There is an explanation why all the Gen Z kids wear the "broccoli hair": the perm is back

The history of humanity is (also) the history of its hairstyles. And, like almost everything in history, an infinite cycle of saturations, falls from grace and triumphant returns. Permanent ones are a great example. Decades ago they shone in the crowns of metal singers, then they became the heritage of ladies who sought to gain volume in hair salons and now, in one of those unexpected breaks in hair fashion, they shine in the hair of the boys of Generation Z, tiktokers and even actors in their thirties.

2025 may be the year of Trump, but it already is (actually 2024 already was) of the ‘permanent broccoli’, ‘Zoomer Perm’, ‘Alpaca Haircut’ either ‘bird’s nest’all concepts that are handled more and more frequently in Generation Z hair salons.

The (triumphant) return of the permanent. It’s nothing new. It takes a walk through a shopping center, the outskirts of a school, a gym or the town square to realize that perms are no longer the hair heritage of grandmothers or the stars of the metal scene of the 80s and 90. The young people of Generation Z have made them their own.

And the genre in this case is important: it has not only reached the younger generations, but it has won over boys. And that is easily verified where trends are really appreciated: the networks. Just type #permen, #menperm, #hairperm, #permanentkrulleneither Broccoli Hair in the TikTok search engine to realize that something is changing has changed.

@love_curls77

THE BROCCOLI HAIRCUT is a hair style characterized by short, irregular layers that imitate the florets of broccoli. The side of the hair can be cut close or shaved very close to the scalp. #hairstyles for #men #shorthair #broccoli #haircut #treanding

♬ original sound – retro

Much more than a curiosity. The phenomenon is sufficiently widespread and defined that it has left its mark beyond the reelsor TikTok and Instagram posts. On the success of perm among bros reporters and trend experts have written Guardian, Fast Company, GQ, The Sydney Morning Herald, NPReither The Country. And that among a long list of people who have tried to explain why the young people of “Gen Z” have incorporated perms into their identity arsenal.

The trend has of course also sparked interest in hairdressers and beauty schools, which are no strangers to change. “There was a time when I did seven or eight spiral perms on women a day, but men rarely signed up. Now the sector has changed and men ask for more perms,” ​​she acknowledged a few months ago in an interview Danielle Tedesco, hairdressing and barbering teacher in Tafe NSW, Australia.

Another stylist in the country assured be receiving clients between 16 and 27 years old interested in adding volume to the classic cuts mullets that became popular in the 80s and has gained strength again among the youngest. “There has been a huge increase in requests for perms over the last eight months. Barbers now offer treatments, which is great for anyone who feels strange going to a salon.”

Old style, new approaches. That the perm has returned does not of course mean that young people are now looking for the same aesthetics as the metalheads of the 80s. In fact, over the last few months and years, expressions have been coined that give an idea of ​​the styles they demand: ‘Zoomer Perm’, ‘Alpaca Haircut’, ‘bird’s nest’, ‘bussin cut’ or probably the most popular (and certainly most descriptive) ‘Broccoli Perm’which can be translated as ‘permanent broccoli’ or simply ‘combed broccoli’.

Is broccoli an aesthetic icon? More or less. The expression is graphic enough that it does not need too many explanations and can be easily identified in the hairstyles worn by many young people of Generation Z. The word ‘broccoli’ comes from the shape and design of the hairstyle, with cut sides and long, layered curls on top that are combed forward. The result looks like a broccoli with its florets. There are plenty of them on TikTok the examples. and the memes.

Conquering pop icons. Again, not everything is in the networks. Rivers of ink flowed about the success of perms and the ‘broccoli hairstyle’ among the youngest a few months agowhen superhero movie fans found a surprise in the version of superman by James Gunn that will be released this year: a photo from the filming showed David Corenswet (31 years old) characterized as Clark Kent with a somewhat different aesthetic than what they showed Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh either Henry Cavill by embodying the same character in previous films.

“We have crossed a threshold”. No middle parting, carefully combed hair and discreet volume. James Gunn’s Clark Kent displays wild hair, an example of a ‘broccoli haircut’. In fact, and although it is still a curiosity, today the image of Corenswet as Clark Kent is the one that illustrates the entrance that Wikipedia dedicates to that type of haircut.

“This is the first time I’ve seen Gen Z fashion not on an explicitly Gen Z person, but on an iconic pop culture figure,” reflect during an interview with GQ Matthew Ellis, a professor of media communication studies in Portland. “When I saw that even Superman has that haircut, I thought, ‘Okay, something has happened. We’ve crossed a threshold.'”

Examples… and origins. Corenswet may leave one of the most high-profile examples of recent months. But there is more. From influencers active in networks like Noah Beck, Jack Doherty either Bryce Hall to athletes with the exposure of Harvey Elliott either Darcy Byrne-Jones or successful actors, including Timothée Chalamet, Jeremy Allen White either Paul Mescalin addition to K-Pop stars. Given this display, the question is obvious… Where did all this come from?

There is who relates it with K-Pop aesthetics and influence and the role that perms have historically played among men’s hairstyles in Asian communities, who blames its success to the visibility it has achieved in recent years in the US through TikTok, who relates it to the pandemic or simply with the comfort and advantages of the cut itself.

“Virility and identity”. What seems clear is that the trend already has some history, it can date back to at least 2020 and connects with an old idea that Pascal Matthias, professor of fashion at Southampton University, recently recalled in the pages of Guardian: “You can have money, wealth and power, but having good hair has always been linked to masculinity, virility and identity.” For now, the permanent broccoli has achieved a merit within the reach of very few: winning over Superman.

Images | Krystee Clark (Flickr) and Erik Drost (Flickr)

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