Photo by Nate Pesce
August is just out of our grasp now which means you're probably gearing up for four months of holiday specials and stocking for the inevitable seasonal hair changes. But it also means football season is starting. That might not be a traditional concern for hair salons, but bear with us for a moment.
Salon Magazine recently did an article about the rising popularity of athlete-inspired hairstyles for men. Big name players like David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo have got people parting their hair then slicking it back or to the side to attain some mixture of suave yet short and maintainable. But that's in Canada and with soccer. What about here in the U.S. where American football dominates all sports channels and barroom conversations for at least seven months of every year?
You might not be surprised to learn that hair is treated a little differently with NFL players. And by differently we mean weirdly. Descriptions of American football hairstyles tend more toward “memorable” than “suave.” But there are a few stars who have become icons of style and serve as great examples of attainable athletic hairstyles for a variety of different types of hair.
Short, Curly, and Colored
Giant's receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has made the burst and fade a popular choice for a lot of football fans. Short curly hair with the top sections vibrantly colored caught on around 2014 after Odell had a particularly good year with some pretty fantastic athletic feats (after you've made a touchdown with a one handed catch maybe everything you do looks cool). The really great thing about this style though is that it's done with a type of hair that too many people believe is too difficult to style or care for.
Middle-aged and Flowing
There are few examples of what you might call “male Hollywood hair” in football, and when it shows up it's often the source of superstitious debates about playoff statistics. But high profile players like Tom Brady are almost always at the center of controversy, and Tom's hair in particular has gone through several stages of media coverage. What makes this year unique is that the long standing New England quarterback is now coming up on forty years old, a time that you generally expect men to start buying cars they can’t afford and wondering if they can pull off a leather jacket. Bottom line: it's when men start looking for a change, and Brady's growing, free-flowing locks give aging football fans something to think about.
Ridiculously Long
There are more than a few football players who are known for their long hair. Clay Matthews and Troy Polumalu are probably the most famous for letting it all grow out. In the case of Polumalu it became such a spectacle that he was sponsored by a shampoo company which insured his hair for a million dollars as a publicity stunt. Now it's fairly common for football helmets to be bordered by waterfalls of hair on game day. They've normalized the idea of long hair even for men with active lifestyles, which presents a unique opportunity for hair salons to step up and show men the how they can handle and take care of long hair.