Not just mullets; long hair in general--how popular was it in the early/mid 90s? And was it still a "statement", as it was during the 60s and 70s, or had it already become just another aesthetic choice?

It was fashionable pretty much throughout the entire decade, but the popularity faded as the 90's wore on.

When hair metal was kicked to the curb for grunge, long hair remained popular, Cobain, Vedder, Staley, Cornell etc all wore there hair long(staley later shaved it I believe)...many teenage guys experimented with long hairstyles in high school, college etc. basically as long as they could get away with it. I think every guy that pretty much "came of age" between 1990 and 1996 tried long hair. Not so much in the 2000's and 2010's

In the late 90's it changed a bit with a more clean cut boy band look. The "caesar cut" became popular...but there still was a contingent of long hair wearers that lasted throughout the decade

for a large part of the decade this was my hairstyle http://xac.xanga.com/7dee1b3bc5132282806709/m225469103.jpg and when I got lazy I just grew this down to my shoulders

this look was also quite popular http://blog.blush.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/will.jpg

^ Nice Devon Sawa pic  :P
Longer hair styles were extremely popular in the 90's.

Not just mullets; long hair in general--how popular was it in the early/mid 90s?

This is something that might be very variable from one place to the next.  I taught undergraduates in Hawaii from the late 80s through the late 90s.  I probably had around a thousand students over a ten year period, and yet I can literally count the number of long-haired guys on the fingers of my hands.  And not a single mullet.

On the other hand, there were many longhairs at my alma mater in the Midwest during the mid/late 80s.  I just looked through my college yearbooks and noticed that about 1 in 6 guys had hair between shoulder length and waist length.

And was it still a "statement", as it was during the 60s and 70s, or had it already become just another aesthetic choice?


Actually, I think long hair stopped being a "statement" (in the sense you probably have in mind) sometime during the early 70s.  By the mid 70s, if you wanted to make a "statement" you adopted punk fashions.  And then THAT lost its impact by the time the 80s rolled in.

One of the important trends of the 80s and 90s is that people became inured to the shock value of provocative fashions.  As a result, it became more and more difficult to make political/social statements with fashion.  Man with long hair?  Yawn.  Woman with shaved head?  Yawn.  Mohawk?  Yawn.  Nose rings?  Nipple piercings?  Yawn.  Sagging pants with undies showing?  Yawn.  Rather than being a rebellion against society, everything becomes just another lifestyle choice.  Today, just about the only way you can make a "statement" fashion-wise is to go topless, if you're a woman.

I think every guy that pretty much "came of age" between 1990 and 1996 tried long hair. Not so much in the 2000's and 2010's

In the late 90's it changed a bit with a more clean cut boy band look. The "caesar cut" became popular...but there still was a contingent of long hair wearers that lasted throughout the decade


Hmmmm.  My experience was almost the polar opposite of this.  Very few guys had long hair in the 90s where I lived.  However, I noticed a dramatic increase in the number of long haired men from about 2005 to 2008, both in Hawaii and the US Mainland.

But I DO remember the "boy band look" in the late 90s / early 00s.

Hmmmm.  My experience was almost the polar opposite of this.  Very few guys had long hair in the 90s where I lived.  However, I noticed a dramatic increase in the number of long haired men from about 2005 to 2008, both in Hawaii and the US Mainland.

But I DO remember the "boy band look" in the late 90s / early 00s.


In the northeast the long hair in the 90's was definitely a thing...I don't know maybe Hawaii with it's climate it just wasn't very efficient do have long hair, especially if it was wavy or curly. Just too hot

I remember kids wearing that bowl cut around the mid '90s. Personally I never wore one, but I remember other kids in my class having that hair style. A kid with bowl cut wearing a backwards baseball cap would be like the ultimate mid '90s look. By the end of the '90s (circa '99) and in to the early '00s the big thing was spiking up the hair and bleaching the tips.  ;D

http://0.tqn.com/d/menshair/1/0/o/6/-/-/bowlcut.jpg