The sides were faded short but not skin-tight, allowing for a sharp contrast with the top, which was grown out and aggressively styled upward. But the defining feature was the design. Razor-sharp lines were etched into the sides—sometimes a singular slash, sometimes complex geometric patterns—turning his head into a canvas.
: His teammate Dani Alves reportedly persuaded him to go for the ultra-short look only a few hours before kickoff.
To understand the impact of this hairstyle, one must look at the intersection of football and gaming culture. FIFA 15 remains a cult classic, and Neymar on the cover (and on the pitch) sported this exact look.
Looking back, the 2015 hairstyle represents a specific, nostalgic window in time. It was before the pressure of captaining Brazil in a World Cup, before the controversies in Paris, and before the injuries began to mount. It represents "Peak Neymar"—a time when he was the coolest athlete on the planet.
Later in the year, as his hair grew back from the buzz cut, Neymar embraced his natural texture.
In the pantheon of footballing follicles, few moments stand as tall—quite literally—as Neymar Jr.’s hairstyle in 2015. It was a year that defined a generation of football fans, and while the goals, the dribbles, and that Dortmund cameo were spectacular, the visual anchor of it all was the hair: the bleached blonde faux-hawk with the racing stripes.