age, becoming the first skinheads.
Later, the name “skinhead” would
become associated with ugly
nationalist rhetoric groups, but
initially, it was just a descriptor
for those who chose to buzz their
hair in search of a bare-bones,
stripped look.
Using appearance to solidify
their
identity,
English
youth
began
wearing
ripped
and
distressed clothes, black, leather
and, of course, spiking and cutting
their hair. London punks gathered
in places like Sloane Square to
organize and meet other people
like them, but as the movement
gained traction, outsiders would
often come to their hangouts to
gawk at the variety of hairstyles
on display. One of these haircuts,
arguably the most famous of the
punk movement, was the mohawk
or
mohican,
a
characteristic
spiked ‘do running down the
center of the head. The shock
factor of these looks alone drew
attention from the mainstream,
and in turn, punk became a bigger
and bigger phenomenon, their
music and anarchist ideologies
thrust into the public eye.
At the same time, musicians
like
Patti
Smith
and
The
Ramones began the same path in
America, separating themselves
from
both
the
mainstream
and hippie counterculture to
begin something raw, new and
profoundly powerful. New York
City punk was less gaudy than
London’s initial movement, but
still presented itself as a legitimate
social culture with a look to match.
Though NYC is often credited
with the beginnings of American
punk culture, Los Angeles had
its own burgeoning punk scene,
and eventually, the movement
spread to most major cities. The
leather and distress of English
punk made its way into American
punk culture, some taking an
almost identical approach, but
many people in the States chose
to bypass the extreme hairstyles
of punk fame and instead opt for
a messy, slept-in look, long and
unkempt as if to say: “I don’t care
what I look like, what matters is
the message.”
By the late ’70s, punk was a
massive force in youth culture
and counterculture as a whole,
and the appropriation of its
characteristic looks began to
flow into the mainstream. Bands
like the New York Dolls started
subgroups like glam punk, which
took the basic elements of punk
and brought them to a draggy,
over-the-top level, sporting high-
femme makeup and big teased
hair in an effort to distinguish
themselves. Art punk formed
in bands like Television, who
grew out of drug culture and
into almost avant-garde music
and performance. In addition to
glam and art, the punk movement
started to fracture into dozens of
these smaller subcultures with
their own looks and ideologies.
But there was still a distinct
emphasis on the purposeful self-
“othering” of punks through their
choices in clothes and hairstyles,
something that lives on today
in these shattered pieces of the
original movement.
As the ’80s came and went,
punk grew into its own, and so
did the movements it inspired,
like hardcore and eventually post-
punk. Many of the bands who
transitioned into the latter two
categories even began as part of
the original punk rock movement,
but then separated themselves as
the subculture grew and changed.
The looks that accompanied both
were noticeably less extreme
and shocking than many of early
punk’s
trademarks,
choosing
comfort and the ability to mosh
over the spiked extravagance
and upkeep of their predecessors.
Their hairstyles followed this,
either settling into the Patti
Smith mold of languid disinterest
and shag or completely buzzing
it off in order to follow the raw
intensity of their music. This
continued into the next two
decades, as post-punk, grunge
and emo rock carried the spirit
of the original punk movement
into the future and with it the
style which separated them from
the mainstream. The remnants of
punk are everywhere, in music,
culture and of course, in hair.
Now, extreme colors and cuts
are more common than in the ’70s,
but the value of unique styling has
stayed the same — ultimately,
hair is an easy way to separate
yourself from the masses, to
express culture through your
appearance and show it for all to
see. It is clear how the hairstyles
of each facet of punk matched
and enhanced their mission as
subcultures, drawing attention to
themselves in an effort to subvert
and in turn highlight the reality
of social norms. The superficial
shock factor of a mohawk is
obvious, but the history behind
it may not be. At the end of the
day, it’s just hair, after all, but
its power to shift perception is a
foundational aspect of the punk
movement’s history, influence and
proliferation into the present day.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
b-side
Thursday, September 27, 2018 — 3B
CAPITAL RECORDS
Recently,
a
longstanding,
unspoken personal bond was
finally broken: Justin Bieber and I
no longer have the same hairstyle.
With news of his engagement to
Hailey Baldwin came paparazzi
photos of him, hair wild and
shaggy, sporting a mustache that
screams “I’ve been listening to a lot
of Post Malone lately and doing just
fine.”
I was a prepubescent boy
(i.e., dumb) during the “Baby”
heyday, so naturally I harbored
a completely irrational yet deep-
seated aversion of the singing,
dancing Canadian. Irony is a fickle
mistress though, as one can scroll
down to the murkiest depths
of my Facebook profile and see
tagged photos from the early 2010s
featuring a tinier me sporting the
same side-swooped bowl cut.
Like clockwork, if Bieber ever
changed his hair, I would somehow
end up with the same haircut –
albeit a couple months behind –
despite laughing at all the “memes”
mocking his androgynous looks
or imploring God to give us back
Michael Jackson if we offered
Bieber up in sacrifice. Slightly
shorter bowl cut Bieber? Been
there. Shaved on the sides, styled
long on the top Bieber? Done that.
