Why We Hate the Mullet

Americans and Iranians experienced an unlikely coming-together the other day on one topic: the mullet. Iran’s banning of the hairstyle earned it “not its usual international condemnation but a PR boost,” writes Beth Teitell in the Boston Globe. Inspired by the rare show of unity, she went on a quest to answer the question, “Why does the mullet elicit such loathing?”

One professor says the problem is the mullet lifestyle: “There is kind of a shirt open to the waist, coiffed chest hair that goes with it.” But perhaps we should sympathize with the mulleted: Jake Nyberg experimented with the hairstyle for 10 months, and found that he was ignored at J. Crew and didn’t fit in at business meetings. Even so, at least one stylist loves it: “I think it’s misunderstood,” he says. “A mullet can save the day.”
(More mullets stories.)