Vote now in the USA Mullet Championships: They're a big hairy deal
Business in the front, party in the back. Tennessee Top Hat, Texas Tailgate. Hockey hair. Camaro hair. You know the look, now help pick the ultimate mullet.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Daniel Burton is competing in the mens open division of the USA Mullet Championships.
The mullet hairstyle has been mocked in everything from movies to memes, but it's still out there, loud and proud, business in the front and party in the back. Known as hockey hair to some, and the Tennessee Top Hat or Texas Tailgate to others, it's a hairstyle that doesn't care what's trendy or cool, it just is. And now you can help pick the best of the best, by voting in the USA Mullet Championships.
Really, it's an actual competition. You vote online, and voting ends Sunday, Aug. 29 at 8:59 p.m. PT. The contest began with 125 entrants, and is now down to just 25. The winner will receive $2,500 (roughly £1,815, AU$3,418) plus a trophy and other gifts.
Kevin Begola started the contest in 2020.
"I was tired of seeing so many beard contests and knew the mullet had a grassroots comeback," said Begola, who owns a men's clothing store, Bridge Street Exchange, in Michigan. "The haircut and lifestyle are so intriguing and people love it no matter what. It's so bad, it's now good."
Contestant Chaz Taylor has a mullet and carefully sculpted facial hair.
The contest really took off, perhaps due to the coronavirus shutdowns of 2020. You can vote simply by looking at photos of mulleted contestants online.
"It was a way to have some fun and cut through all the ugly news going on," Begola told me.
Here's the link to vote and see all the magnificent mullets. You do have to provide your email address, but Begola tells me the site doesn't harvest emails.
"We just need to validate them and make sure the voting is not subject to any cheating or bots," he said.
There's also a kids' division. It's too late to register, as 500 kids are already competing, but voting will take place in September, and the winning kid also gets a $2500 cash prize. Contestants must be 18 or younger.
Apparently, the mullet lifestyle starts early. Last year's kid winner was 8, but two kids under age 2 made the top 10. (You can see the kids' mullet gallery from 2020 here.)
Kids 18 and under compete in their own division. Here are last year's top three. Voting in the kids' division begins in September.
Begola says a contest for women with mullets and a contest for men age 55 and older were held earlier this year.
ESPN8: The Ocho even filmed a segment on the contest that aired earlier this month. The contest cost $10 to enter, and $5 of that fee went to the Stop Soldier Suicide charity.
But Begola himself isn't competing. Why? "I'm bald," he said.