I may have lost him for a bit in 2017
when he both shaved his head and
went back to the bowl, the look
closest associated with his rise to
superstardom. But when I decided
to dye my hair platinum blond, our
souls were briefly realigned and
everything was alright.
The
platinum
blond
trend
in men’s hair has increased
exponentially over the past few
years. This summer, Zayn Malik
went blond, Pete Davidson went
blond, Charlie Puth went blond;
even a handful of Mexican soccer
players went blond for a World
Cup match. Through its adoption
by many of the best-groomed men
in Hollywood and the fashion
industry, the trend’s en vogue
status has become solidified. The
fact GQ articles detailing some
facet of the platinum blond dyeing
process keep cropping up once a
year speaks to its lasting power.
It’s easy to dismiss platinum
blond as a fad, and that a decade
from now we’ll be looking at it with
the same disdain we now have
for frosted tips. On the notion of
a fad, one must first understand
frosted tips were far from one; the
reignited boy band craze of the
late ’90s and early ’00s solidified
their cultural impact, and they
were a commonplace hairstyle
for many young guys over damn
near a decade. Fads are lucky to
stay around for a year, as pogs
(milk caps) and fidget spinners are
fated to be relegated to the dustbin
of history. Trends like frosted
tips stick around, becoming a
cornerstone of their era’s defining
aesthetic. We’re quick to associate
nostalgia with fashion as it was
something in which everyone
technically participated. Everyone
wanted
to
look
like
Justin
Timberlake.
The thing is, not everyone wants
to look like Malik or Davidson or
Puth. Platinum blond hair seems
to have caught on only among the
upper echelon of men. If I walk
around campus on an average day,
I will only see two or three other
boys with hair like mine, out of
some thousands.
Whereas
dyed
hair
is
so
ubiquitous among women, it still
continues to be a taboo for some
men. Hair dye has been around
for centuries, with the earliest
and most prominent adopters
being the ancient Egyptians, and
blond hair has its own history, too.
Roman prostitutes were required
to have yellow hair to indicate their
professions, with some bathing
their hair in a solution made
from the ashes of burnt plants to
ROBERT MANSUETTI
Daily Arts Writer
Mohawks. Buzz cuts. Tangled,
teased, dyed, chopped, braided,
long, short and any every color
in the book. What do you think
of when you think of punk hair?
This is a broad question, but
holds more meaning than it may
seem. From its beginnings in the
’70s in England and the United
States, the punk movement has
always been closely related to its
members’ presentations in fashion
and grooming, specifically hair.
Though punk has split into many
subgroups since its inception, the
general consensus remains the
same: To be punk is to subvert
the status quo in every manner,
especially in the way you look to
others.
The separation between the
mainstream and counterculture
that functions as a foundation
for the movement was initially
and still is based heavily in
presentation. This is something
that has splintered into different
subcultures in the past five
decades but is still what many
people imagine when they think
of punk conceptually. In terms of
appearance, punk hairstyles have
become the primary marker for
the masses to identify rebellion
and subversion in public, an
opportunity for members of the
movement to “other” themselves
in a way that is easy to reverse and
change at a moment’s notice.
Punk and its offshoots have
often gotten a bad rep in the
media and society at large, in
response to not only the ideology
of their movements but also
their
appearance.
Extremist
submovements, like the white
nationalist skinheads, have often
overshadowed
the
meaning
behind punk style from the
beginning, and color the media’s
portrayal of the culture as a whole
with negativity. But in reality,
punk and its attachment to style
began as a way to subvert the
expectations of mid-70s England,
which was under the heavy veil
of social pressure to conform as
the post-war world erupted into
turmoil once again.
Young people who resisted the
norms of their world found solace
in music from groups like the
Sex Pistols and created a cultural
movement that shifted the “free
love” counterculture of hippies to
a harsher, more direct response
to political and social discord. In
the late ’60s, the earliest members
of the punk movement shaved
their heads in protest of the long-
haired freedom of the Aquarian
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
CLARA SCOTT
Daily Arts Writer
achieve that color without need
of a wig. Later in the 1700s, the
color became fashionable and
Italian women would sit out in the
sun with their locks submerged
in a corrosive solution for that
luxurious blond color. French
chemist Eugene Schueller created
the first synthetic hair dye for
commercial purpose in 1907, a
product that would later become
known as L’Oréal, and it quickly
became easier than ever for
women to change their hair color.
The
list
of
iconic
female
blondes could span hundreds —
Marilyn Monroe, Farrah Fawcett,
Madonna, to name a few. But
one would be hard-pressed to
find a single male celebrity with
platinum blond hair worthy of
the moniker “icon.” This is partly
because
platinum
blond
hair
on men, as previously stated,
is a trend very localized in the
2010s. Most celebrities who dye
their hair, like Bieber, either just
recently dyed it and have not put in
the time necessary for icon status,
or gave up maintaining the color
after a year or so and switched to
a new headline and eye-catching
hairstyle.
