medium to very dark tan
💫 Often braided brown and black hair
💫 Lots of gold or silver jewlery
💫 Inspired by 90s and 00s afroamerican fashion
💫 Standard gyaru makeup
 |
| (thats not bgal, yamanba) |
6. Amekaji
アメカジ
Amekaji is a very colorful and cheerful substyle inspired by American popculture.(Yes, I purposely chose a McDonald theme here). Gals were wearing low jens, fullcap hats, beanies and so on, ( ๑ ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و
💞 Very cheerful and flashy, many neon colors
💞 Most often blonde and brown hair but not necessarely
💞 Clothes with cheesy English texts
💞 Fullcaps, baseball hats and beanies~
💞 Loose clothes, baggy jeans, sneakers
7. Rokku
Rokku simply stands for "rock". The color scheme is based on color black, sometimes with bright accents. Rokku is one of the substyles that dont require any tan or particular hair color (૭ ｡•̀ ᵕ •́｡ )૭.
Appearance;
💔 Tan is optional, pale skin is popular
💔 Smokey eyes and dark lipsticks ✴
💔 Body modifications are common
💔 Main color scheme is black
💔 Many skulls, crosses, rhinestons and leather
💔 Hair color is optional
8. Agejo
I could talk about agejo for hours since thats the style I dress in~ ₍ᐡ｡っ ̫-｡ᐡ₎ Agejo is a substyle mainly wore by hostess and sex workers (but of course not only), The style is a perfect balance between cute and sexy! Agejo's main color scheme is black & hot pink but there are versions based on white & hot pink as well as black/white x pink/purple.小悪魔 Ageha magazine is a great inspo that contains makeup, hair and outfit tutorials! Most popular brand is Ma*rs but there are more that I will talk about on another post~
Appearance;
 |
| thats me~ |
💝 Tan is optional, usually not darker than medium
💝 Sexy clothes containing lingerie characteristics.
💝 Eye enlarging makeup ranging from soft to strong but not extreme
💝 Light lip makeup but not white
💝 Bows, sparkly accessories and laces
💝 Many animal and floral prints
💝 Usually blonde or brown hair, hardly ever unnatural colors
💝 Black&pink combo is the most common but white and purple also appear
💝 Decorative accessories with rhiestones and pearls 
9. Hime
Hime (Japanese word for 'princess'), is a cute substyle full of pink, bows, laces, flowers and plushies! ( 灬´ ˘ `灬 ) Unlike agejo it's not focused on being sexy but on being super girly and cute. Some people may think it reminds of lolita fashion but it has many differences! Hime does not require a petticoat and long sleeves, can be shorter than knees and many other things. Hime fashion evolved into few versions based on timeline, oldschool is more toned down and casual while more modern hime gals tend to have huge hair and lots going on in their fits! Main brands were Jesus Diamente and La Pafait.
Appearance;
 |
me again~ |
💘 Curly natural colored hair, up-do's and wig pieces were popular
💘 Pinkish, girly fashion inspired by strongly romantisized image of Europe, particularely France
💘 Many floral patterns as well as accessories
💘 Classic gyaru makeup focusing on enlarging eyes
💘 Light lips
💘 Heavely decorated nails and accessories
10. Himekaji
姫カジ
Himekaji is a more toned down version of hime gyaru. It has softer and more casual look to it, that isn't as flashy as Hime. The hair and makeup for himekaji has a more natural look to it as well as the nails. I like to think that Hime is a princess on a casual day and Himekaji is a princess on a casual day that tries to look normal but still shines with royalty~! (♡ˊ͈ ꒳ ˋ͈) Most popular brand for himekaji is Liz Lisa~💗
Appearance;
💗 Hair is optional, usually curled
💗 Makeup is on the softer side going for natural eye enlarging and light pink&brown palette~
💗 Soft, pink, white and beige based clothes that optically elongate legs
💗 Cute accesories with soft colors, avoiding being flashy and neons
💗 A lot of sanrio character merch
11. Onee gyaru and Ane gyaru
I decided to put those two together. Onee (Japanese 'older sister') is a mature substyle for older gyaru that wear more casual clothes while keeping some characteristics such as tan skin, bleached hair or animal prints. It's a good style for gals who cant wear flashy clothes because of dress code, but still live a gyaru lifestyle. Ane gyaru is a dark, more rebelious version of onee, also being for mature gals. Clothes are much more casual than for example Rokku or Ora Ora.
