Schoolboy’s mullet so ‘extreme’ he was put in isolation and made to chop it off
It goes by many names. The Kentucky waterfall, the ape drape, the beaver paddle, the neck warmer, the 10/90, the ‘business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back’.
But to most, the haircut – short on top, tight on the sides and long in the back – is called a mullet.
For 18 months, Welsh pupil Toby Quinn, 15, gave the winners of the USA Mullet Championships a run for their money by growing a lengthy wavey mullet.
Quinn’s school, however, wasn’t exactly keen to crown him mullet champion anytime soon.
Some schools in Australia, where the shoulder-length hairstyle has long been popular, have banned the mullet for not meeting student grooming standards.
In what could be the first instance of the same happening in the UK, St Aidan’s Catholic Academy in Sunderland ordered Toby to give his mullet the chop.
It was, to school bosses, simply ‘too extreme’ for the academy of some 850 students, so they gave him a week to hit the barbers.
Toby had already gotten into some hairy stations with academy administrators, having once been pulled aside for his hair being too short.
Toby’s mum Naomi, 47, said the school had been mulling considering the mullet a cut too far.
She said: ‘His teachers said they’d changed the haircut policy and it had to go.
‘They said that it wasn’t professional and he wasn’t allowed to have it and was told to cut it off.
‘I don’t know why a 15-year-old needs to be considered professional. The general gist was that it was considered extreme.
‘He did get isolated for having it, he got separated from the school community and he was there for the rest of the day.’
Naomi was even called into the school for a meeting about her son’s hair.
‘He wasn’t happy at all though to lose the mullet, he said he was fuming. But he’s come to terms with it, he’s had a few weeks to digest it,’ Naomi added.
While Toby wasn’t too thrilled about cutting his heap of long kinks that could have soon been falling past his shoulders, he managed to see the bright side.
The school extended Toby’s deadline to get a haircut when they were told the teen decided to turn his de-mulleting into a way to raise money for charity.
Toby said: ‘I was fuming when my mam told me the school said my mullet had to go.
‘But then I thought about doing the fundraiser and making a bit of money for charity and I felt better about it.’
On Tuesday, Toby had his mullet cut for Newcastle Hospitals Charity to support a ward which saved his grandad’s life last year.
His JustGiving page has raised £295 of its £200 goal at the time of writing, with Toby writing: ‘I’m raising money for the Cardiac Unit at the Freeman Hospital.
‘This is because 18 months ago my grandad spent almost two months being treated on the unit. They managed to save his life.’
St Aidan’s Catholic Academy has been contacted for comment.
The mullet’s roots stretch far back in history. There’s evidence of it appearing in ancient Assyria and Greece, being popular among Greek warriors so they could see clearly while keeping their necks toasty and warm.
The hairstyle eventually got the name we know today from the Beastie Boys’ 1994 song Mullet Head, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Aussie barbers are pretty used to requests for mullets – with wearers letting their hair down each year at Mulletfest – but the hairstyle has become increasingly trendy in the UK.
In the US, the mullet is about as American as apple pie, with devotees calling themselves the ‘mullitia’ (pronounced: muh-lisha) and even participating in mullet championships.
Some majestic mullets competing in the USA Mullet Championships have included: ‘The BC Gravy Train’, ‘Terry the Walmart Wolverine’, ‘Panhandle Justice’, ‘The Carolina Shrimp Tail’ and the ‘Texas Tailgate’
Scott Salvadore, who has won the USA Mullet Championship for the last two years, wrote in The Guardian that he’s proud of his, the ‘Lord’s Drapes’.
‘I get recognised as the “mullet guy”, and people sometimes ask for advice on how to grow their own,’ Salvadore said.
‘I’d say you don’t choose the mullet, the mullet chooses you.’
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