What's with the Spanish mullet?

 

It's a question many foreigners new to Spain find themselves pondering: what's with the ubiquitous mullet?

For much of the world, this "business at the front, party at the back" hairdo has become a fondly remembered if often ridiculed relic of the 1980s.

But here in Spain, the mullet lives on in full, unapologetic glory. From spotty teenagers to middle-aged men, the mullet’s signature close-cropped front and sides and long back walks the streets of cities right across the country.

Turns out, it’s more than a hairstyle. It’s a way of life.

Like elsewhere around the planet, the ‘do was inspired by the heady 70s and 80s punk rock era that swept the US and UK. The fast, hard-edged music and political, antiestablishment lyrics found strong support in northern Spain, particularly among the politically engaged populace of the Basque Country, which had visibly and at times violently opposed the 36-year dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

As Spain transitioned to democracy in the late 1970s, the Basque separatists continued their aggressive push for independence, birthing the Kale Borroka or Urban Fight, a group of 16-25 year olds intent on taking back their country via urban guerrilla actions.

Many of these antiestablishment young nationalists proudly sported mullets. To some here, the hairdo is even known as the “Kale Borroka style”.

But why, more than 30 years on, is this odd cut still so popular and widespread across Spain? I turned to my 51-year-old flatmate for answers. His now-greying locks have been clipped into a mullet for the past 25 years, save for an “unhappy” five-year hiatus during which his employer forced him to lop off the party at the back.

“This is an expression of freedom,” he told me. “It means that you are your own boss, you’re not under the control of anyone. That’s the reason I dress in this way and wear my hair like this. It’s a way of saying: ‘This is me, this is who I am and I’m not going to be a sheep.’”

My flatmate's fabulous Spanish mullet / Photo: Koren Helbig

The style is often accompanied by a kind of uniform: plain jeans and dark-coloured t-shirts, maybe the odd tattoo or two. Some employers, my flatmate admitted, are reluctant to hire people who dress like this, knowing it can reflect a left-leaning counterculture intent on rebelling against the mainstream.

“Everybody was thinking the same under Franco, everybody was doing what the government wanted,” he said. “There was an order here but that order was black and white, it had no colour. Then democracy came but the mentality of the people was the same. This style became a way of saying: ‘I don’t agree with you.’”

Others, perhaps unkindly, insist these days the style is embraced by folk of the vulgar, aggressive or thug kind, known in Spain as “macarras” or “canis”.

There’s possibly a flamenco link, too, considering famed Spanish flamenco singer José Monge Cruz, better known by his stage name Camarón de la Isla, rocked a fabulously full-bodied mullet of curls until his death in 1992.

The mullet’s apparently popularity has even sparked sub-styles: always clipped close at the front, the longer locks behind can fly loose in the wind or be dreadlocked or plaited into little rats-tails for a more nonconformist, hippy look. I’ve even spotted the occasional gloriously over-bleached blonde mullet making its way through a crowd.

But not everyone is impressed by the style. Spanish online newspaper Público dryly noted in February that the cut “severs all traces of femininity” on women. The article quoted Basque hairdresser Ángel Círez as saying: “It’s a downright unflattering style, which suits almost no one, especially girls with very round features.”

Personally, I take an unhealthy delight in regular mullet sightings. Though I’m in no rush to crop my own locks and join the rebellion, I say viva el mullet and its fabulously entertaining indifference to style.

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Koren Helbig is an Australian freelance journalist, writer and blogger currently based in Alicante. She writes about Spanish life and culture for publications in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. She hangs out on Google+ and on Twitter at @KorenHelbig.

Comments

[Publicado por: John]

Mullets are still very popular in Barcelona among those involved in the anarchist movement: squatters (okupas.) The Barcelona neighborhood of Sants is one of the best places for mullet sightings.

[Publicado por: William]

I did notice this when I first visited Barcelona in 2003 but it seems to have all but disappeared today. Mullets were never associated with punk in the US, at least not in New York (nor in the UK as far as I can tell). I did see some Spanish punks sporting mullets though.

In NY mohawks were the way to go.

[Publicado por: Ababol]

I usually read this blog in order to find how foreigners see us (Spaniards). And also trying to improve my written English (which I haven't achieved yet, as you see).
I always find the different articles quite interesting, and usually useful.
This is the first time I would describe the post as no interesting at all. Congratulations, you finally made it.

[Publicado por: rafa]

The only people i see with mullets in Spain are from the USA

[Publicado por: wichampis]

I find this odd. Having lived in several countries, I would say Spain is one of the places where mullets are the least popular. As you mention, they are seen in the flamenco world, and among nationalists - but that is also the case among nationalists in Quebec, for instance. Otherwise, anyone sporting a mullet here is much more likely to be German or British than Spanish. And if you live on the Mediterranean coast, that likelihood grows exponentially. Are you asking everyone you see with a mullet where they are from?