Mallet (hairstyle)

The origin of mallet is not entirely clear. Enthusiasts claim that ancient Egyptians wore hairstyles of the Mallet type, as well as Gauls and Scandinavians. According to American legends, fishermen in the 19th century wore long hair in the back so as not to catch a cold in the neck, and this served as the nickname mullet, which means “mullet” in English. The term is also mentioned in 1967 in the film with the participation of Paul Newman and George Kennedy "Cool Hand Luke", in which the hero Kennedy calls men with long hair "Mulletheads". In the United States, the hairstyle of mallet was associated with the " white rabble " - a declassified white population who was hired on a par with blacks. Later, the fashion for mallet penetrated the environment of rock musicians.

The fashion for mallet returned in the 70-80s of the 20th century, rock singer David Bowie played a significant role in its popularization. If in the 70s the mallet was short, then in the 80s it was significantly lengthened, which, together with the fashion for highlighting, had a rather grotesque effect.

Mallet was worn by many film actors, athletes and rock musicians. In Canada and the Scandinavian countries, the mallet is even called the “hockey player’s hairstyle” (hockeyfrilla). According to the traditional version proposed by the Oxford Dictionary, the term Mullet was coined by Beastie Boys , although the expression “mullet-headed” is still found in Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .

A turning point in the popularity of mallet was a critical article by Mike Dee in the magazine of the Beastie Boys group, published in 1995 . “There is nothing worse,” it said, “than a bad haircut. And perhaps the worst example here is what we call the mallet. ” The next few pages contained a libel in relation to the hairstyle, which was accompanied by a large number of photographs of celebrities who preferred this style. Shortly after the article was published, it became popular among fans of the group and in youth culture in general. This led to the fact that for several years the mallet was almost everywhere subjected to ridicule.

In the Soviet Union, the most famous carriers of mallet were rock musicians Viktor Tsoi (since 1983); Alexey Glyzin ; Konstantin Kinchev , who adopted the fashion for mallet from the American Joanna Stingray . Today, mallet in the CIS countries is very popular and is worn by quite different social groups. At the same time, the attitude towards mallet in the USA is ambiguous. Traditionally, it is sheared by the inhabitants of the American hinterland and categories of citizens called rednecks (redneck) and white trash (white scum).

Among the most famous carriers of the mallet: musicians David Bowie , Phil Collins and Paul McCartney , film actor Mel Gibson , hockey player Wayne Gretzky , wrestlers Terry Hulk Hogan and Sean Michaels (until the mid 90's), figure skater Johnny Weir .

The American actress Kristen Stewart, for the shootings in the film “ Runaways, ” had to cut her signature long curls into a ragged haircut “mallet” and repaint from chestnut to black ^[1] .

In 2017, Ben Beckhen of EXO had the mallet. In 2018, the same hairstyle was worn by members of other k-pop groups GOT7 and BTS , Jabie and Wi .

Currently, this hairstyle is worn by Yo-landi from the band Die Antwoord .

There are a large number of modifications of the mallet, for example a scallet (skullet, from the English. Skull - skull). Skallet is a head trimmed with an electric machine “ to zero ” (or bald due to natural causes) with long hair at the back.

• Mullet the Mystery John Algeo, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Georgia.
• YouTube: the history of mallet from ancient times to the present day.
• YouTube: A documentary confession of a man wearing a mallet.