WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ... THE MULLET HAIRCUT : Its heyday has passed, but its still locked in our minds
Posted on Monday, September 8, 2008
Joe Dirt
Hair bands rocked them throughout the 70 s and Ζ 80 s, Angus MacGyver made them look cool in the early 90 s, and Joe Dirt reminded audiences that the mullet was business in the front and a party in the back in the 2001 comedy of the same name.
The once-popular haircut is easily identified, hard to miss. The mullet involves keeping the hair on the top and sides of the head short and trimmed while allowing the back to grow out as long as the wearer likes. It is the perfect style for a long summer day filled with lawnmower racing and hanging out creekside while rocking out to Motley Crue in cut-off jean shorts and oversized plastic sunglasses.
The hair style, in short, is a horror to look at for some, comedy for others and no laughing matter for those who sport it.
The mullet, boy that bugger has really disappeared, Gene Wolf of Genes Barber Shop in Bentonville said as he laughed at the thoughts the haircut resurrected for him. We have one guy who still comes in (to the shop ) and wears one. He has really nice, wavy hair with the sides short and the top short with the back long and thick. His name is Mose and he has worn the mullet since I have ever known him.
The haircut was popular, once upon a time, Wolf said, citing sev- eral entertainers The Gatlin Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama and Billy Ray Cyrus who sported mullets with pride.
I remember the 70 s when I had customers that would wear them and they would only get trims a couple of times a year. It was a hard time to be a barber, Wolf said. You did not rely on those guys for a living or else you did not get to eat much.
Although Wolf never braved the mullet haircut, his partner, Clovis Hance, did on more than one occasion.
It was the style. Everyone wore a mullet back in the 70 s and 80 s, Hance said.
Feeling a bit of nostalgia, Hance grew a mullet five years ago and kept it for a year because he just wanted to see what it would look like.
I remember when (Hance ) had it and one day, he said to me, Better cut this stuff off. I said, Why is that ? and he said it was too much maintenance. You gotta dry it and wash it and all that stuff, Wolf said.
As for David Henderson of Bentonville, the mullet was never a haircut for him. In fact, during the mullets prime, Henderson was never more proud to be nonfashion conscience, he said.
I am a T-shirt and jeans guy, Henderson said. I have had the same haircut my entire life and I can definitely say I am never going to get a mullet.
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