Think of a no-nonsense, easy-to-care-for, relaxed style that will keep you safely out of the reach of expensive hairstylists for a long time to come.
I am talking about the classic hairstyle — the mullet.
Now, I know what you may be saying to yourselves: “Did he really suggest I get a mullet?” Yes, I did. And for good reasons too.
The mullet is not simply the abused stepchild hair do of the 1980s. It is instead a multifaceted useful hairstyle that is both easy to maintain and full of fashion history.
But mullets are much more than just a simple fashion statement. They are perhaps among the most sought-after hairstyles today because of what they portray to those around them.
From the ancient Romans to the Egyptians, empires and cultures have come and gone leaving behind history, myth and mullets. This example is one of history’s most successful mulleteers. Tiberius was one of Rome’s most successful emperors. But something more interesting is that he also had a mullet. His mullet was such a symbol of power that he and his mullet were minted on coin. His face became a symbol of power and prestige, and along with it, the mullet.
Another of history’s examples is located in the Louvre among the museum’s Etruscan artifacts. It is a statue called the Sarcophagus of a Married Couple, circa 510 BC. These two muleteers pre-date Tiberius by a couple hundred years, and show that mullets sometimes come in pairs.
But even before these examples, in Homer’s “The Iliad” it says:
“The sprinting Abates followed hard at his heels, their forelocks cropped, hair grown long at the back, troops nerved to lunge with their tough ashen spears and slash the enemies’ breastplates round their chests.”
That’d be Book 2: The Great Gathering of Armies, from the version translated by Robert Fagles, lines 2.632-35 to be precise.
This was written presumably around the eighth century BC about the Trojan War, which is supposed to have taken place around 1200 BC. Those are some seriously old mullets.
Perhaps you are still not convinced of the greatness of mullets, but that’s all right.
There are many modern stars who have decided to go back to the mullet since Billy Ray Cyrus of the 1980s.
For example, the popular country star Dierks Bentley has been reported to be growing a mullet, and there is a lot of evidence to support that claim.
Bentley is just one example of celebrities who are trying to persuade the public, by example, to return to the ancient and powerful roots of the mullet.
While our society is under influence from all types of hairstyles, it is nice to know that there is one constant and never-changing style that will always give a statement to those who see it.
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