Move over quarantine buzzcut, the mullet is (once again) having a moment. At first, I was not entirely comfortable with the long, flowing versions I saw popping up around where I live in Cronulla, in Sydney’s south. But the hairdo everyone loves to hate has somehow grown on me. It’s grown on my 16-year-old son, too. And I’m OK with that.
I grew up in the 80s and was never a fan of the mullet. This is despite the fact the “business at the front, party at the back” look was being worn by singers I idolised at the time: David Bowie, Chrissie Hynde, Prince, Joan Jett, and Chrissy Amphlett.
According to the teenagers I talk to, the mullet became popular in surfing circles when Australian pro-surfer Mikey Wright started sporting one on his Instagram page in 2017. Fast forward to 2021 and it is sometimes worn with mini bangs, or even mooshed together with a mohawk. It’s the latter look my son adopted.
To acclimatise myself, I took a quick scroll through the 750,398-odd photos on Instagram bearing the hashtag #mullet. There, I discovered dry haircutter @mouseybrowne who cuts not only mullets, but curly ones. Her work reminds me of how I felt about my own hair as a teenager. I didn’t want anyone taming it. As an adult, I still don’t.
As someone who swims in the ocean twice a day, every day, the thought of spending hours plastering down my naturally curly hair is anathema to me. Since my hair is styled by the sea, there are days I resemble a poodle. That kind of “bad” hair is being embraced by the younger generation. It’s one of the many things that I admire about them – the badder their hair day, the better.
Since they make my refusal to straighten my own sproingy hair look so good, it’s Mousey Browne’s feed I turn to for confidence when my son hands me the clippers and asks for “a sick fade”.
Visit any barber or hairdresser and you will find entire look books dedicated to the short back and sides cut. But my sons have a whole lifetime ahead of them to look conservative (or not). Besides, a quick amble down the aisles of the supermarket where they work today shows that the mullet is having more than a moment. That it’s not only acceptable in their workplace, it’s encouraged.
I do wonder what will happen when the hair trends of today are viewed in hindsight. Will today’s teenagers be ridiculed for taking up the modern mullet? If so, I don’t think they’d give a hoot.
