Updated: September 23, 2024, 10:49 AM
Teenage boys are crazy about new hairstyles.
You’ve probably seen Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, internet personality Jake Paul and pop megastar Bad Bunny sporting variations of what some have called an “alpaca” cut.
Appearance varies, of course, but there are three defining features: the sides and back of the head are shaved short, with a generous amount of curly, bushy hair on the top of the head, and what looks like a tuft of hair between an alpaca’s ears.
Herson Bautista, owner of Heritage Barber & Company in Kensington, Maryland, told Morning Edition that he performs the haircut six to seven times a week, and that it’s usually young men who request it.
Bautista said the haircut is technically called a “textured fringe.”
“It gives you volume at the top of the head, so it kind of gives you a lifted texture to the hair,” Bautista said, describing the look as if the client had an “old mop” on top of their head.
Bautista also sees kids with straight hair coming in for haircuts: Because they can’t naturally curl their hair, customers go to another salon to get a perm to give the cut its signature “fluffy style,” he said.
Bautista said he doesn’t know who made the hairstyle popular, but he’s seen requests for it at his barbershop for the past few years.
And there may be a more practical explanation for the haircut’s popularity, which has to do with the insecurity that teenagers often feel.
Julian Guardado, owner of Magic Cuts barbershop in Silver Spring, Maryland, said he remembers growing out some of his peers when he was growing out their hair to change the way it looked.
“Some kids don’t like the size of their forehead or the way their hair falls naturally, so I think that has a lot to do with it,” Guardado said, adding that young people today may be adopting trendy hairstyles “because they look good on the shape of their head.”
Copyright 2024 NPR
