Edition: U.S. / Global


Published: March 4, 1990

SEARCHING for inspiration does not take them to old photographs by Cecil Beaton or exquisitely poised models in fashion magazines. When children contemplate a new haircut, they flip on ''Yo! MTV Raps,'' the music video show on cable television. There, they see the Fade, the Slope, the Gumby, the Fence, the Bowl, the Spike - haircuts with sharp, strong style worn by singers named Def Jef, Bobby Brown, Queen Latifah and the New Kids on the Block.

It is a generation and a world away from the days when boys dreaded visits to the barbershop and girls let their mothers decide what they wanted. ''I beg my Mom to take me to the barbershop,'' says Zakee Howze, an 8-year-old boy who recently got a ''fade'' haircut. ''It goes from no hair on the sides to more and more hair as it reaches the top. A woman on MTV, she has the same haircut, but hers is higher on top.'' Time for some definitions. The Gumby haircut, worn by the singer Bobby Brown, stands straight up on top of the head, from long on one side to short on the other. The Slope is similar to the Gumby, but it's short in back and long in front. For the Spike, the hair is short on the sides and stands straight on top (older, uncool people might call it a crew cut). It is meant to be slicked with gel or mousse and drawn up with the hands. To achieve the Fence, the whole head is shaved like a crew cut, except for the front, which stands straight up about an inch or two. The bowl haircut is, well, a bowl haircut - not new, but don't tell anyone under 12 years old. Last summer, the short flattop haircuts with designs etched onto the back - Batman or initials, piano keys or dancing figures - were popular. Now, ''they're going out of style,'' Zakee says.

These are boys' haircuts. And, right now, boys more than girls seem to be searching out rigorous styles. ''The boys know what they want,'' says Pamela S. Knarian, who helped start the Star Cuts for Kids salons at Sears. ''They're giving direction to the haircutters.'' Few boys and girls are asking their parents for advice on such fashion issues. ''The parents have less and less to say,'' says Joanne Fetta, the manager of the Glemby salon at Macy's in New York. ''We used to consult just the parents, and the child would sit there in the chair. Now, the parents sit silent.''

Mikey Chernow is 9 years old. Every morning, he wakes up and squeezes gel into his hands. He rubs the gel in his hair, pulling the flattop straight up into spikes. ''When I go to a party, I spend a lot of time doing my hair - maybe 20 minutes.'' Jesse Stepler, who is 7, shoots a big drop of mousse into his hair every day before school - when he isn't wearing an orange hat, backward. ''Boys are using mousses, gels and hair sprays,'' Ms. Knarian says. ''They're not inhibited at all.''

In New York, Astor Place Hairstylists is the trend-setter for the under-12 set. In this chaotic, factorylike barbershop, music blares from radios and children come in groups to get their hair cut. Reynaldo Loreiro cuts the members of the singing group the New Kids on the Block. Tony Preda specializes in imprinting. J. B. Gattuso turns out Gumby haircuts with his scissors flashing. Uptown, at the F. A. O. Schwarz Shooting Star salon, the styles - and the atmosphere - are more subdued. But even there, boys are asking for spike haircuts and picking up tubes of gel on their way out.

As for girls, many are lopping off their long hair into bobs or wedges. But there are still individualists. Marissa Jedell, a 9-year-old with flaming red hair, wears it long - either straight down, with her bangs combed over her forehead, or pulled into a ponytail with a thick, bright pink elastic. ''All my friends have short hair,'' she says. ''I like mine long and red.''

Photo: Maurice Mitchell favors a flattop; J. B. Gattuso of Astor Place Hairstylists obliges (Michael O'Neill) (pg. 56)