There is, however, a young
man on the verge of becoming
synonymous with platinum blond
hair. In 2017, Troye Sivan, a South
African and Australian singer-
songwriter
with
unassuming
mousy brown hair fresh off the
success of his debut album Blue
Neighborhood, posted on Twitter
and Instagram pictures of his
apparent blond curls. His fans
were initially skeptical, though
Troye made sure they knew it
was no fake, no wig. Aside from
this dramatic change and a few
features, Sivan did not have a
world-stopping 2017.
But this year, Troye is on top of
the pop world. It’s been less than
a month since his chart-topping
sophomore
effort
Bloom
was
released, featuring the infectious
anthem “My My My!” and the
Ariana
Grande
collaboration
“Dance To This.” His explosive
popularity came seemingly out
of nowhere, but it’s pretty easy to
understand. What makes Sivan
so different from his other male
contemporaries? And what makes
his hair such a statement? The
answer lies in his unapologetic
acceptance of his queerness.
As you may have assumed, the
reason dyeing your hair is still
taboo among most of the male
population is it goes against all
norms of traditional masculinity.
For lack of a better word, going
to a hairdresser and getting your
hair dyed platinum blond could be
seen as “gay.” In fact, while doing
research for this article, I stumbled
across a finely-worded Yahoo
Answers query asking if it “would
be gay if (he) dyed (his) hair
platinum blonde” (he specifically
requested “girls opinions on the
matter” and declined requests for
comment as he is both anonymous
and asked about nine years ago).
While the most mean-spirited of
bullies would call another guy a
“sissy” or “faggot” for dyeing their
hair, their vitriol isn’t misdirected;
most guys who are inclined to
change the color of their hair are of
a queer sexuality.
And why is that? While I am
by no means qualified to speak
for all non-heterosexual men, my
hair has come to mean a lot to me.
For years, I had sported haircuts
so uninteresting they would fit
snugly into any given fraternity
composite. Once I began to come
to terms that maybe there’s
more to life than girlfriends, that
guys can be pretty too, I became
increasingly
frustrated
with
my outward appearance. Easy
to disappear into a crowd, the
straight,
brown-haired
white
freshman I appeared to be was at
odds with the interior.
In all my social anxiety, I
believed people looked at me and
saw the most uninteresting man in
the world. I wanted so desperately
for them to not write me off as
boring and shy but them to see me
and instantly want to befriend the
silly lovable idiot I am underneath.
So a seed was planted and my plan
was to dye my hair something
radical Thanksgiving Break. I
settled on platinum blond after
scrolling through an unhealthy
amount of Lucky Blue Smith
pictures. That plan was derailed by
the family and friends occupying
my house for the holiday, so it was
pushed back to December. I would
bleach my hair over Christmas,
only tell a very select few about
it and surprise everyone else in
person. One stinging three-hour
visit to my mom’s favorite salon
later and the plan was underway.
It’s now sophomore year, and
has dyeing my hair platinum
blond changed my life for the
better? Well, yes and no. It hasn’t
transformed me into some cherub
of an extrovert with countless
friends under his wings, but I do
think it represents a more authentic
version of myself. It represents
someone who finally came to terms
with their worst hidden struggles
and no longer hates themselves
for who they are. I’d be lying if I
said the random compliments I
get in public bathrooms or fast-
food restaurants don’t give me the
slightest bit of confidence to keep
going on particularly hard days. I
have varied my hair color slightly,
dabbling in pink and lavender, but
platinum blond is my new home
that always calls me back. I don’t
even remember what I look like
with brown hair.
Hair is one of the most
important
forms
of
personal
expression, which is one of the
most crucial things to the identity
of any queer person, Troye Sivan
and myself included. While he and
I differ on the personal meaning of
our platinum blond hair — Troye
has always been public about
his identity way before the hair
change, while my acceptance of
my identity coincided with the
hair change (as my friends have
chided me about, in a very Ralph
Wiggum-type way) — both of us
use hair as a means to love and
accept who we are.
Troye Sivan’s hair has become
very central to his brand in an
amazing, celebratory kind of way.
The album cover for Bloom is a
black-and-white image of Sivan
with his back facing the camera;
the most prominent feature from
that angle is his hair. The video for
“My My My!” employs the same
technique. As Troye dances in
front of these empty, dimly-lit and
monochromatic backdrops, and
the platinum blond shines from
every angle. It could be reductive
to say all of one’s personality could
be distilled into their hair, but
when we choose what color we
want our hair to be, it’s safe to say
it’s a very sentimental personal
trademark of ours.
While hair has the utmost
importance to queer people of all
genders, it particularly stands out
among queer men because it swims
in a heterosexual sea of blasé male
hair. I like to think people look at
me (and boy, do I get looks now,
good and bad) and see the person
I want to present to the world, the
self becomes more and more true
every day. I hate to call my old hair
boring, because I’ve seen beautiful
brown hair, but I’ll be damned if
blonds don’t have more fun.
Spikes, Studs & Subversion: the
political resistance in punk hair
Troye Sivan is blowing up,
so are blond bombshells
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