Appearance;
 |
| onee ☆ |
❤ None to medium tan
❤ Natural hair colors
❤ Medium strenght makeup, one of the few substyles that wear darker lips such as red but pink is most popular
❤ Casual clothes, often western designers such as Louis Vitton
❤ Animal prints such as cheetah are present
💢 Black color scheme
💢 Often body modifications
💢 Rebelious designer accessories
 |
| ane ☆ |
12. Ora Ora
オラオラ
Ora Ora is strongly based on yankii gangs (Japanese motor gangs strongly focused on looking scary and controvercial by having long coats with slogans, and often wearing the pompadour hairstyle. THIS is my favorite music band, Kishidan and one of my fave songs ever. You can see the yankii culture~! Ps. Yes, Josuke from JJBA is a yankii). Ora Ora gyaru is all about looking rebelious, with controvercial slogans, black based fashion and looking like a wannabe yakuza. Soul Sister and Soul Japan magazines have the most ora ora content.
Appearance;
☠ Dark clothes, leather is common
☠ Shaved or half shaved heads are rather common
☠ Strong smokey eye makeup with nude lips
☠ Skulls are a common accessory
☠ Lowest rank yakuza vibes
☠ Mody modification such as yakuza inspired tattoos and face piercings are common
13. Kogal/Kogyaru
コギャル
Kogal is a term for young gyaru that want to be gyaru but are still in school therefore wear school uniforms due to dress code. They followed the basic rules such as tanning, bleaching hair and doing a strong eye makeup, they also had a lot of cute accessories to style everything they could to make up to wearing the uniform. However now, not only is kogal a term, it is its own substyle~!(>᎑<๑)/♡ The mandatory school uniforms became the main characteristic of this style and many adult gals choose to wear kogal for its aesthetic~
Appearance;
💚 School uniforms often with oversized cardigans
💚 Light to medium tan
💚 Bleached blonde or brown hair
💚 Many cute accessories such as jewlery, bag chains and phone deco
💚 Nails are usually short
💚 Eye enlarging makeup with light lipstick
💚 Leg warmers are one of most popular characteristic of kogal~
💚 Crocks are common~!
14. Roma
ロマ
Roma (Short from word romantic) is a substyle that's often mistaken for himekaji as those two can be reaaaaally similiar. Hovever, the main difference is the color sheme and the overall vibe that it gives. While himekaji is heavely based on pink, roma is based on beige and browns, it also doesn't give as strong princessy coquette-y vibe but rather a girly french girl, always ready for a romantic date~˙˚ଘo(∗ ❛ั ᵕ ❛ั )੭່˙
Appearance;
♡ Natural hair colors, while blonde is common its not the usual yellowish bleached blonde
♡ Main color scheme is beige, brown, white and pastel pink
♡ Girly but modest clothes
♡ Floral, plain or polka dot patterns
♡ Berets and ribbons
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15. Romanba
ロマンバ
Romanba is a hybrid substyle between manba and hime invented by Ka-Tan~ It contains the dark tan and white makeup around eyes, on nose and lips but adds lots of pink, lace, bows and cute accessories~
Appearance;
💜 Medium to dark tan💜 Manba makeup
💜 Pink clothes and accessories in hime style
💜 Often face stickers and drown on white whiskers
💜 Long heavy deco nails
💜 Platform shoes
There are few more substyles that I will mention fast;
💙 Gyaruo (ギャルオ) - basically a male version of gyaru. It has its own substyles so I think I'll make a separate post for that~
💙 Serebu (セレブ) - A substyle focused on looking like a western celebrity. Serebu gals were wearing style now considered as mcBling, such as Juicy tracksuits, Chanel, Lipsy London and such. Main inspirations for this style were celebrities like JLO, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Christina Aguilera.
Thanks for reading 💗
Part 2 coming soon 💗💗💗
