DARE TO ASK: The mullet: Hair-do or hair-don't?

By PHILLIP MILANO, The Times-Union

Question

Do men and women who wear their hair in a mullet hairstyle actually think it looks good?

J. Masiulewicz, 41, male, Jacksonville

Replies

I had a mullet in junior high and thought it looked good. There are other hairstyles just as bad, if not worse.

Mike, Chicago

Are these mullet wearers in their early 40s? I think what happens is that when someone is in their prime, like, say, their early 20s (1986, if you do the math), they get a stylish haircut that looks good on them and then they just stick with it. For the rest of their life!

Anna, 40, Nashville

I just spent some time in Spain and noticed that mullets are quite popular among the young men. Muy feo (very ugly) is all I can say.

Teresa, 20, Macomb, Ill.

There's a woman where I work who has what is probably the same unflattering-as-hell "big hair" hairstyle she had in grade school, as well as the most amazingly ugly pair of high-waisted, narrow-legged, purple acid-washed jeans. She thinks she looks good in both. She's wrong. Embracing change is not necessarily a common human characteristic.

Ann, 38, Kansas City, Mo.

Expert says

Mullets have become so popular - to mock - that the Web is packed with sites such as mulletmadness.com, ratemymullet.com and plagueofthemullet.com.

Favored terms for variations include the Frolet (an Afro/mullet combo), the Mulletino (a Latino mullet), the Skullet (long in back, bald on top) and our favorite, the Chullet (a child's mullet).

The "party-in-back, business-in-front" style cropped up in the late '70s with glam rock, but some say the name itself came from 19th-century fishermen who grew long hair in back to keep warm - thus the term mullet.

Melanie Ash Peterson, senior art director with Supercuts, says mullets peaked in the '80s, as pop and punk musicians adopted big and pouffy ones.

Country singer Billy Ray Cyrus latched onto an extreme mullet-style in the '90s, then abandoned it, leaving other aficionados to twist in the wind. A calmer version - collar-length in back - remains popular in salons today, she said.

"There's always a percentage of the population that doesn't care or doesn't know [it's being ridiculed]. They just like it. And anyway, hair is a statement you're making about yourself, and we shouldn't say one style is wrong."

The mullet is beloved among some Southerners and blue-collar workers - see Joe Dirt - but it can pop up anywhere, she noted.

Why sport one? Often, it can be a sign someone doesn't know if he wants long or short hair, Peterson said.

"The mullet is also low-maintenance, which can be a draw."

Her advice to those who must have the mullet: "Update it. Crop it shorter, texturize it. Bring it to a more current look."

Phillip Milano, author of I Can't Believe You Asked That! (Perigee), moderates cross-cultural dialogue at Y? The National Forum on People's Differences. Visit www.yforum.com to submit questions and answers, or mail to Phillip Milano, c/o The Florida Times-Union, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231. Include contact information.