In the 90s the trend began its steady decline. We need to talk about what it means to be male and female.” “I absolutely think it’s a lesbian haircut because it’s always my hair that gives me away,” she says, “it’s the dyke cut, the lesbian cut, it’s butch.” Another says she loves the mullet because “it’s kind of a genderless haircut. In the documentary American Mullet, one woman sees it as a signifier of her sexuality. It was also fully embraced towards the end of that decade by lesbian culture. Though the style was seen predominantly on white dudes – with notable exceptions like Little Richard – a slew of female figures did rock the mullet, Cher, Jane Fonda, and Joan Jett among them. Typically signifying fun and flamboyance, it said to the world, Hey, I party and I enjoy riding in open-top cars. Whether you were metal or country, yuppie or punk, jock or biker, the mullet was a mainstay of hairdos. Everyone from Metallica’s James Hetfield to Billy Ray Cyrus had a mullet.

In the 80s, the mullet transcended culture. The cherry on top of a teen rebel’s iconic look. There’s zero irony in these looks, just pure, distilled cool. They drooled over Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys, marvelling at his short spikes on top and horse-like tail at the back. Teens had posters of Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, no doubt contemplating a mullet of their own. This is when the in-your-face statement style from the 70s became, well, normal. Welcome to the glory years of the mullet: the 1980s. As it turns out, though, this was only a taste of what was to come. Not to mention the parade of white male rockers with oversized drum kits and flying-V guitars. There was Wings-era Paul McCartney, too, his famous Beatles mop now extended at the back. The mullet topped off the look that was all pomp and performance. That same decade saw Rod Stewart’s mane of hair bounce from shoulder to shoulder, as he performed in jumpsuits on Top of the Pops. Bowie was known for his androgynous style throughout his career, and it was all encapsulated in that one hairdo: a fusion of traditionally disparate female and male styles, long and short in one. It was the advent of glam rock, with David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust leading the way, a carrot-orange waterfall cascading down his neck.

In pop culture, the look only fully took flight – still without a name, remember – in the 70s.

He apparently thought that with this down-to-earth, slightly rough look he could charm France into increasing its financial and diplomatic support of America. Then there’s president Benjamin Franklin, who in the late 18th century wore a ‘skullet’, a style that’s bald on top and long at the back. In the US, the style dates back to Native Americans tribes that often combined the look with a Mohawk. And in the 16th century, Hittite warriors sported them, along with the Assyrians and the Egyptians. Ancient Roman chariot racers rocked them, too. There are also Greek statues that date back to the 6th century BCE that show mullets were at the inception of western culture. In his book Mullet Madness, writer Alan Henderson says that prehistoric peoples would likely have discovered the practical benefit of cutting their fringe to keep it out of their eyes while extra growth at the back would keep their necks warm and protected from the rain. But as we know, the infamous cut often referred to as the ‘Kentucky Waterfall’ existed way before that. The name itself wasn’t coined until recent times, with the Oxford English Dictionary crediting the Beastie Boys’ 1994 classic Mullet Head for common popularisation. Business up front, party in the back - it’s a hairstyle that has shapeshifted in and out of fashion since its inception. From guides to histories, this is where we shed light on past subcultural movements and educate our readers on current trends and various goings-on. Welcome to Beauty School, the corner of Dazed Beauty dedicated to learning.

Kentucky waterfall mullet meme