The mullet has had a resurgence in right-wing America
WHEN THE wind catches three-year old Eli “Ginger Mane” Powell’s mullet just right, his mother said you can hear the national anthem playing and bald eagles cawing in the distance. For Easton “The Ida-Flow” Klink, the hairdo is a symbol of “247 years of American fan favourites” like barbecue and big trucks. Catch Brantley “BK” Kirwin shaking his locks at concerts and he’ll tell you about his love for the military and “MERICA”.
These are some of the contestants, all under the age of 12, who competed to be crowned “USA Kid Mullet Champ” this week. Offbeat cuts unite kids from the islands of Hawaii to the suburbs of Nashville; girls in daycare centres across the country reportedly drool over them. Together the 25 mullet-rivals, many of whom have kin in uniform, raised $125,000 for a wounded veterans charity.
The competition, along with ones for teens, men and women, started during the pandemic. When barbershops reopened “the mullet came screaming back,” says Kevin Begola, the contest’s bald founder. Google searches for the hairdo have since soared. To many, the look is a lifestyle. Members of “The Mullet That Changed My Life” Facebook group talk of finding “lifelong friends” in the mullet community. One young entrant says that because of his mullet he gets high-fives on the street from “America’s finest”; another says the cut gave him the guts to confront school bullies.
2023-08-17 08:33:27
Link from www.economist.com
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