Everyone’s a little edgy nowadays. And with celebrities and influencers alike embracing all things unexpected, unique style has never been more mainstream: Kourtney Kardashian Barker ditched her Californian style for new-age soft goth aesthetics. Julia Fox took the world by storm with her avant-garde emo looks. Doja Cat completely rebranded into the cyber-goth Gen Z girl of our dreams, and everyone you’ve ever known bleached their eyebrows for a brief moment.
With this rise of alternative aesthetics has come a new range of hairstyles to reflect this change in stylistic perspectives. Think cuts like the shag, an influx of feminine buzz cuts, and even playful takes on the mullet. Perhaps the most surprising and extravagant of them all combines a few trends in one: the long, stretched mullet.
Ahead, all the details on the edgy hair trend and how you can achieve it yourself.
The Trend
In October, hairstylist and trend forecaster Tom Smith named the stretched mullet one of the styles to watch for the colder months. A stretched mullet is exactly what it sounds like—an exaggerated mullet with super-long hair in the back, landing anywhere beyond the middle of your back.
Obviously, this is a rather avant-garde take on the classic mullet, which peaked in popularity in the ’80s. Back then, the old-school version of this cut was masculine-leaning, short, and rather untamed. The mullets of today, however, are built different. The haircut has been celebrated by women and queer folks more than ever before, and the new generation of mullet-havers took to the cut, stretched it out, played with it, and made it into something completely fresh.
Getty Images
“Mullets have been evolving for a while now,” Smith says. The shullet, mixie, shag, and wolfcut have all blown up in the past few years. So it’s only logical that early adopters would have grown-out cuts in 2023, making the “stretched mullet” the next logical step in the haircut’s evolution. Plus, with co-signers like Rihanna, Julia Fox, and even Madonna, there’s no doubt the divisive style is catching on.
Not to mention, the look pairs nicely with the grunge revival, “rockstar girlfriend” aesthetic, and indie sleaze era. In short, this look was destined to blow up thanks to everything currently popular in the zeitgeist.
How to Get the Look
Smith told Byrdie how to ask for a “striking and strong look” at the hair salon. Getting the “epitome of business at the front and party at the back” is easiest if you already have a wolf cut, short mullet, or similar hairstyle. If this is your starting point, all you need to do is add extensions to the nape area of your neck to get that stretched look.
@dojacat/instagram
If you aren’t starting from a shorter version of the mullet, the first step would be cutting your hair into a wolf cut or mullet and following the same steps. Make sure your pre-extensions haircut has face framing accents, is shorter on the sides than the top and the back, and is longest in the rear.
This look can be a big commitment. However, if you want to give it a try before fully going for the chop, try slicking your hair back behind your head, creating an imitation stretched mullet. If you have longer hair on the top, fold and pin your hair to get a sense of what that mullet dimension will look like.
Of course, there is also the option of simply waiting for the back of your hair to grow to your waist while you maintain your mullet everywhere else. That’s just playing the long game.