Surfer hair
Encyclopedia
Hairstyle
A hairstyle, hairdo, or haircut refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although practical, cultural, and popular considerations also influence some hairstyles.-History of...
, popularized by surfers from the 1950s onwards, traditionally long, thick and naturally bleached from high exposure to the sun and salt water of the sea. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the long hair and general lack of personal grooming was closely associated with hippy culture. Today, hairstyling companies brand their own hair gel
Hair gel
Hair gel is a hairstyling product that is used to stiffen hair into a particular hairstyle. The results it produces are usually similar to, but stronger than, those of hair spray and hair wax, and weaker than those of hair glue.-Types:...
s, shampoo
Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
s and hair wax
Hair wax
Hair wax is a thick hairstyling product containing wax, used to assist with holding the hair. In contrast with hair gel, most of which contain alcohol, hair wax remains pliable and has less chance of drying out...
to achieve the "surfer look", with hairstyles, often shorter than traditionally, which often require more grooming to achieve the permanent hair lift or intentional windswept look. Amongst women, fashion magazines have referred to "sun streaked surfer hair" as a desirable look for women, although genuine surfer hair is often heavily damaged by the elements.
Background
As early as 1950, LifeLife (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine referred to the "beach bum" surfers of southern California. In 1963, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
described the emerging cultural "uniform" of the surfer with bleached blond hair and white Levi
Levi
Levi/Levy was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi ; however Peake's commentary suggests this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
jeans, cut off at the knee. In 1965, Life magazine noted that the long surfer hair style and clothing (Levis) of surfers also transcended into skiing fashion. From the late 1960s to the 1980s in particular, especially at the time of the hippy, the surfer style was characterized by thick, long, bleached, often curly blond
Blond
Blond or blonde or fair-hair is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color...
hair, bleached intensively by the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and the saltwater. The hair of surfers is often damaged and bleached, brought about by frequent exposure to sunlight, humidity and salty water. Blonder or red headed individuals tend to be more affected, given that their pheomelanin is more sensitive.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the long haired surfer had became heavily stereotyped in the media (referred to as a "beach bum" or "surfer dude") as having a lack of discipline and self-indulgence and were described in an April 1971 issue of the The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald is an Australian tabloid newspaper published on Sundays in Sydney by Fairfax Media. It is the Sunday counterpart of The Sydney Morning Herald. In the 6 months to September 2005, The Sun-Herald had a circulation of 515,000...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
as "jobless junkies". On the contrary, the modern surfer image has been described as rather less primitive in appearance, with many surfers now having jobs, driving posh cars and spending more time on personal grooming.
In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the surfer hair style and image became popular in the early 1980s, mostly by those who were not surfers. The style became known as saafaa, and the more extreme Japanese surfer haircut has been described as being "straight and combed forward with the back cut short". This is still popular amongst many Japanese youths today, with longer, spiky hair.
Styling
Traditionally, the surfer hairstyle has been one with little regard to personal grooming; unkempt, wild, long and carefree and at one with nature. However, since the late 1990s, a shorter style, typically with a distinctly elevated quiffQuiff
The quiff is a hairstyle that combines the 1950s pompadour hairstyle, the 50s flattop, and sometimes a mohawk. The etymology of the word is uncertain but may derive from the French word "coiffe" which can mean either a hairstyle or, going further back, the mail knights wore over their heads and...
has emerged amongst young men, fashioned in a style similar to James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
. This style often requires more grooming and back combing and the heavy use of hair gels or waxes to achieve the permanent hair lift or intentional windswept look . A July 2003 article by Cincinnati Magazine
Cincinnati Magazine
Cincinnati Magazine is a monthly lifestyle magazine concerning life in and about Cincinnati, Ohio.It was created by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce in 1967. It was then purchased by CM Media in 1981....
described the modern surfer hair trend as "men growing out their hair, not long, but short with texture; the edges are more undone and natural, not blunt." Other variations of the style are the 90s curtains style with a floppy fringe with far less application of gel, worn by people such as Laird Hamilton
Laird Hamilton
Laird Hamilton is an American big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, a professional volleyball player, television personality, and model...
, Taylor Hawkins
Taylor Hawkins
Oliver Taylor Hawkins is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters....
and Alex Band
Alex Band
Alex Band is an American musician and singer-songwriter, best known for his work in his former band The Calling and their signature song "Wherever You Will Go", which peaked at #3 on the Top 40 in 2001.Along with bandmate and fellow songwriter Aaron Kamin as part of The Calling, the pair achieved...
and the heavy layered fringe and mullet style, worn by people such as Owen Wilson
Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
and Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder, occasional rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him...
.
Cultural popularity
Hair gel
Hair gel is a hairstyling product that is used to stiffen hair into a particular hairstyle. The results it produces are usually similar to, but stronger than, those of hair spray and hair wax, and weaker than those of hair glue.-Types:...
s, shampoo
Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
s and hair wax
Hair wax
Hair wax is a thick hairstyling product containing wax, used to assist with holding the hair. In contrast with hair gel, most of which contain alcohol, hair wax remains pliable and has less chance of drying out...
to achieve the "surfer look". Hair gel companies began manufacturing stronger holding hair products and adverts began to feature more extreme styles with the tagline "Get surfer hair" to sell the product. Many exhibiting the style today use artificial bleach on their hair rather than letting the sun bleach it naturally and maintain a more refined appearance. The surfer style is often associated with a heartthrob or "pretty boy" male image. Numerous media have capitalized upon this image and surfing culture, from American shows such as Malibu, CA
Malibu, CA (TV series)
Malibu, CA is an American teen sitcom television program produced by Saved by the Bell creator Peter Engel that aired from 1998 to 2000 on syndication...
, Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
and teen-oriented films, to a number of Australian soaps, such as Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
. One actor in Hollywood who is particularly known for his surfer image and hair is Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor.After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused . He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall...
, who even played the lead role in a 2008 film named Surfer, Dude. With women, "sun streaked surfer hair" has been referred to in fashion magazines such as Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
as a desirable look. In Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
, the frazzled, knotted, sun-bleached hair is also considered a desirable trait amongst many female surfers.