Although it may appear that there is a rise in the female population on campus, it’s nothing more than a few guys sporting longer hair lately.
“I am really proud of my hair,” senior Tommy O’Connor said. “It has taken a lot of hard work but I think I have finally reached my goal to have the best hair in school.”
These hairstyles go by many names. One of the most common haircuts, the mullet, features a cut that is left shorter in the front than in the back, where the hair is often left long and wild. For personal reference, you may hear it called Hockey Hair, the Neckwarmer, the Beaver Paddle, or the Kentucky Waterfall.
“My hair is beautiful,” junior Bailey Bennett said. “I think it has great flow in the back. I like to say I’ve got a big party going on behind my head with business going on in the front.”
There is another type of hairstyle making its way around campus. It has a life of its own and commonly goes under the name “the flow.” It has came to be known as more than just a choice in hairstyle. It is a way of life, expressed by the clothes they wear, the sports they play, and the things they say. The flow is defined by long, wavy hair that spawns from confidence in its owner, leading to them thinking they can pull off man tails and uncontrolled facial hair.
“Sometimes in the car I like to roll down the window, stick my head out, and let my hair blow in the wind,” sophomore Beau Hancock said. “Kinda like a dog I guess.”
The motive is truly questionable as the hairstyles appear to come with more issues than advantages. Instead of basking in their masculinity, they subject themselves to the problems of bad hair days, extra cost of conditioning product, split ends, and static electricity.
“It is really a gift and a curse,” junior Austin Henning said. “It is great having this hair and showing it off everyday but it takes a lot of effort. It is all worth it in the end though.”
Perhaps what is most surprising about this new fad is that there appears to be no significant advantage given to these guys in the girlfriend market. Short haired guys are still finding success with their own means of attraction. In fact, many girls around campus have strong opinions about the new hairstyles.
“[In my opinion] guys don’t need to have long hair,” senior Donnelle Branche said. “Scott Kelly for instance, used to look like a girl. Now that he cut his hair, he looks like Channing Tatum. He is my Magic Mike.”
If it isn’t the females these young men are trying to appeal to, then the question remains: why still do it?
“The girls who think that long hair is not attractive obviously have a terrible taste in men,” O’Connor said. “If you have a guy with short hair and just put long hair on him, it makes him like 10 times more attractive.”
Possibly, these men are trying to be less manly and are actually going for a more feminine look. It used to be that girls were the only ones that could be found in the hair product aisle at the local Walmart, but it looks like society may have to start adjusting to a new normal.
“I think it works on some guys,” junior Kendall Berger said. “But on some guys it is stringy and flat and it doesn’t really work.”
